The fire the players had in their eyes at yesterday's practice told the entire story. The Penn State men's soccer team is going to do everything it can to beat Ohio State.

The No. 17 Nittany Lions (7-3) will play the No. 22 Buckeyes at 2 p.m. Sunday in Columbus, Ohio. The Lions are coming off of their toughest loss of the season, a 3-1 defeat at the hands of Cornell. Of their three losses this season, the Lions seemed particularly disappointed in this one because they felt it was a game they never should have lost.

"We took it too light," senior co-captain Ricardo Villar said. "We try to stress the point that teams step up to play us because we are Penn State. We should play two times as hard against those teams to prove why it is that way."

Villar's motivational words were echoed by the rest of the team yesterday in practice. Junior midfielder Brent Jacquette said that the Lions have to have a killer instinct against the rest of the teams they play this season. He said they have to be up for every team, no matter what that team's record is.

Recent events only add to the motivation the Lions have for their upcoming game against Ohio State. At 7-2-1, the Buckeyes have received national recognition, and their 1-1 Big Ten record has put them in a position to challenge for the conference crown.

"If you're going to be up for a game you better be up for this one," Jacquette said. "All games count equally, but this is a Big Ten game so it counts a little bit more."

Ohio State and Michigan State are the two teams that look to give the Lions their toughest competition for the No. 2 seed in the Big Ten Tournament this season. The No. 1 seed right now is clearly Indiana, which is currently ranked No. 6 in the entire nation.

Villar said that he feels that many conference teams are scared of Indiana and, because of that, they look at Penn State as their biggest game of the season. Even though Ohio State will be gunning for the Lions, head coach Barry Gorman says that this game will be just as big as the rest of the games left on the slate this season.

"I think every game from this stage on is absolutely crucial," Gorman said. "The game against Ohio State on Sunday is massive, and the game against Michigan State next week is massive. That's why good players come to Division I schools like Penn State. They want to play in the big games."

The players did not show their coaches that they were ready to play in the Cornell game. Even after such a disheartening loss the Lions still know that if they give it their all they can compete with any team in the country, and that includes the Buckeyes.

"I know for a fact that we will do everything we possibly can to win," Villar said. "We are not going to leave unsatisfied this weekend.