The Penn State men's club soccer team showed why they are the reigning national champions this weekend by defeating powerhouse Weber State and Michigan.

The Nittany Lions knew that it was going to be a challenging weekend coming but they were up for it.

"It was huge to get them (Weber St.) to come out and play," said Elliott Toobin (senior-marketing/international business). "This was a good test for us."

The test began Friday night as the Lions played host to Weber State in a thrilling 2-1 victory.

"Ian St.Rose (freshman-psychology) scored two brilliant goals on our only two chances in the first half," said coach Matt Schaefer (graduate-engineering). "Other than that they really outplayed us."

One win however, did not appear to be enough for the Lions as the teams played a second game on Saturday. "Their coach (Schaefer) has class for letting us play twice," said Weber State coach Tim Crompton.

The Lions were determined to throw everything they had against Weber State and made a big time personnel switch for Saturday's game, starting players who had not seen any action on Friday.

"I wanted to do that all along. I wanted to beat Weber State with two sets of players," said Schaefer. "We are a very deep and talented team."

Penn State looked good early despite missing the first scoring opportunity of the game on a missed header. Weber State responded with a dominating stretch where they controlled play for a good portion of the half. However, as the teams began to exchange words on the sidelines Jeremy Humphries scored on a penalty shot giving the Lions the lead.

That lead would not last as Weber State would get the equalizer on their own penalty shot right before the half.

After Schaefer told his team at the half they needed to play harder, they came out and responded early, with a well executed goal by Darin Tranquillo (junior-information sciences and technologies).

After two off sides calls hurt the Lions chances of increasing their lead, the second half had Weber State pressing to tie up the game.

Weber State would tie the game with just one minute left on the clock on a rebounded shot.

"I was a little pissed," said goalie Dave Feist "They worked for it and they deserved it."

In the end the Lions wound up with a hard fought, tough luck tie.

"It was a real tough game, we knew it would be a good game," said Drew Conroy (sophomore-business). "It's fun to play those games, it turns into a personal battle out there."

"It was unfortunate what happened in the end but our goalie saved us all game."

In the end the tie did not put too much of a damper on the teams' mood. "Going 1-0-1 against one of the top teams in the nation, is very big for us," said Feist.

A big bright spot was the fact that coach Schaefer was finally able to suit up.

"I've been injured and it felt real good to be out there," said Schaefer. "It's frustrating with injuries but the team is better if I get healthy."

"It was definitely different and interesting to play with coach on the field," said Pete Sucheski (sophomore-graphic design). "I enjoyed it."

One guy who was very impressed with the way the Lions looked was Weber St. coach Crompton.

"They played well, they're the best," Crompton said. "They hold their crown well."

However, Penn State was not done for the day, as they still had a game against Michigan. Coach Schaefer invited 20 different teams to play this weekend, but could not get anyone to keep their commitment except for Michigan, who the Lions shut out 3-0.

In a very intense game Michigan and Weber State played to a 2-2 tie thanks to a late goal by the Wolverines.

Penn State showed this weekend why they are the defending national champions by overcoming a very tough weekend schedule and coming out of it with a 2-0-1 record and improving their unbeaten streak to 37 games.

They will next travel to the University of Delaware next weekend for match-ups against both Delaware and Maryland.