Winning is nice but it does not heal all wounds.

In the biggest game of the season, the No. 12 Penn State men's soccer team (6-4, 1-1 Big Ten) lost on a controversial call when No. 5 Indiana (6-1-2, 2-0) was awarded a penalty kick with minutes remaining in double overtime.

"It is basically giving away the game," goaltender Ryan Moate said concerning the referee's call.

This sentiment was widely felt by the Nittany Lions, who once again have to move on with the fact that they played well enough to win, but could not get the job done at the end.

This is the kind of season it has been for the men's soccer team, who were forced once again to settle for a moral victory.

"We can play with anybody if we put our minds to it," Penn State men's soccer coach Barry Gorman said. "The only disappointing factor is that we had a man advantage and didn't keep the ball."

The Lions once again struggled to find any sort of rhythm offensively as their main threat, forward Chad Severs was heavily shadowed all night and could not get free.

With Severs taken out of the game, the Lions needed other players to step up and no one did.

"[The defense] did our job," senior captain Jorma Makipaa said. "By the end we should have had at least one goal in the net. We have to put one goal in at the other end."

Rather than pointing fingers at one another following the game, the Lions took the easy way out and pointed them at the referee instead for his bad call.

"We didn't lose that game, we didn't," Moate said.

"It is going to come out as a 1-0 loss but we didn't lose that game."

Sunday's 3-1 victory against Towson (4-3-1, 2-0 Colonial Athletic Conference) sweetened the weekend for the Lions in a game they knew they had to win.

Everything the Hoosiers were able to prevent on Friday, the Lions made a point of executing against the Tigers on Sunday.

"We were confident going into [Sunday]," senior captain Ben Dawson said. "We looked to get back on track with a good win, which we eventually got."

The Lions team which showed up in force against the Tigers is the team that must show up constantly, no matter who the opponent is.

The offense had numerous chances to score and the defense allowed only a single shot on goal during the entire match.

Sporting a 1-1 conference record, the Lions know their title hopes are not completely demolished.

With two Big Ten road games on the slate this coming weekend, now is the time for the real Lions to show their growl.