When you are No. 3 on the depth chart, you are not supposed to see playing time, but this has not been your typical season.

The Penn State men's soccer team has been on a wild ride of a season thus far. The Nittany Lions notched a victory against national powerhouse Virginia and followed that up the next week with a home loss to American, after not losing at home all last season.

This season has been marred by a number of changes, primarily in goal.

At the beginning of the season, goaltender Ryan Sickman was penciled in as No. 1. Eric Earnhardt would challenge him in practice for playing time, according to Penn State men's soccer assistant coach Marlon LeBlanc at media day.

This was an obvious choice after the two split time last season and both put up impressive numbers in leading the Lions to the third round of the NCAA tournament. Sickman's numbers were slightly better with a .65 goals against average and a .771 save percentage. Earnhardt was not far behind with a .88 goal against and a .600 save percentage, seemingly making the coaches' decision to start Sickman a logical one.

However, something has drastically changed in the Nittany Lion family as first-year transfer Ryan Moate has been receiving all the playing time in recent games.

"We don't forget about the [other guys]," Penn State men's soccer coach Barry Gorman said. "Moate's been doing a solid job and we see no reason to change at the moment."

The feeling was that Moate, who came to Penn State after a year at West Virginia, deserved a chance and has certainly played well, but the real question is why Earnhardt has been showing up for games in street clothes and sitting in the bleachers.

"It is my understanding he is taking a year off," LeBlanc said.

While nobody commented on why he is no longer with the team, he has still been around and very vocal from the stands.

"We haven't really forgotten him, we still see him around," captain Ben Dawson said.

"He is not much of a distraction, when you're on the field you tend to forget about what is going on in the stands."

With Earnhardt out of the picture, and Sickman struggling early this season allowing six goals [two less than last year's total] in just over 250 minutes of action, Moate got the call and he has not disappointed.

The Lancaster native has done a terrific job, allowing just three goals in his last four games. He is still being pushed week after week in practice for playing time.

"They are both good goalkeepers," forward Joe Zewe said. "Ryan [Moate] got the start and once he got in he hasn't done anything to let Ryan [Sickman] back in."

Sickman is still working hard in practice and pushing Moate, but it has to be difficult for a senior to watch from the bench as a kid who did not even attend the school last year does all the dirty work.