Just when everyone thought the Penn State men's soccer team's season was over, that it faltered too much too early to really make a run at a national championship, well, think again.

The Nittany Lions (10-7, 3-3 Big Ten) showed up in Boston for a non-conference tilt with the No. 14 Boston College Eagles (8-4) knowing that another loss this season would all but crush any hope that Penn State had of making the NCAA Tournament.

Realizing that, the Lions upset B.C. yesterday, 2-1 on a golden goal by Chad Severs with three seconds to play in the first overtime.

"This win was a major confidence builder," Penn State men's interim head coach Marlon LeBlanc said. "We executed our game plan very well."

The game, which was originally scheduled for Saturday afternoon, had to be postponed until yesterday due to heavy rains the previous night that made the field unplayable.

The Lions struck first when Kenji Treschuk, who played significant minutes for the first time since he injured his shoulder against Wisconsin in the beginning of October, played the ball to Mike Lindemann, who turned and placed his first goal of the season in the lower left corner.

Penn State held the Eagles in check for almost the entire game, when, like a bad football dream, a referee called a "soft foul" on Lions defender Anthony Calvano with seven minutes and thirty seconds to play in the game.

On the ensuing free kick, Boston College put what LeBlanc called a "scorcher" perfectly in the upper ninety past Penn State goalkeeper Ryan Sickman.

The Lions found themselves in a position they have been in quite frequently this season -- going into overtime.

Penn State was winless in two overtime appearances prior to yesterday's extra period. Fortunately for the Lions, they must have learned from their previous experiences.

As the first overtime period was winding down, sophomore forward Joe Zewe put a cross right to an open Chad Severs inside the box.

Severs did what he does best and scored the game-winning goal with tforhree seconds left to play.

The goal was Severs' team-leading 12th on the season. Pasi Karpinnen is second on the team in goals with four.

"Chad is so dangerous when he's in the box," LeBlanc said.

"That's what good forwards do."

The win puts the Lions back in the National Tournament hunt.

The Lions had to make a few changes to their lineup before yesterday's game.

To go along with the return of Treschuk, Lions midfielder Brian Devlin was forced to sit out due to yellow card accumulation from previous games.

Captain Ben Dawson was moved to the midfield to make room for Treschuk and to play for Devlin.

With all seven of Penn State's losses coming by one goal, Severs was extremely happy that he made the difference yesterday.

"It's a scorer's dream to be in that position," Severs said. "That's what we live for."