They definitely have a bitter taste in their mouths.

The No. 12 Penn State (15-3-1, 9-1-0 Big Ten) women's soccer team was bounced out of the Big Ten tournament in the first round last Thursday against Illinois, 4-3, after blowing a three goal lead in the second half.

The Nittany Lions have a chance at redemption as they make their eighth straight appearance in the NCAA tournament in a first round matchup today at 5 p.m. against Princeton at College Park, Md.

"It is always exciting to get into the NCAA Tournament," Penn State women's soccer coach Paula Wilkins said.

"The players are looking forward to the competitive environment the NCAA Tournament provides."

Princeton (13-2-1) won its first outright Ivy league title ever to qualify for the tournament. The Tigers bring the sixth best goals against average in the country at 0.56. They haven't allowed a team to score more than one goal in a game, and have allowed just nine goals all season.

If the Lions can defeat Princeton they would face the winner of No. 17 Maryland/American game.

The Lions defeated the Terrapins 1-0 at Jeffrey Field over a month ago.

"We're really excited because we definitely want a second chance at them," junior midfielder Audra Poulin told Maryland student newspaper The Diamondback.

"We didn't get a chance to show them what we could do."

In their meeting earlier in the season the Terrapins (12-7-1) were forced to play a man down against the Lions due to goalie Mariel Wilner's red card and subsequent ejection on a take-out slide against senior Christie Welsh.

The Lions may not need to look far for motivation. Maryland women's soccer coach Shannon Higgins-Cirovski was quoted by junior forward Katie Ludwig in The Diamondback as saying this after the brackets were released: "Now we know who we're going to beat."

Wilkins will be looking to take the Lions to their second College Cup appearance. Penn State has reached at least the fourth round of the tournament in the last four years.