Despite being unseeded and yesterday's game being its only home game in the tournament, the No. 12 Penn State women's soccer team is back in the fourth round of the NCAA Tournament after a decisive 3-0 victory over No. 23 Virginia.

The Nittany Lions (18-3-1) were all over the field taking most of the loose balls and using their advantages in both size and quickness to dominate the Cavaliers (13-7-2).

Junior Heidi Drummond opened the scoring in the 21st minute off a well-placed header into the box by junior Joanna Lohman. The ball took a few bounces and Drummond used her speed and strength to overpower the defender and chip the ball past the approaching goalkeeper, Anne Abernethy.

After upsetting No. 5 West Virginia, 1-0, with the only goal of the game coming with five seconds left in the first half, the Cavaliers found out that playing from behind isn't easy.

"Obviously that first goal was important," Virginia women's soccer coach Steve Swanson said. "In these kinds of games with the magnitude of them I think it makes a big difference because it settles the team down."

Less than seven minutes after the first goal, senior Christie Welsh took a corner kick and placed it in front of the goalmouth. After an initial clear by a Cavalier defender Lohman took the ball out of midair and slammed a shot into the back of the net. Welsh recently started taking the left-footed corner kicks.

"I want to do whatever is best for the team," Welsh said. "I think on corner kicks Amanda and Jo they are the most valuable to be in the box as opposed to me."

Lohman said that she is enjoying the increased scoring chances and likes to be in the box on corner kicks.

The type of play that was typical for the Lions all day set up the corner kick. Welsh was out of room to make a play on goal so while sliding with the ball out of bounds she played the ball off a Virginia defender to get the corner kick.

The closest the Cavaliers came to scoring was in the 70th minute with the score 2-0. Sophomore Lindsay Gusick was stoned twice by freshman Amanda Brown at point blank range. The initial save was good, but the save off the rebound was the spectacular one and kept the Penn State advantage at two. Brown earned her ninth shutout of the season, stopping five shots on the day.

Just minutes later, Drummond put the icing on the cake with her second goal of the day after junior Stephanie Smith's shot rang off the post and bounced right to Drummond.

Penn State women's soccer coach Paula Wilkins said that the team learned from the Illinois game that letting up at any time isn't acceptable. The ball was attacked throughout the game and the Lions took 15 shots in the game compared to 8 for Virginia. The final score could have been much worse than 3-0, but a few missed opportunities and a great save by Abernethy on a Welsh laser kept the score closer.

The Lions will now go on to face No. 7 Connecticut in Storrs, Conn., at a date and time yet to be determined.