Due to a lingering knee injury, Penn State defender Paul Omekanda will not compete when the men's soccer team opens up Big Ten action against Indiana Friday.

Omekanda injured his left knee in practice two weeks ago and reinjured it soon after in a game against Boston College.

"We don't want to take a risk and bring him back too soon from the injury," Penn State men's soccer coach Barry Gorman said.

"We want to make sure he's fully recovered."

The rest of the squad, which was hit hard by injury over the weekend against Akron and St. Bonaventure, is in good spirits and putting in good practice time.

Freshman defender Markku Viitanen, who also missed action with a knee injury, has been cleared to play and showed no ill effects in practice.

Leading goal scorer Chad Severs injured his ankle Friday and missed Sunday's game but has practiced and will play.

Gorman is pleased with his team's performance and believes it will be ready for conference play to begin.

"With solid practices this week, we are relatively healthy and in good spirits," he said.