With his team mired in a five game losing streak and quickly approaching irrelevancy in the Big Ten conference standings, Penn State men's soccer coach Barry Gorman decided he needed to make a change.

After meeting with assistant coaches, captains and team leaders, Gorman elected to change the status of six players on the Nittany Lions' roster. Junior goalkeepers Eric Earnhardt and Ryan Moate, as well as sophomore defender Stephen Phillips, are no longer with the team.

"We're six and eight. We just lost five straight. I've never coached a team that lost five straight," Gorman said. "I've tried to look at who we had and who we are going to use, and I wanted to be honest with the kids we weren't going to use."

Gorman said the players were cut because, right now, they have no realistic chance of contributing in the games.

"We told Eric Earnhardt and Ryan Moate that we look to [freshmen] Matt Novchich and Nic Gindre as the goalkeepers for the future," Gorman said, adding that the Lions are also actively recruiting a high school goalkeeper.

"Phillips is a first class person, but it's just not happening for him [on the field],"

The most surprising player in this shake-up is perhaps Earnhardt -- the only player affected who is on scholarship.

A captain from last year's squad, Earnhardt worked his way back on to the team this fall after he left the team for unspecified reasons mid-way through last fall. He has been fighting for the starting goalkeeper job with Novchich, since he lost the position when gave up five goals in the Lions' first game against UCLA.

The uncertainty surrounding Earnhardt's status with the team was the main reason the Lions carried three freshmen goalkeepers on their roster coming into the fall, Gorman said.

Gorman said Earnhardt did a good job getting in better shape; however, since fall practice has started, Novchich "has proven to be the best goalkeeper."

All three players will remain on the official roster for the remainder of the fall semester and will still be able to use the athletic department's academic support centers and other resources. Earnhardt will remain on scholarship through the remainder of the fall semester as well as the spring semester.

Three other players freshmen Hiro Oka, Alan Fleisher and Jeff Wilkins have been "released from practice" -- meaning they will concentrate on a strength and endurance training regimen rather than attending practice daily. The three will return to the team in January, Gorman said.

The Lions five-game losing steak is the longest in-season losing steak in the program's history