As the Penn State men's soccer team extended its lead to 2-0 on Saturday against one of the nation's best teams, it seemed as though the hype had finally been met, that Barry Gorman's squad was, for the first time this season, ready to defend its Big Ten title.

Not so fast.

After falling behind early, No. 9 Indiana rebounded by scoring three second-half goals to defeat the Nittany Lions, 3-2, at Bill Armstrong Stadium.

First scheduled for Sept. 26, the match-up was rescheduled for Saturday when the earlier contest was rained out in the 67th minute, with Indiana holding a 2-0 advantage.

Penn State forward Joe Zewe gave the Lions (7-10, 1-5 Big Ten) a 1-0 lead in the 26th minute when he found the top right corner of the goal on a scramble from just outside the 18-yard box. Chad Severs added a goal in the 43rd minute, extending Penn State's halftime lead and fueling the team's momentum further.

It may have been the desire to award legendary coach, Jerry Yeagley, with a victory in the last regular season game of his 31-year career, or possibly the yearning for a sixth consecutive conference regular season title. Indiana persevered and dominated the last 45 minutes, outshooting Penn State 8-2.

According to Gorman, Penn State had many chances to capitalize and was unable to do so.

"Hats off to [Indiana] for coming back," Gorman said. "In the first half we played them off the field, but we lost because we became sloppy and didn't execute," Gorman said.

Indiana's Pat Yates beat Penn State goalkeeper Matt Novchich in the 62nd minute of play to make it 2-1, and Indiana pulled even with the equalizer ten minutes later. As Hoosier Brian Plotkin's shot crossed the goal line with approximately six minutes remaining, Indiana's No. 1 seed in next week's conference tournament became finalized.

Throughout his team's difficult and trying season, Gorman has blamed Penn State's misfortune on an inability to play 90 minutes. This quality, at least in Indiana's case, has separated the champions from the rest of the pack.