All season Penn State men's soccer coach Barry Gorman has begged his team not to overlook any of the opponents on its schedule.

Early in the year the Nittany Lions couldn't have found a game to overlook if they tried, facing highly ranked teams such as North Carolina, Wake Forest and St. John's among others. Following this brutal early season schedule the Lions woke up on Tuesday, Sept. 28, to find themselves ranked No. 3 in the country with a record of 5-0-3.

It's hard to believe just how much things have changed since then.

Following a lackluster scoreless tie against George Mason and a tough loss to defending national champion Indiana, the Lions looked to this weekend's games against Northwestern and Wisconsin as a chance to regroup.

No such luck.

Friday night's game against Northwestern saw the Lions score two desperate goals in the game's final minute to force overtime and an eventual 2-2 tie. The Lions thoroughly outplayed the Wildcats in both overtime periods but could not put home the game winner.

"On Friday we didn't play well, we were sluggish and we had to come back late to tie it up. Then we dominated in over time but couldn't get the win."

Yesterday, the Badgers scored a last second goal of their own, netting the game winner with 50 seconds left despite playing a man down after reserve Matthew Jelacic was ejected in the 68th minute for a vicious tackle on Penn State defender Markku Viitanen. Gorman described the tackle as "brutal" and said that all in all the Lions did not play that badly in the 4-3 loss to the Badgers.

"We were constantly playing catch up and then blew it in the last 50 seconds," he said.

The goal was scored by Wisconsin senior tri-captain Nick Van Sicklen who had a ridiculous afternoon, scoring three of the Badger's goals and assisting on the fourth. Chad Severs scored two of Penn State's three goals, and also netted the game-tying goal on Friday night to run his total on the season to a team best eight.

Before the season began, Gorman said in a press release that the Big Ten was, "Getting tougher and tougher every year. Wisconsin and Northwestern have new coaches, and those programs are getting better."

Nevertheless, it was a disappointing weekend for a team about which goalkeeper Conrad Taylor said early last week, "I still think we're one of the strongest teams in the nation."

If the Lions were looking for excuses to explain their mini-slump, something that both Gorman and his players refuse to do, injuries would be an easy one to use.

Team captain Gabe Bernstein remains sidelined with a hamstring injury, ankle injuries have limited defensive stalwarts Pasi Karppinen and Markku Viitanen, and Viitanen's status is uncertain after being taken off of the field yesterday.

Penn State has until Thursday to return to health and regroup before their next game against a very strong Maryland team.