Apparently David Walters has a sensitive side.

When asked how frustrating a sixth tie on the season would have been yesterday afternoon he paused and said, "I think I would have just went home and cried."

Thankfully no tissues were needed. Reserve midfielder Jeff Chambers scored his first goal of the season in double overtime yesterday on senior day at Jeffrey Field to break a nil-nil tie against Michigan State (8-5-0, 2-3-0 Big Ten), and the Penn State men's soccer team (8-3-5, 1-3-1) managed to avoid another disappointing tie in a game that it should have won, keeping Walters' eyes dry in the process of a 1-0 victory.

All joking aside, following their strong performance yesterday it appears as though the Nittany Lions have finally turned the corner and returned to early season form just in time for the stretch run to the Big Ten tournament.

As has been the case in many games this year, the Lions thoroughly outplayed the Spartans the entire game but could not manage to get on the scoreboard until overtime.

The first half saw Penn State come out attacking from the get go. At times, the Spartans had all 11 players packed into their defensive end and this allowed the Penn State defense to get involved in the offensive half.

Penn State freshman defender Steven Rheiner played what was undoubtedly the best half of his young career, completely controlling the right side of the field and setting up numerous scoring chances for the forwards.

But as has been the case all year, the Lions possessed the ball for the vast majority of the first half only to go into halftime locked in a tight 0-0 game. Whatever Penn State coach Barry Gorman told his team at halftime worked wonders because the Lions came out firing on all cylinders.

The second half saw Penn State launch an all-out assault on Michigan State goalkeeper Jason Tillman. The Lions quick ball movement and precise off-the-ball runs gave the Michigan State defense fits, and the Lions recorded nine shots and seven corner kicks in the second half alone.

Forward Chad Severs had two point-blank looks at the goal but struggled uncharacteristically in front of the net, sending the first shot wide, and hitting the right post with the other.

Thus as the horn sounded to end regulation, the game was still scoreless. But Penn State did not turn to the sloppy, long-ball-oriented offense on which it relied in the overtime periods of its 0-0 tie with George Mason.

Instead the Lions continued playing attractive, fluid, and fundamentally sound soccer, and the persistence paid off.

After offensively dominating the entire first and the opening minutes of the second overtime periods to an almost absurd degree, Chambers finally notched his game-winner with a blast from left side of the goal following some commotion in front of the net in the 107th minute.

"It just kind of squirted out to me and I turned and hit it," Chambers said about the goal that gave Penn State its first win in Big Ten competition this season.

The win was Penn State's second this week and for the first time in about a month the Lions have some very positive momentum on their side.

It was not just the victory itself, but the manner in which the team played that gave the most credence to the assertion that Penn State is finally turning around its season.

The ball movement and communication up front was the best that it has been since the opening weeks of the season and Penn State's dominance in possession also limited the effectiveness of Michigan State's extremely dangerous forward John Minagawa-Webster.

Gorman said that he was happy with effort, and harped on ball movement as the key difference between yesterday's game and last week's disaster against Ohio State.

"We keep telling them that that's the strong part of their game if we move off the ball and we move ball I don't think to many teams in the country can stay with us," he said.