It has been an up and down season for the Penn State men's soccer team's Simon Omekanda. The sophomore came into the season with lofty expectations after a promising freshman campaign and he started the season strong with three goals in Penn State's first four games.

But as the Penn State attack began to sputter and the Nittany Lions plummeted in the polls, the speedy forward seemed to lose his scoring touch and he became indecisive in front of the goal.

Yet yesterday afternoon, as Penn State searched for the spark that would give it some momentum heading into next weekend's Big Ten tournament, Omekanda responded with his best performance of the year.

Omekanda recorded five shots, three of which were on net, and notched the only goal in Penn State's 1-0 victory on the road yesterday afternoon at Lehigh's Ulrich Sports Complex.

"I think we're basically telling him how we want him to play, and he's slowly but surely listening," Penn State coach Barry Gorman said of Omekanda, who has been in and out of the starting lineup in the last few weeks.

Penn State came out firing in the first half, taking the game to the Hawk's defense and outshooting its opponent 9-2 in the first 45 minutes.

The Lions finally beat Hawk's goalkeeper Charlie Sales in the 31st minute when Omekanda slammed home a cross from midfielder Richard Costanzo.

The second half saw the Hawks become more aggressive and make the game a bit more competitive. The Lions' still outshot Lehigh 8-6, but Penn State had to work harder to create its scoring opportunities.

Penn State held on for the victory on the strength of four saves by goalkeeper Conrad Taylor, who recorded his fifth shutout in the Lions' last six contests and improved his goals-against average to a phenomenal 1.03.

The game was Penn State's final regular season contest, and with the win the Lions ran their record to 10-3-7 on the season.

Unfortunately for Penn State, its less-than-stellar record of 1-3-2 in the Big Ten earned it the No. 6 seed in the conference tournament, which kicks off Thursday at the University of Michigan's Varsity Field.

In the opening game, the Lions will take on the No. 3-seeded Northwestern Wildcats, a team that Penn State played to a 2-2 tie earlier in the year.

"We thought that the first time we didn't play well, we came out flat against them," Gorman said, looking ahead to the matchup.

"We're looking forward to the Big Ten tournament, we respect all the teams in the Big Ten, but we have no reason to fear anyone."