All season the Penn State men's soccer team has struggled against Big Ten competition, and all season the players and coaches have stuck to the mantra that they were a much better team than their mediocre record in the conference suggested.

But if the team is tired of giving the same tired answers to the same tired questions about its repeated underachievement against Big Ten competition, it had better prepare some new answers because the questions show no sign of stopping.

Yesterday afternoon at the University of Michigan's Varsity Field, Penn State lost 1-0 to Northwestern in the first round of the Big Ten conference tournament in what is another interesting chapter in a somewhat strange season.

The Nittany Lions had already faced the Wildcats once this year: the two teams played to a 2-2 tie in Evanston on Oct. 8. The game was in the midst of Penn State's midseason swoon and the Lion's only managed to force the tie by scoring two goals in the game's final minute.

Penn State coach Barry Gorman said that the Lions had come out flat in that game, and earlier this week the team seemed eager to hit the field and prove that its struggles in that contest were a fluke. But it was simply not to be.

"It is disappointing, the result is just disappointing," Gorman said after yesterday's loss. "I don't think it was a matter of coming out flat this time, we just didn't play well, just didn't gel, didn't play as a unit today."

In the first game, the Lions dominated in terms of possession and shots, but were simply not able to put the ball in the net.

That was not the case yesterday.

Despite the fact that Northwestern out shot the Lions 12-8, neither team could claim a definite edge in terms of possession.

"I think it was one of those games where no one had a clear-cut majority of possession, just too many turnovers back and forth," Gorman said.

Sophomore forward Simon Omekanda tallied two of Penn State's shots and put both on goal, but overall the Lions had trouble stringing passes together against a Northwestern defense that was careful to always keep a number of players behind the ball.

"They kept four or five guys back permanently who never ventured forward, but we didn't get any real good combinations in the offensive half," Gorman said.

But as is the case in most postseason games, Northwestern grabbed the victory simply by making a play in crunch time, when John Carlstedt slammed home a deflection off of Penn State goalkeeper Conrad Taylor.

It was the first goal Taylor had allowed in more than 230 minutes, and it was a heartbreaker.

"I thought it was a great game, and an evenly played game," said Tim Lenehan, Northwestern's head coach. "You know, we made a play at the end. In a Big Ten tournament game like this, it really comes down to a play being made, and today we made the play when it counted."

As disappointing as the loss is for Penn State, it is by no means the end of its season.

Due to their 10-4-7 record against what is undoubtedly one of the nation's strongest schedules, the Lion's are still looking at the possibility of a top-15 seed in the NCAA tournament.

"Penn State schedules everybody tough," Lenehan said.

"They are still going get a top seed and a bye in the first round of the tournament."