Although it was competing against the best teams in the nation and inclement weather, the Penn State women's soccer club gave an impressive showing at the National Intramural-Recreational Sports Association (NIRSA) championships in Austin, Texas, this past weekend.

Thanks to its successful regular season and runner-up finish in the regional tournament, the team qualifed for the national championship tournament. The previous year, Penn State finished in fifth place and hoped to improve on that showing. Unfortunately, it would have to wait to get started because the tournament was caught in a downpour on the open ing day and play was wiped out until Friday.

Because of the weather setback, the team was forced to play all three of its round robin games the next day. The amount of games resulted in a shortened time format that the team's coach Rod Khayat said was a difficult situation to get past.

"It was really tough, we couldn't take advantage of the format and that hurt the team," Khayat said.

While the weather was a distraction, the team was still able to focus and opened the tournament with a 1-0 win against Texas A&M.

Later in the afternoon, the team played its second game against Michigan. The Lions had faced Michigan a few weeks earlier in the conference tournament at Ohio State, during which the Wolverines shutout Penn State, 2-0. This time, the Lions were able to hold them scoreless. They were unable to put any goals on the board themselves, though, and the game finished in a 0-0 tie.

The team capped the day with its final round-robin game against Florida. In order to advance to the elimination round, the team would need a victory against the Gators. While Penn State did get on the board, Florida matched it and the game ended in another tie, 1-1.

Penn State finished round-robin play in a three-way tie in its pool with Florida and Michigan, but lost a tiebreaker for one of the two spots from the flight.

Even though the season ended on a low note, Penn State's improvement over the course of the season gives it reason to be optimistic for future seasons. One of these improvements was the team's physicality, something that was a weakness earlier in the season.

"Getting physically fit was a big part of our game and gave us an extra edge," Khayat said.

The team finished with a 7-1-1 regular season record and had many young players who stepped up and performed well. The team's leading scorer was freshman Gwen Danjczek and the next highest scorers, Danielle Gallagaher and Christine Gallagher, are both sophomores.

"I'm really satisfied with the way they played," Khayat said. "There are no prima donnas and they are always working hard."