Given that the members of the Penn State men's soccer team have scored four goals in eight games this season, they likely haven't been sporting the same pairs of underwear for good luck.
Instead of adopting any other superstitious practice, individual players -- mostly the forwards and midfielders -- will set out on their own to improve the part of their game that needs work.
"It's like a guy who's poor at free throws in basketball. These are the things that individuals have to do," Penn State men's soccer coach Barry Gorman said. "They suddenly don't come right in practice [and games]."
In this case, the skills could be headers, corner kicks or centering. Finding the time for the extra work may be hard, but there should be more after an approaching flurry of games. After the Lions play two this week, they play three from Oct 3-9.
Junior forward Simon Omekanda said the approach isn't very unusual. It also isn't an abandonment of team practices. It is, however, a bit like throwing strands of pasta against a wall. If it sticks, fantastic. If it slides off onto the floor, all you have to do is let it boil some more.
"It's not gonna hurt anything," Omekanda said. "If anything it'll help. This might be the answer, so well try it out and see what happens."
Penn State has a glaring need to work on converting its myriad of chances to score. The team's created 93 shots this year, compared to 58 for its opponents. Whatever drills they've done in practice haven't been translating to the games to a great degree.
"I told the team that they need to mature as individuals and as a team," Gorman said. "But I said to them [Sunday], tomorrow you can wake up and be hit by a bus or you can win the lottery. But those are things you don't know about. What you need to do in the meantime is work harder."
However, this is no act of desperation despite the Lions' awkward tango with Lady Success. When she's ready to let them take two steps forward, as with recent wins vs. Cal State Fullerton and Maryland, they take one step backward, losing at George Mason on Saturday.
The team ends up stepping squarely on her feet, and soon enough, she might take the rose out of her mouth and walk away completely.
But the Lions won't let go, partly because they say they've been playing well. Aside from the one delinquent facet of their game -- finishing -- most everything else gets a thumbs up.
"I'd be the first one to look for a long walk off a short pier and drown myself [if we were playing badly]," Gorman said. "But I believe in this team and I believe in the players we're putting on the field."
