The bull's eye on its back is only growing as the goose egg remains in the loss column.

The No. 1 Penn State women's soccer team (15-0, 7-0 Big Ten) defeated Ohio State 1-0 in front of 2,000 spectators yesterday in Columbus, Ohio, compliments of senior forward Tiffany Weimer's 22nd goal of the season.

Weimer's goal at 5:38 into the game marked the 15th consecutive game in which she has found the back of the net, tying former North Carolina forward Brandi Chastain's record mark.

Following the goal, the defenses buckled down, as the Buckeyes shut down one of Penn State's strong suits.

The center midfield duo of junior Ali Krieger and freshman Allie Long found Ohio State's defense around the centerline difficult to penetrate.

"They put pressure out of the ball and we had trouble getting it out of the midfield," Penn State women's soccer coach Paula Wilkins said.

Without the luxury of the dreaded two-goal lead, Penn State's defense held strong to protect the Nittany Lions' seventh shutout of the season.

"Defenders and midfielders won one-v-one battles. Ohio State did a great job competing for all loose balls," Wilkins said. "They contained Laura Dickenmann who's always very dangerous."

Dickenmann is the Buckeyes' second leading scorer on the year and finished third last year in the Big Ten in scoring with 13 goals.

Weimer, a forerunner for the M.A.C. Hermann Trophy, is one goal away from the career Big Ten goal-scoring record of 82, held by former Penn Stater Christie Welsh. A goal Friday against Michigan will tie Welsh's record and break Chastain's.

"I think it's a great achievement by Tiffany," Wilkins said. "It's a credit to our team. They get her some great chances to get that opportunity. Definitely commended."

Portland forward Christine Sinclair, last year's winner of the Hermann, also tied Chastain's consecutive goal-scoring streak this weekend, meaning the race will probably come down to the final weekend.

With the Lions successfully defending their first weekend as a target at No. 1, and as the regular season draws to the end, Wilkins maintains that the prospect of an undefeated season is not an issue.

At this point it may be a necessity. Purdue clings onto hopes of a regular season Big Ten championship.

With the Boilermakers' lone conference loss coming at Penn State, Purdue needs the Lions to fold under the pressure of being the nation's top team.

"We're still taking it game by game and we're still looking at the Big Ten," Wilkins said.

"Purdue only having one loss, our focus right now is Michigan."