As practice broke this morning, Penn State men's soccer coach Barry Gorman left his team with something to chew on.

"My pappy told me, it works much better if you use [your eyes] and close [your mouth]," Gorman said, pointing to his face both times.

This was Gorman's way of telling his team to keep its focus through these last two games against Michigan and No. 13 Hartwick.

The Nittany Lions (8-6-2, 5-0-0 Big Ten) look to knock off two birds with one stone as they face the Michigan Wolverines in their last Big Ten matchup at 1 p.m. Sunday at Jeffrey Field.

With a win against the Wolverines (8-6-1, 2-2-0), Penn State would finish undefeated in conference play -- a feat that the program hasn't accomplished since 1989 and 1990 when the Lions were in the Atlantic 10.

"You never start the season wanting to go undefeated, because if you lose your first match, then you have already failed," Gorman said.

Meanwhile, on the national scene, Wednesday's cancellation of a scheduled match with American University didn't help Penn State's chances to earn an at-large bid to the NCAA tournament. This makes the Michigan game more important than it was just a couple of days earlier, as the Lions now have one less chance to impress the selection committee before the Big Ten Tournament.

"There's no added pressure," Penn State forward Simon Omekanda said. "It's the same whether it's three games or two, we gotta win them both."

Penn State's main problem in its NCAA resume is that, even though it has played a tough schedule, it only has one significant win out of conference -- a gritty 1-0 victory against No. 3 Maryland on Sept. 21. But on the flip side, the Lions also sport black-eye losses to George Mason and Marquette, which are a combined 11-14-3.

So a loss or a tie to the Wolverines would almost make it necessary for the Lions to win the Big Ten Tournament in order to reach the postseason.

"Our kids aren't dumb; they know what's at stake," Gorman said.

Even though the Lions and the Wolverines have similar records, the disparity between Michigan's road and Penn State's home record is immense. The Wolverines are 0-4-1, giving up two goals a game, while Penn State is 4-1-1 and has been almost impossible to score on -- allowing only three goals all season.

Michigan's offense hasn't been lighting up the scoreboard and will almost certainly have problems against the Big Ten's second-best defense. The Wolverines' leading scorers are senior forwards Trai Blanks and Ryan Alexander, who have nine and eight goals, respectively, and no Wolverine has more than nine points.

"They're not the most skilled team, like most in the Big Ten," Omekanda said. "They have a couple players that are dangerous, but other than that nothing special."

In contrast, the Penn State offense has been as clutch as can be expected from college players. The Lions are riding a five-game winning streak, which includes three straight conference overtime victories. Penn State can thank Omekanda for its recent overtime success, as he's scored the last two golden goals, including the one that clinched the Big Ten regular season title against Michigan State Sunday.

Even though the Lions have already taken care of business in the Big Ten, they still realize how important the next two games are to their postseason hopes.

"Now that we have one less game, it takes away room for slip-ups, like a tie or an eventual loss," Omekanda said. "But we are confident."