Lions on verge of tournament berth

Penn State had already went a long way to helping its cause by winning its last six games, but it still had one more test in No. 11 Hartwick. The Lions passed the test with flying colors, recording a 3-0 rout Friday night at Jeffrey Field against the Hawks (11-5-1, 5-1-0 Atlantic Soccer).

"We knew that they were a little over-hyped being in a pretty weak conference," Penn State midfielder Brian Devlin said. "Their strength of schedule wasn't nearly what ours is. They weren't that bad. They were good, but we just showed how much better we were."

The one thing that wasn't over-hyped was the stellar Penn State defense. Once again, the defense showed why the Lions were able to go undefeated in the Big Ten. Junior Markku Viitanen and company allowed only two shots on goal and was bailed out on a lapse by an acrobatic save from sophomore goalkeeper Conrad Taylor. Taylor, who earned a Big Ten Defensive Player of the Week award last week, recorded his seventh clean sheet of the season.

On the offensive end, Penn State jumped on Hartwick early and often. The Lions used their superior quickness to make quick work of the Hawks' defenders. This obvious advantage in speed allowed Penn State to control the ball for the majority of the game.

Penn State's first goal was a product of the discrepancy in quickness, as junior midfielder Jeff Chambers came out of seemingly nowhere to intercept a Hartwick pass. Chamber then deposited the turnover behind Hawks' goalkeeper Joseph Gibson for his first goal in more than a year -- a golden goal against Michigan State.

"Jeff's goal was a good goal," Penn State men's soccer coach Barry Gorman said. "He's good at that stuff. He can hit a good ball."

Chambers is known for his solid crosses and corner kicks, not his goal scoring. But one Lion, who is known for his tremendous offensive ability, showed once again why he is Penn State's most feared forward.

Junior Simon Omekanda dominated the Hartwick defenders all game, looking like he could do whatever he wanted, when he wanted on offense.

"I told Simon, 'Play like you're on TV, national television game,' " Walter said. "He always looks good in those games."

The last time Omekanda played in front of a national television audience was on Oct. 1 against No. 5 Indiana. He assisted on the first goal of that game when he danced around and through three Hoosier defenders and fed the ball to a wide-open Jason Yeisley.

So on Friday night, without the aid of cameras, Omekanda looked very impressive, as he was able to tallied two goals. But it was his first that had the players talking after the game.

With Penn State already up 1-0 in the first half, Omekanda took a pass from freshman forward/midfielder Christoph Ascherl and dribbled forward looking for his next move. That's when Devlin began yelling at him from the midfield.

"Sushi's going, 'He's out, chip it,' " Omekanda said, with a smile. "I look and I see he's out so I'm like, 'I don't know man.' "

Omekanda took a few more steps, let the shot go and watched it land behind Gibson for his fifth goal of the season. Omekanda said he got lucky because if he took that shot again he would've missed it completely.

"Simon's goal was magic," Gorman said. "That's what we want him to do, to be heads up and think rather than just using speed and brut force."

The Lions' quickness came into play for the third goal when Omekanda out-ran the Hartwick defense and buried his second goal of the game.

With the win, the Lions have now won seven in a row and are getting hot at the right time. If Penn State continues to play well, then they won't have to worry about the selection committee after all.