Lounging in a plush chair, Lindsay Bach watched a big-screen television, shaking her foot impatiently.

"Hurry up," the fifth-year senior defender and co-captain said to the ESPNews anchor who was discussing Terrell Owens' dismissal from the Philadelphia Eagles. "Who cares about T.O.?"

Bach, surrounded by the rest of the No. 1 Penn State women's soccer team, was anxiously awaiting ESPNews' announcement of the 64-team field for this year's NCAA Tournament. When it finally came a little after 5 p.m., the Nittany Lions burst into cheers, happy to know that they were one of four No. 1 seeds in the soccer tournament.

"I like that," Bach said, finally happy with ESPNews' programming.

Penn State will face neighboring Bucknell at 5 p.m. Friday at Jeffrey Field in the first round of the tournament.

No. 2 Portland, No. 3 North Carolina and No. 4 UCLA will be the top seeds in the other regions.

Despite being the top team in the nation, owning a 19-0-1 record and knowing they could not be left out of the tournament, the Lions were not entirely sure that they would earn a top seed.

"With what they did in the season, they would expect to be that," Penn State women's soccer coach Paula Wilkins said. "But you never know what's going to happen in the NCAA Selection Committee. You wait three or four days, and the anticipation and the preparation for that is a little bit nerve racking."

The wait certainly contributed to Bach's impatience, as she spent most of the day wondering what seed her team would be, where they would play and what the experts were thinking.

"I wanted them to get to it," she said with a smile.

The show was everything Penn State could have wanted, and the team cheered when Wilkins talked about the team on air via telephone.

However, not everything said supported Penn State.

As if avenging last years early exit from the tournament wasn't motivation enough for the Lions, ESPNews' soccer analyst Wendy Gebauer-Palladino, a former soccer star at UNC, didn't even pick Penn State to make the College Cup, soccer's equivalent to NCAA basketball's Final Four.

Gebauer-Palladino picked Santa Clara, Portland, UNC and UCLA.

"Perfect," Wilkins said immediately after the prediction. "Because that's the best way you guys work."

Her team has worked well as the underdog this year, beating both Virginia and UCLA when those respective teams were ahead of the Lions in the polls.

Last year, many analysts picked Penn State to win the tournament, only to see the Lions eliminated by Maryland in the second round. Senior forward Carmelina Moscato said she would rather be picked to lose than be picked to win again.

"I don't think that stuff matters," Moscato said, referring to Gebauer-Palladino's picks. "She's one person with that opinion, and there's a whole country with a million opinions."

Associate Athletic Director Susan Delaney-Scheetz watched the announcement with the team, and afterwards urged the team to put all they had into this tournament.

"How bad do you want it?" she asked.

Long after the television had been turned off and most players had gone their separate ways, freshman midfielder Allie Long had an answer.

"More than anything," she said. "I can't describe how bad. I got chills sitting in there just waiting."