After sitting idle in Evanston, Ill., for the past two days, the Penn State men's soccer team finally gets to continue its quest for a NCAA berth at 11:45 a.m. today against Michigan State.

The No. 15 Nittany Lions (10-6-2, 6-0-0 Big Ten) had the pleasure of watching the three first round match-ups yesterday because of the bye given to the Big Ten regular season champ. Penn State men's soccer coach Barry Gorman sees the bye having more long-range effects than just one less game in the tournament.

"It's just not a matter of the Big Ten tournament," Gorman said. "It's a matter of, OK, if we're gonna have postseason chances, then you play three games in four days vs. two games in three days, you know, we'll go for the two games in three days, we'll take it any time. Especially since you never know what the weather's gonna be like at Northwestern."

No matter what the conditions are, Penn State will be depending on its highly skilled defense, which is ranked in the top 30 in the nation with a 0.79 goals against average this season.

The Lions have a possible Big Ten Defensive Player of the Year in goalkeeper Conrad Taylor. The sophomore has played spectacularly this season and is a main reason why the Penn State's defense is one of the best in the country. The defense's self-assurance has had a trickle-down effect, which has affected the team at seemingly the perfect time.

"The confidence was always there," Gorman said. "They believed that they were a good team, we the coaching staff believed we had a good team. It's just the results weren't falling our way early on."

The Spartans enter the game with some confidence of their own, coming off a 1-0 win yesterday against intrastate rival Michigan. Michigan State's freshman forward Doug DeMartin netted the game winner at the 53-minute mark to set up the showdown with the Lions -- and to make Penn State junior defender Markku Viitanen's wish come true, as the Lions face the defending Big Ten tournament champions.

Penn State defeated the Spartans 1-0 in double overtime on Oct. 23. to clinch the Big Ten regular season title. Michigan State is a much better match-up for the Lions than the fifth-seeded Wolverines would've been, as the Spartans and Lions offenses are almost mirror images of each other. Both have struggled to get a rhythm going the entire season and occupy the bottom two spots in goals for in the conference.

Playing a team the second time around should make an already stifling Lions defense even better. But Gorman warned to not overestimate the improvement the Spartans offense has made.

"At this point everyone knows everyone else," Gorman said. "Every team has been scouted and changes will be made on both sides."

A win over the Spartans would propel the Lions to the championship game and a possible rematch with conference powerhouse and two-time defending national champions No. 2 Indiana. But the Hoosiers have to first survive a second round match-up with second-seeded Ohio State. The Buckeyes gave the Hoosiers fits in their first meeting as Indiana hung on after coughing up a two-goal lead.

Before Penn State can worry about its championship opponent, it must take care of the Spartans and the Lake Michigan weather, where snow is likely this time of year.

"Don't use that four-letter word," Gorman said, referring to snow. "Nice rain, as long as it's not coming in sideways."

Luckily for Gorman and the Lions, and all other teams in the tournament, there is no precipitation of any kind expected. The weekend forecast predicts nice soccer weather, with temperatures in the 60s. So, no team can blame a loss on the rain.