Senior Tiffany Weimer was looking for blood early in the second half of yesterday's game and she found it in the way she least expected minutes later.

Shortly after taking a ball directly off the face early in the second half of yesterday's second-round NCAA Tournament game against West Virginia, she doubled over along the sideline and examined her nose, expecting the worst.

"I thought it was broke," Weimer said with a smile after the game.

After confirming that her nose was in all the right places with junior defender Denay Riley, Weimer streaked upfield in time to head a perfectly placed cross from right-side defender Heather Tomko. The goal gave No. 1-seed Penn State (21-0-1) a 3-1 lead, serving as the knockout blow in a 5-2 Penn State win that set up a date with Texas A&M next weekend at Jeffrey Field in the Sweet 16.

"I think it helped, 'cause we kind of put them away," Weimer said. "Well, at the time we thought we put them away, but obviously the next two goals were just as important as that third one."

Weimer's 28th goal of the season not only broke the single-season Big Ten goal-scoring record previously held by Nittany Lion great Christie Welsh, but it also ended any realistic hopes of a West Virginia comeback.

The Mountaineers had scored 14 minutes earlier to cut a 2-0 deficit in half. The strike by Kim Bonilla seemed to awaken both sides as both teams continually harassed the opposing team's defense.

Senior goalie Erin McLeod, who fought off the onslaught that began late in the first half, helped preserve the lead until the offense could regain control of the game compliments of Weimer's goal.

Her biggest save came at the close of the first half when she dove and flicked the ball away with her fingertips. That save, Penn State women's soccer coach Paula Wilkins said, may have been the biggest play of the game.

"I thought especially the save at the end of the half to keep it 2-0, I thought was pivotal in the game," she said. "I think if you go into halftime 2-1, it's a little bit different game. I think she did a great job especially with the aerial attack they were creating for us. She did a great job to control the box and made some key saves there."

Weimer's goal was the catalyst in opening up an exposed Mountaineer defense.

Forced to take out a defender to generate more pressure upfield, the Mountainers left the defensive side of the field vulnerable. Freshman midfielder Zoe Bouchelle and sophomore forward Aubrey Aiden-Buie capitalized on the porous backfield, adding goals of their own.

In the opening weekend of the tournament, Penn State beat up West Virginia and Bucknell. Friday evening, the Lions knocked off the Bison 6-0 with six different goal scorers, while not allowing a registered shot on goal until the waning moments of the contest.

In the most telling stat, Penn State had more goals on the weekend (11) than the opposition had shots on net (9).

The Lions accomplished this without the services of junior midfielder Ali Krieger, a necessity for the duration of the tournament. Penn State learned Friday that their co-captain would be out for the remainder of the season due to a broken right fibula sustained in last Wednesday's practice.

Although an untimely injury combined with past postseason woes can haunt a team, Penn State exorcised those postseason demons by not allowing them to enter the field, at least for the time being, as it has already improved on last year's finish.

"With all of the sort of adversity of the first tie and the first loss and obviously Ali getting hurt, I thought this team has been spot on where they need to be," Wilkins said.