After scoring her second goal in the NCAA Tournament, Zoe Bouchelle jumped into Denay Riley's outstretched arms. With Riley holding Bouchelle in the air in front of an elated Jeffery Field crowd, Bouchelle grinned widely, celebrating the score.

Even though Riley was holding the redshirt freshman, it has been players like Bouchelle and senior midfielder Jean Rettig that have been lifting the top-seeded Penn State women's soccer team during the tournament.

With the loss of junior co-captain and midfielder Ali Krieger to a broken right leg, Bouchelle and Rettig are hitting their stride when the Nittany Lions need them to most.

Before this weekend, Rettig hadn't scored a goal all season, but she found the net twice this weekend, once against Bucknell and once against West Virginia. Rettig's goal against the Mountaineers put the Lions up 2-0 going into halftime.

"I just happened to be in the right spot," she said. "It feels good to be able to contribute, but if I can get assists, that's great, too."

Bouchelle, who started the season slowly because of an admitted lack of conditioning, lost her starting role, but has picked up the pace lately. She added one assist to her two goals this weekend.

"Their work rate and their focus has been exactly where we need it to be, especially with the loss of Ali Krieger," Penn State women's soccer coach Paula Wilkins said after Sunday's 5-2 win against West Virginia. "We haven't missed a beat."

Rettig has been a quiet contributor all season. She's dished out four assists while starting 19 games for the Lions.

Rettig hopes that her veteran presence will give the midfield a stability that it desperately needs with Krieger done for the year.

"I've just tried to bring some leadership and just trying to keep it composed," she said. "I can't replace her, so I'm just trying to play how I know I can play."

Wilkins has also let Rettig take over the corner-kick duties, a job usually reserved for senior forward Carmelina Moscato. Rettig has been more accurate with her corner kicks, and keeping Moscato in the box has given the Lions another scoring threat off corner kicks.

"It seemed like the wise choice," Wilkins said.

And while Rettig has been a steady player all year, Bouchelle has just started to play with a level of comfort and has since regained her starting role.

Bouchelle's goal against Bucknell was her first NCAA Tournament goal. Against West Virginia, she got a defender one-on-one and easily beat her for sixth goal of the season.

"We tried to attack the wings as much as we can because it seems that's where we have the most of our success," Bouchelle said, laughing and patting Wilkins on the back. "That's what Paula makes me do, so I just try my best to do what she says."

So far in the tournament, seven different Lions have scored a goal. Sophomore forward Aubrey Aden-Buie added two goals as well and sophomore midfielder Carly Bedesem scored her first career goal against Bucknell.

In the two games without Krieger, the Lions have scored 11 goals.

Wilkins has been pleased that her team has responded so well after the loss of its co-captain and has enjoyed seeing players like Rettig and Bouchelle lifting Penn State in the playoffs.

"The best thing, and I've said it all along, is that we've been very deep," Wilkins said, adding that the team has persevered through injuries to key senior defenders, co-captain Lindsay Bach and Natalie Jacobs.

"We're prepared for this."