Experts say the hardest thing in sports is beating an opponent three straight times in one season.

But for the Penn State men's soccer team, this task is much more difficult and rewarding than in the average situation. With the NCAA tournament beginning today, the No. 11-seed Nittany Lions (12-6-2) may have to defeat No. 3-seed Indiana for the third time if they want to reach the Final Four in Gary, N.C.

Penn State would have to defeat Seton Hall (13-3-3) at 7 tonight at Jeffrey Field, and then possibly defeat No. 6-seed Duke in the third round to get that rematch with the Hoosiers.

The Pirates are no pushover for the Lions. They are lead by M.A.C. Hermann Trophy semifinalist Sacha Kljestan, who has 33 points on the season. Penn State men's soccer coach Barry Gorman said the main key to the game is all in the players' minds.

"Not making dumb, stupid mistakes," Penn State men's soccer coach Barry Gorman said. "Players have to play with a freedom from that and a knowledge of it."

Penn State has been especially susceptible to losing games on one minor slip-up. Because of the small margin of error the Lions leaves themselves, 13 of their 20 games have been decided by one goal.

Obviously, this will be especially important the farther the Lions advance in the tournament. But the microscope on the small things doubles if the Lions do end up meeting Indiana for the third time. The Hoosiers are still the two-time defending national champion even though their only two losses came at the hands of Penn State.

"We don't fear them; we respect them," Penn State co-captain David Walters said. "Some teams fear them because they are afraid of losing, but we know that you can't fear losing to them."

Facing the Hoosiers in a game of this magnitude is nothing new for the Lions. In their first meeting on Oct. 1, the Lions were rolling down a hill faster than a runaway tire. Penn State was 2-6-2 and coming off a terrible 1-1 tie against St. Bonaventure in which Walters tied the game up with an own goal.

The Lions then headed to Bloomington, Ind., and in front of a national television audience on Fox Sports Soccer Channel, junior forward Simon Omekanda came through in the spotlight and saved Penn State's season.

Omekanda made two tremendous feeds to freshman forward Jason Yeisley, both resulting in goals, with the second sealing an improbable overtime victory.

After the shocking victory at Indiana, the Lions won nine of the last 10 to finish the regular season.

"Anytime you beat Indiana, you're going to gain confidence," Walters said. "Beating them twice gives even that much more confidence."

The second victory against the Hoosiers came in the Big Ten Tournament final.

Indiana dominated the play for the first 86 minutes of the game. The game changed on a quick counterattack from the Lions, when Indiana's nemesis, Yeisley, struck again and chipped the game winner by sophomore goalkeeper Chris Munroe.

"We still see them as Indiana," Walters said. "There are times when we think they might score, and someone comes up with a big play or save. They had a ton of chances [in the Big Ten championship game], but we just happened to put away ours."

It was this victory that allowed Penn State the opportunity to give Indiana a third and final loss of the season. But the Lions still have to win two games in the tournament before they can even think of the remarkable feat.

If Wynalda says it, it must be...

While, the team watched the ESPNews NCAA tournament selection show Nov. 14 in Rec Hall, there was speculation from everyone in the room on just how far they could go.

When ESPNews teased that there would be more on the Lions after the commercial break, Penn State assistant coach Marlon LeBlanc joked, "What are they going to say about us?"

The show returned and it came time for ESPN analyst Eric Wynalda -- the all-time leading goal scorer in U.S. soccer history -- to make his Final Four predictions. The Lions paid close attention to the former soccer star and exploded into cheering and yelling when Wynalda reveled that his darkhorse team was none other than Penn State.