For a defending Big Ten championship team returning nine starters, early season struggles were not what the Penn State men's soccer team had in mind.

The Nittany Lions entered 2006 ranked No. 5 nationally, but dropped eight spots to No. 13 when they lost three of their first four games.

The Lions lost to unranked Furman, No. 16 Wake Forest, and No. 5 North Carolina, and were shut out in all three contests.

During the course of four games, the team managed only two goals, both in its 2-1 win against Hartwick to close out the Ohio State Classic.

But head coach Barry Gorman isn't worried -- yet. The lack of scoring could be attributed to the adjustment to a new offense designed to showcase the strengths of forwards Jason Yeisley and Simon Omekanda.

"The idea is to utilize Simon's speed and pace and Jason's strength," Gorman said. "We have players who are capable of scoring goals on this squad."

In fact, the onset of the season is eerily similar to last year's 0-4-1 start, which, of course, led to a perfect Big Ten record and a conference championship.

"We have played well, but we need to put together a whole 90 minutes," Gorman said. "It was a disappointing start, but we have a lot of time to fix it."

Like last season, there are plenty of reasons to be optimistic.

Yeisley, 2005's Big Ten Freshman of the Year, and junior goalkeeper Conrad Taylor, were selected to the Carolina Nike Classic All-Tournament team, and Omekanda was named to the College Soccer News Preseason All-America first team.

"I am very confident," Taylor said. "We have the same back four [on defense] returning as strong as ever. Obviously, we are not in midseason form but that will come with time."

Penn State was a shocking champion last season, but it will not have the ability to sneak up on teams in 2006. Unheralded players have suddenly become high priorities for opposing team's gameplans.

Yeisley knows he is a marked man.

"I am certainly not going to surprise anyone this season," Yeisley said. "Last year, I didn't have a name."

Gorman is looking for injured players to heal and younger players, such as freshman Jacobo Vera, to win jobs. Vera socred the game-winning goal against Hartwick.