It happened again.

After an offensive outburst last Sunday against Michigan State, the Penn State men's soccer team was lackluster once more. This time against the defending national champions, No. 6 Maryland, losing 2-0 Wednesday in College Park, Md., mustering only two shots on goal in the entire game. It was Penn State's third shutout loss to an ACC opponent in as many games this season.

The Nittany Lions (2-6-1, 1-0 Big Ten) hope their struggles against ACC competition isn't indicative of how their Big Ten conference season will play out. They get another shot to prove their worth against No. 14 Northwestern (7-1, 1-0), 12:30 p.m. Sunday in Evanston, Ill.

It will be Penn State's first return to Evanston since winning the Big Ten Tournament there in 2005, though its only meeting with Northwestern was a 4-1 victory at Jeffrey Field earlier in the season.

Head coach Barry Gorman hopes to replicate some of the success his Lions had against the Spartans. Unfortunately, some of the younger players are still going through growing pains.

"A lot of guys are banged up," Gorman said. "If you don't have experience, obviously, you're putting in newcomers who didn't expect to play so much so soon. Sometimes [the freshmen] don't have the strength to keep going when it gets later in the game."

For the Lions, "banged up" is an understatement. Nagging injuries plagued them early this season, but the bomb was dropped on Sunday, when sophomore star Jason Yeisley went down with an apparently serious knee injury. There is no timetable for his return.

Despite the shutdown of the offense and the injury to Yeisley, the Lions aren't discouraged. Senior defender Markku Viitanen, a 2005 All-Big Ten selection, made his much-anticipated return from an ankle injury against the Terrapins and his presence will certainly solidify the security in front of goalkeeper Conrad Taylor, the current Big Ten Defensive Player of the Week.

With a decimated frontline, it will take more than the efforts of Taylor defensively to prevent opposing goals and creating offensive opportunities.

"We have the personnel in there, it's just a matter of getting to the ball," Taylor said.

The defense will have to keep its eyes on Northwestern forwards David Roth and Gerardo Alvarez. Alvarez is the Wildcats' all-time leader in assists, and Roth, the team leader with four goals, was named Big Ten Offensive Player of the Week earlier this season.

The sense of urgency is apparent with Penn State's veterans, but they aren't in full-blown panic mode -- yet.

"It's so important to get league wins," senior midfielder Jeff Chambers said. "Last year we started the exact same way, then we won the conference."