Soccer is supposed to be a non-contact sport. Tonight at Jeffrey Field, it won't be.

In front of what should be packed stands and a national television audience, the Penn State men's soccer team (5-8-2, 2-2 Big Ten) is set to clash with top-10 ranked Indiana (10-3-1, 3-0-1), the team's biggest rival, at 8 tonight.

The Nittany Lions and the Hoosiers have won two of the last three Big Ten titles, and each of their last two meetings significant and brutal.

In 2004, the Hoosiers came into Happy Valley as the defending national champs ranked No. 6 in the country. The Lions, ranked No. 3, fell in a 2-1 grudge match that ended what was, at the time, a national-best 12-game unbeaten streak.

Last year, in the midst of their improbable 10-game winning streak that won them a Big Ten championship, the Lions turned the tables on the boys in red, handing Indiana only it's third-ever conference loss at home, 2-1.

This year, the drama is decidedly less, as the Lions' once promising season has imploded, mostly due to injury. However, don't expect the team in the home whites to just lay down, especially after the offensive success it had Tuesday night against Bucknell.

"Well it's just a big confidence boost," defenseman Geordie MacNeill said. "Now that were back on track, we scored three goals today. Its good to go into Indiana with that type of record."

Penn State, operating at far less than 100 percent with multiple starters on the bench, has been experimenting with its offense. Tuesday night, two of the team's three goals came from defenders playing up the field trying to create opportunities.

Penn State head coach Barry Gorman, who stresses his preference to play with a set lineup, has been forced to "think outside the box," playing defenders up into the offensive scheme and shuffling starters.

Until he joined the seemingly ever-growing list of injuries, converted defender Barkley Miller was the Lions' leading scorer.

Indiana's season hasn't exactly been the same sob story. Winner of six in a row and unbeaten in it's last eight, the Hoosiers are ranked No. 9 in the country and is the only unbeaten team left in the Big Ten.

Like Penn State, the Hoosiers have their own young standouts on offense, only theirs have been able to stay healthy. Freshman forward Darren Yeagle could give the Penn State defense fits. He leads Indiana in scoring despite missing the last four games due to illness.

The game is the first on television for the Lions this year, and the second for the Hoosiers.

Gorman, who gave his team quite a stern talking to at halftime on Tuesday, expects great things from his boys under the lights.

"Goals are in this team," he said. "It's just a matter of can we get a set lineup, can we get some people healthy.

"Going into [tonight], it's a big one. Everybody's gonna have to work their socks off."