This weekend was a monumental occasion for the Penn State women's soccer team: Nine straight Big Ten titles, 100 Big Ten wins and one highly anticipated return.

Sophomore midfielder Zoe Bouchelle made her season debut this weekend, after sitting out the entire first half of the season with an upper leg injury.

As the Lions' returning leading scorer from 2005, she left a huge gap in the offense when she was sidelined with the injury in preseason workouts. She appeared in every game last year, and started 17.

Continuing where she left off last year, Bouchelle provided the offensive spark in the Big Ten title-clinching game yesterday against Northwestern. As Penn State trailed 1-0 with 20 minutes left in the game, Bouchelle found sophomore midfielder Allie Long just inside the 18-yard box for the game-tying score, needless to say Bouchelle's first assist of the year.

Bouchelle didn't have much time to readjust herself to game speed. She saw time briefly in Friday's game against Wisconsin, less than a week after she was cleared to practice. However, it didn't take her long to make an impact. Besides her assist in yesterday's game, she managed two shots, one on goal.

"We were expecting to get only 10 minutes out of her for the half," head coach Paula Wilkins said. "She was doing a good job of settling the ball down and winning a lot of balls in the air. So we sorta continued with it and, considering she hasn't played much, she did a very good job."

Although she still has to get back her quickness and touch, her teammates were happy to see her back on the field.

"Zoe is a great player," senior Ali Krieger said. "It's hard to get back into things so quickly. She had a great practice the other day. She's getting ready to play, so we'll put her in and see what happens."

Bouchelle redshirted her freshman year at Penn State, so she would be unable to take another medical redshirt this year unless the team petitioned the NCAA. However, having Bouchelle back, even this late in the season, will give the Lions more offensive punch. With the playing time that Bouchelle received this weekend, Wilkins hopes that she will be able to contribute to the team's postseason run.

"We're gonna need her down the line here," Wilkins said. "We need to get her in games."

Injuries were a huge detriment to the team in the first half of the season. Junior defender Denay Riley, senior midfielder Jean Rettig and Bouchelle all suffered early-season injuries, leaving the Lions starting lineup depleted.

Now, as the players finally return with one game left in the regular season, all the pieces are falling into place at the right time. After struggling early, the defense has finally come together, and the offense is continuing to keep the Lions on the winning end of the score. Returning experienced players like Bouchelle will only strengthen the team as it moves into postseason play.

"Not that we had fallen apart one bit, but there were some bumps and obstacles at the beginning," Krieger said. "To finally just come together, and with everything building up, we've earned it. We've shown that to everyone in the Big Ten, and they can't beat us."