After three Big Ten games across four grueling days this past weekend in Bloomington, Ind., the Penn State men's soccer team had a well-deserved off day Monday.
However, they did get a workout Monday night -- at least for their voices and arms.
There was plenty of cheer and jubilation to go around in the small conference room at Rec Hall when the NCAA Division I men's soccer tournament selection show announced Penn State on the lower-right side of the bracket.
The Nittany Lions (12-7-2) claimed the seventh seed in the 48-team tournament and received a bye to the second round of the competition. Sunday, they will host the winner of Thursday's game between Loyola (Md.) and Maryland.
The Lions have posted an undefeated 7-0-2 record so far at Jeffrey Field and will host a second tournament game if they can get a win Sunday.
And while Penn State has displayed an improved record away from home in 2009, senior Frank Costigliola, set to make his first NCAA tournament appearance, knows the comfort of playing at Jeffrey.
"When you have traveling and all the stuff, that really takes a toll on your legs," he said. "Just being in a familiar environment, it definitely helps the team. I think just having everything that goes along with being at home, staying at your own house, eating the food that you exactly want to eat and all that stuff, I think it incorporates into really getting truly prepared for the game."
Coach Barry Gorman, who last steered his program to the tournament in 2005, said his team earned the high rank after "three years in the wilderness."
The team had already seen Big Ten foes Northwestern, Indiana, Michigan State and Ohio State's tournament placement on the selection show before their own position was revealed.
While there was still uncertainty as to what their eventual seed would be, the players applauded in approval at Ohio State's No. 4 seed and Michigan State's No. 14 seed, knowing they would fall somewhere in between.
"As soon as we saw Michigan State and the teams that we beat, it made us feel even better about it," sophomore Corey Hertzog said. "When we saw Ohio State was four, we figured we were around there."
If the Terrapins, the defending national champions, win their first-round game, Justin Lee would get to see his identical twin brother, Alex Lee.
However, Alex is out of action after being struck by a car in October, so the brothers won't get a chance to go head-to-head.
"In high school, we always thought that we'd probably go to the same college," Lee said. "After we both committed to different schools, we always kind of joked about it, but I didn't think it would really happen."
Penn State's region of the bracket also includes No. 2 seed Virginia, No. 10 seed Harvard and No. 15 seed North Carolina State, while Akron earned the first overall seed.
After the selection show ended, Gorman reminded the team anything can happen in the one-and-done national tournament.
"The question is, why not us this year?" he said. "Why not us? So we've got everything to play for and everything to shoot for."
