“We were sitting at 2-6-1 and we knew there was a possibility,” said Penn State senior forward Megan Monroig. “We had people that wrote us off, but none of us thought we were done. We still had ten soccer games to win.”

Lacking experience and having to overcome a rough start, many thought this would be the season that Penn State would not win its conference title for the first time in 13 years.

They may have thought wrong.

Heading into their final regular season game Sunday the Nittany Lions can clinch at least a share of their 13th straight Big Ten title with a victory. Who would have thought?

After starting the season on a high note, with a victory at West Virginia and a draw versus a very good Virginia team, things all went downhill from there. Penn State endured a five-game losing streak and by the halfway mark they were looking at an abysmal 2-6-1 record.

Coach Erica Walsh had to replace eight starting players from last season and the experience on the team was thin with Monroig and Danielle Toney (#53 Top 100 Upperclassmen) representing the only seniors on the roster.

“We had lots of young kids with no experience at all,” Walsh said. “Some kids had only been on campus for five weeks and they were expected to go out and beat Virginia and Portland.”

With too many adversaries to count; the bad start, a young team, and a program that is used to winning, the Penn State players started hearing the questions about their lack of performance.

“There were many doubts in the team,” said Tani Costa (#9 Big Ten Top 20), “Friends were asking us ‘what’s happening’, we would get emails and so many people doubted us, but all that doubt drove us to get better.”

Despite the rough start, the freshmen group started to step up. First-year forwards Maya Hayes (#41 Top 100 Freshmen) and Hayley Brock (#34 Top 100 Freshmen) have played in every game, while defender Bri Hovington leads all the freshmen in starts with 12. Freshman forward Costa, who has only started five games, leads the team with eight goals.

Once conference play started, Coach Walsh noticed that the team began to play better and it showed in the results as the Nittany Lions have gone 7-2 in conference play.

“We play soccer the right way,” said Walsh, “This group has come a long ways.”

But was it a little too late?

Ohio State was leading the conference going into last Sunday and all it needed to clinch the Big Ten title was a road win over a 6-11-1 Indiana team.

Lo and behold!

Indiana upset the conference-leading Buckeyes with a 1-0 victory while that same day Penn State was taking care of its own business over at Purdue with a convincing 6-1 win. The victory set up a tie between Penn State and Ohio State with 7-2 conference records going into the final game of the season.

With Wisconsin currently at the top at 7-1-2 with 23 points, Penn State (21 points) needs to defeat Michigan and needs Ohio State (21 points) to lose to Michigan State to claim the Big Ten title outright. It can also share the title if both Ohio State and Penn State are victorious.

Many in the Penn State locker room will be watching the Ohio State game, hoping for a Spartan victory, giving the Nittany Lions the opportunity to claim sole possession of the Big Ten title. Again.

“This year has been one of the most challenging and most rewarding seasons [in the past 12 years]” said Walsh. “I would hand the trophy to the players, they’re the ones who deserve it.”

If Penn State wins the title, the program will be celebrating one of the sweetest comebacks in the school’s soccer history.

Remember:

It ain’t over til the fat lady sings.