Nov. 7, 2010
2010 Big Ten Tournament Bracket | Big Ten Tournament Central
UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. - The fourth-seeded Penn State men's soccer team will begin pursuit of the program's fourth conference crown on Thurs., Nov. 11 at 3 p.m. when it faces No. 5 seed Northwestern (8-7-2, 2-3-1) in an opening round match-up of the 2010 Big Ten Tournament. Penn State will serve as hosts of the annual conference event for the first time since 2002, with all games to be played at the home of the Nittany Lions, Jeffrey Field.
The Nittany Lions' contest with the Wildcats will be preceded by games featuring No. 3 seed Michigan (10-4-3, 4-2-0) versus No. 6 seed Michigan State (11-6-1, 2-4-0) (10 a.m.) and No. 2 seed Ohio State (10-5-2, 4-2-0) versus No. 7 seed Wisconsin (4-12-2, 1-4-1) (12:30 p.m).
Should Penn State (11-6-1, 2-3-1) get past Northwestern in the first round, it would advance to face Big Ten regular season champion and No. 1 seed Indiana (9-6-2, 4-1-1) in a semifinal contest scheduled for 3:30 p.m. on Fri., Nov. 12. The advancing team from the Michigan-Michigan State match will meet the winner of the Ohio State-Wisconsin contest at 1 p.m. in the other semifinal. The title game is set for 12 p.m. on Sun., Nov. 14.
The Nittany Lions battled Northwestern to a 1-1 tie in their 2010 regular season match-up on Oct. 17 in Evanston, Ill. The entirety of the game's scoring came within the same minute, as Penn State got a goal from junior forward Corey Hertzog (Reading, Pa.) at the 39-minute mark of the first half but surrendered the equalizer just 41 seconds later. The Lions are 21-3-3 all-time versus Northwestern.
Overall, Penn State owns a Big Ten Tournament mark of 24-13-4; one of just two conference teams to own a winning record in the postseason competition. The Nittany Lions are undefeated versus Wisconsin (4-0) and Michigan (3-0), have lost just once to Michigan State (6-1-1), are 4-2 versus Ohio State, and own a 5-2 record against Northwestern. Their only losing record is against Indiana (2-8-3).
Penn State is 15-3-1 all-time in first round Big Ten Tournament games. Its only three opening round losses came in 1995 (Indiana), 2004 (Northwestern), and 2008 (Northwestern). In 2009, the No. 2-seeded Nittany Lions defeated Michigan in overtime, 1-0, in the first round and then went on to knock off Michigan State, 3-0, in the semifinals before falling to Ohio State, 1-0, in the Big Ten championship game.
The Big Ten Network will exclusively broadcast the Big Ten Men's Soccer Tournament, providing television coverage of the semifinals and the finals. Dean Linke and Chris Doran will provide play-by-play coverage and color analysis.