We're Getting There with Pickin' Nits

I could listen to Penn State men's basketball coach Pat Chambers give motivational speeches all day long. His #relentless attitude toward motivating his own players is one reason why I hope he stays around Happy Valley for a while.

If Pat gave a pre-game motivational speech to every team, I don't think Penn State would lose another game the rest of their existence. Even though the likelihood of that happening is next to none, the Nittany Lions are starting to put the pieces back together. We may get knocked down, but we get back up because WE ARE!

Cross Country

Penn State posted an effort in Terre Haute, IN, that Larry Bird would be proud of. The men tied for an 8th place finish out of 46 schools, and the women finished 10th out of 43 at the Indiana State Pre-National Invitational on Saturday.

Senior Glen Burkhardt paced the men with a 36th place finish clocking in at 24:53 and four Nittany Lions finished in the top 100 out of a possible 311 racers. Colorado finished first as a team placing four runners out of the top nine overall.

Freaking hippies out there in Mile High (emphasis on the high). The men tied with Ole Miss with 363 points.

Freshman Elizabeth Chikotas finished 9th and continued her stellar first year in Happy Valley. It was the second fastest time for a freshman at the meet only behind Cal's Bethan Knights who finished in 5th.

Keep on running ladies and gentlemen!

This Week Ahead: Both teams will get rest this weekend before heading to Iowa City for the Big Ten Championships.

Field Hockey

Penn State finished the complete sweep going 3-0 with wins over Bucknell, Rutgers and Indiana at home.

Two of senior Laura Gebhart's three goals came in the first 10 minutes for the 4-1 win over Bucknell on Tuesday. Bucknell is still a pest to play in basketball.

Redshirt senior Kylie Licata held firm in the net to for a 3-0 win over Rutgers on Friday. Since I'm in such a giddy mood for college hoops to start up again, here's what Rutgers' floor design will look like this year. It still burns deep in this midwestern heart that they're in the Big Ten.

Back to field hockey for now. It was senior day to cap off a hectic week as the No. 5 Nittany Lions took down No. 18 Indiana 2-1. It was only fitting seniors Taylor Herold and Laura Gebart pitched in for the victory.

The Nittany Lions also wore pink jerseys for the game in recognition of breast cancer awareness month. Way to go ladies! Keep fightin' the rest of the year.

This Week Ahead: Penn State travels to Iowa on Friday night to take on the Hawkeyes.

Soccer

After suffering the worst loss the program has seen in seven years last week at Maryland, Penn State's slide continued with a 2-0 loss to No. 16 Michigan State on Saturday. Sparty got to the Elite 8 last year and lost to eventual national champion Notre Dame and this team is very capable to do the same if not better this year.

Both of the Michigan State goals came in the first half only six minutes a part, but that was all that was needed on a rainy and cold night at Jeffrey Field to take down the No. 12 Nittany Lions.

Keep workin' guys! Get those losses out of the way now, learn from it and make sure the best soccer is yet to come.

This Week Ahead: The Lions look to get back on track this week with visits from West Virginia and Wisconsin on Wednesday and Sunday respectively.

Volleyball

The last time I saw Russ Rose, he was not content with a win over Northwestern. This week, his No. 7 Nittany Lions took down No. 14 Purdue in West Lafayette 3-2.

Senior Nia Grant, junior Aiyana Whitney and freshman Ali Frantti each recorded double-digit kill numbers over the Boilermakers.

On Saturday, it was business as usual at Indiana. 3-0 Penn State win.

This Week Ahead: Michigan and Michigan State come into Rec Hall for Friday/Saturday home games. I feel bad almost nobody will be there to watch the Michigan State game since we'll all be busy getting our white on for the Buckeyes over at Beaver Stadium!