UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. (Sept. 10, 2003) - The Penn State men's soccer team will open the home portion of its schedule when the Nittany Lions play host to Boston College, Hartwick and Ohio State this Friday and Saturday during the Penn State Nike Classic at Jeffrey Field.

Ohio State and Hartwick will open the tournament with a match slated for 5 p.m. Friday. Penn State will battle Boston College, which is ranked 27th in the most recent CollegeSoccerNews.com poll, at 7 p.m. in a game that will be televised on a tape delay basis at 8 p.m. by CN8.

"The tournament has gotten stronger each year," said Penn State head coach Barry Gorman. "We have another slate of excellent teams in this year. People who enjoy good soccer have four quality teams to watch at Jeffrey Field this weekend."

The 12th-ranked Nittany Lions come into their home opener having won their past two games to win the Ohio State Classic. Penn State (2-2) is 6-0-1 in their last seven home openers and 239-51-19 overall on Jeffrey Field since its dedication on Sept. 29, 1972.

Freshman Simon Omekanda (Rochester Hills, Mich.), who was named to the CollegeSoccerNews.com and Soccer America National Teams-of-the-Week this week, leads the Nittany Lions with two goals and five points. Juniors Kenji Treschuk (Honolulu, Hawaii) and Chad Severs (Ocean City, N.J.) are tied for second on the team with four points each.

Omekanda and Treschuk are tied for the Big Ten lead in goals with two each. Penn State's seven goals and nine assists rank first in the conference and the Nittany Lion's averages of 1.75 goals per game and 2.25 assists per game are also tops in the Big Ten.

The Eagles enter Friday's contest with a 1-2 record after dropping a 1-0 match versus Fairleigh Dickinson on Sept. 6. Boston College opened the season with a 1-0 loss at Pittsburgh, but bounced back from that game to record a 2-0 shutout victory over Boston University.

Brendon Ferullo leads the squad with three points (1G, 1A), while Mike Cardenas has carried the load at goalkeeper with a 0.67 goals against average.

Hartwick freshman goalkeeper Josh Wagenaar has yet to yield a collegiate goal in three games. He has posted three straight 1-0 wins over Bucknell, Pittsburgh and Hofstra, respectively. Wagenaar was named the Atlantic Soccer Conference Player-of-the-Week on Monday and he earned a spot on Soccer America's National Team-of-the-Week on Wednesday.

The Hawks, who are ranked 13th in the most recent NSCAA/Adidas Coaches poll, are under the direction of first year head coach Ian McIntyre, who replaced legendary former head coach Jim Lennox. Lennox finished his career with a 318-163-43 record in 27 seasons, good for 14th on the all-time coaching victories list.

Penn State will not play the Buckeyes this weekend, but Ohio State enters with a 1-3 mark after opening the season with losses against Cal State Fullerton, No.1 UCLA and Tulsa and a win against Bradley.

A.J. Weber, Jason Ryan and Dana York have all scored one goal each for the Buckeyes this season.

For more information on the Penn State men's soccer team, please visit Penn State's official athletics website, www.GoPSUsports.com.