Northwestern will get another shot at knocking off a ranked Big Ten opponent Friday at 4 p.m. when No. 20 Penn State travels to Lakeside Field. Western Michigan is set to make the trip at 1 p.m. Sunday.

The Nittany Lions (6-4, 1-1) come into the weekend having won three of their last four matches. The only loss (1-0) during that span came against national power Indiana in double overtime.

"Every time we play a top Big Ten team we try to close the gap," said NU head coach Tim Lenahan. "We hope to compete well enough to get a result."

Chad Severs is perhaps PSU's most potent weapon to date. The sophomore from Ocean City, N.J. already has eight goals and two assists. He leads the Big Ten in both goals and points (18) and is second with 39 shots.

Pasi Karpinnen leads the Big Ten, along with NU's Tito Lara (Joliet, Ill./Joliet), with three game-winning goals.

Ryan Moate is Penn State's primary goalkeeper. He is 4-3 on the season with a 1.11 goals against average (GAA). Ryan Sickman has also seen his fair share of action in goal, picking up two shutouts along the way.

Western Michigan is led by Jeff Hughes and Chad Wiseman, who each have a pair of goals. Ian Spooner will likely get the nod as the Broncos' goalkeeper. He has a 2.00 GAA and 35 saves.

"Western Michigan is coming into our house on Sunday," Lenahan said. "It's parents weekend, so we'd like to get two good results this weekend."

Senior goalkeeper J.D. Martin has three shutouts thus far.