Two key players may have moved on, but make no mistake about it, this team has the potential to contend for a title.

The 2002 Penn State men's soccer team returns 14 letterwinners from last year's squad, which recorded a 14-5-1 record (5-2-1 Big Ten.

The team reached the third round of the NCAA tournament before being knocked off in triple overtime by current No. 3 St. John's.

The No. 17 Nittany Lions are led by senior tri-captains Ben Dawson, a first team all-Big Ten defender, Jorma Makipaa and midfielder Brent Jacquette.

Jacquette will be asked to pick up a large part of the slack left by the graduation of All-American honorees Derek Potteiger and Ricardo Villar.

Both of the players were drafted to play professionally.

"I think (Dawson) and Jacquette are definite candidates for All-American status," Penn State men's soccer coach Barry Gorman said in a press release.

Jacquette will anchor a talented group of midfielders.

These players include Gabe Bernstein and David Walters (last year's runner-up for high school national player of the year), a trio which could help fans forget about Potteiger and Villar.

"I expect us to be better than the other teams that I have been on," Jacquette said.

One aspect the young Lions will greatly miss is the scoring from their graduated mates.

Villar and Potteiger had a combined 44 points last season.

While assistant coach Marlon LeBlanc said he is not concerned with anything this early in the season, scoring is something the Lions must find from new places.

The man they will most likely turn to is forward Chad Severs.

He captured Big Ten co-rookie of the year honors last season while finishing second on the team in scoring.

"Chad is a natural goal scorer," Gorman said. "He has an ability to sniff out goals."

If Severs can play up to his potential and get help from a variety of other forwards, scoring should not be too much of a concern.

No matter how many goals are scored this season the team must play defense.

The key to winning is preventing the other team from reaching the back of the net is always a priority.

Luckily for the Lions, they have a talented backfield.

Co-captains Makipaa and Dawson will be joined by sophomore Kenji Treschuk.

This will give the Lions three fourths of their starting defense from last season. Another area where the Lions are not only talented but deep is goalkeeper.

Both Ryan Sickman and Eric Earnhardt return and will push for the starting job after seeing quality minutes last season.

"Right now Sickman is our number one (goalie)," LeBlanc stated.

Regardless of who is in the goalie net, the Lions must be ready to tackle one of the more challenging regular season schedules in the country. The Lions will take on 10 teams that qualified for the NCAA tournament last year, including No.1 Indiana.

If the Lions can fit all of the pieces into their puzzle, which includes the seventh-best recruiting class in the country, according to the College Soccer News, big things can happen this season in Happy Valley.