Three weeks ago, Penn State men’s soccer was in a comfortable position to clinch a spot in the Big Ten Tournament. However, after a critical loss to Wisconsin on Saturday, the Nittany Lions are on the outside looking in for the tournament. The loss represented Penn State’s third dropped game in a row.

While Penn State’s campaign has been far from consistent, the Nittany Lions were riding high after a five-game unbeaten streak from September 20 to October 7. Three wins and two draws in that span carefully nestled them at eight points in the conference with three games left to play. Nevertheless, the Nittany Lions failed to propel themselves into the postseason after consecutive losses to Indiana, Washington, and Wisconsin.

Penn State faces a must-win game against 10th-place Northwestern on Sunday. Northwestern plays Indiana on Tuesday night, but whatever result happens doesn’t change the fact that Penn State has to defeat the Wildcats this weekend. On top of that, the Nittany Lions need other results to go their way.

Wisconsin and Michigan play each other, with the Badgers sitting at eight points and the Wolverines at 10, respectively. That match needs to result in a tie to give Penn State the best shot to clinch a spot through tiebreakers. If that were to happen, Penn State would be at 11 points, tied with Michigan. If Michigan were to win outright, Penn State would be knocked out. If Wisconsin were to win outright, tiebreakers would also have to go in favor of the Nittany Lions to clinch a tournament spot. The top seven teams in the conference qualify for the tournament.

“We’re pressured to get some assistance to make it to the Big Ten Tournament. So that’ll be our goal. We all have to take responsibility for where we are,” head coach Jeff Cook said after the result on Saturday. “That starts with me as the head coach, through our staff, and then, of course, the players.”

The Nittany Lions have only mustered two conference wins this season, and the recent losing streak has loomed large on their postseason hopes. The disappointing campaign may be attributed to the loss of key players that led Penn State’s run to the Big Ten Championship match last year, namely defender Femi Awodesu and forward Peter Mangione.

“I think we’re a better soccer team than our record would suggest. However, the table doesn’t lie,” Cook said. “I think we have to own that and we have to respond to it next week in Chicago and try everything we can to get a win and see if we can get ourselves to Chicago to represent Penn State in the Big Ten Tournament.”