Last season, Penn State men’s soccer finished last in the Big Ten. That meant that it missed the Big Ten Tournament just one year after coming a win away from taking the tournament home. Now, it could face the same fate as last season after winning only one of its first five games in conference play.

However, hope is not completely lost for the Nittany Lions. Despite having only four points in conference play and being tied for second-to-last place in Big Ten standings, it still has a path to the conference tournament.

Only four out of 11 teams make the tournament. Right now, the blue and white are only six points behind third-place Michigan, which is tied with Rutgers and UCLA with 10 points.

There are only five games left for Penn State, and the path begins on Friday when it takes on Northwestern at Jeffrey Field in its annual White Out game. Even though Northwestern is tied on points with Penn State, head coach Jeff Cook knows that the Wildcats will present a huge challenge for his team.

“One of the keys is for us to really focus on Northwestern first, and they’ve been a very good team in possession,” Cook said. “What I think is really interesting this year about the Big Ten is that every team seems to have its own style of play and own personality. So, I think the Northwestern game will present one set of challenges and when we get to Washington, another one.”

Heading into the final five games of the season, the Nittany Lions have been playing some of their best soccer of the season despite losing to UCLA last week. They are unbeaten in four of their last five games, including a stretch where they won three games in a row. During this unbeaten stretch, they showed that they are up for the challenge against ranked opponents. Penn State tied with Maryland, which is first in the Big Ten standings with 14 points.

A big component in this stretch run has been freshman goalkeeper Jonathan Evans, who was named Big Ten Freshman of the Week last week. He has been instrumental for Penn State this season, allowing an average of 1.22 goals per game and a save percentage of 71.8%. Despite Evans’ contributions, Cook emphasized that everyone on the team has played a key role in this stretch.

“We want, here at Penn State, always to play to win, and I think the mentality in this recent run of good form has been very important,” Cook said. “That’s driven by guys like Malick Daouda, Freddie Bell, Caden [Grabfelder], Ben Madore, and guys who can take the ball under pressure and handle the ball when the game is really up for grabs.”

The Nittany Lions have a golden opportunity to run the table to make the Big Ten Tournament. During their final five-game stretch, they will take on teams like Washington, Ohio State, and Michigan, who are above them in the standings. Along with Northwestern, they will face Wisconsin, which is currently last in the Big Ten standings.

That means that 15 points are up for grabs for the blue and white. For that reason, Cook said that he wants his team to control its destiny and not think about depending on others. While making the Big Ten Tournament is a goal for this team heading into the final stretch of the season, Cook emphasized that the Nittany Lions need to take it one game at a time if they want to snag all 15 points.

“Win Friday, I’ve said this a lot, but there are 15 points up for grabs. We can only get 15 points if we get three on Friday, and that’s kind of been our mentality,” Cook said. “We think about these last five games as five consecutive championship games. A shutout gives us a chance to win a knockout kind of competition, so that’s really important to us.”