Penn State men’s soccer’s season comes to a disappointing end on Friday.

Last in the Big Ten standings with five points heading into the final game of the season and with only four teams making the Big Ten Tournament, the Nittany Lions will miss it back-to-back years. Just two years ago, they were one win away from claiming the title. They will also miss the NCAA Tournament because of their regular-season record.

Despite this, the team has a great chance to close out the disappointing season on a positive note when it faces No. 10 Michigan on Friday night at Jeffrey Field. Penn State heads into the regular-season finale on a three-game losing streak and has been shut out in its last two games. Although the Nittany Lions have only won one game in conference play, they have been highly competitive in their last two games against ranked opponents at home.

The Nittany Lions tied with Maryland, which is first in the Big Ten standings and guaranteed a top-two seed in the Big Ten Tournament. Despite losing to Washington, second in the Big Ten standings, they only lost by one goal and came close to tying. Heading into the final game of the season, Penn State head coach Jeff Cook sent a message to his team about what he wants to see from them.

“We represent Penn State; we’re really proud of it. This game is important to us, our community, and we have to go out there and embrace that responsibility,” Cook said. “We don’t take that lightly. We’re really gutted that the season is going to be over after the game tomorrow night, but we want to go out the best possible way, and that’s performing really well.”

Michigan will be a very tricky opponent for the Nittany Lions. It is the No. 10 team in the country, and going into this game with a five-game winning streak. It sits third in the Big Ten standings with 19 points, and this game has a lot of implications. The Wolverines are only two points behind Washington, and even though they don’t control their destiny to gain the second seed, they have a chance to gain it if they get the results they need. Cook talked about the challenge the Wolverines will bring to his team.

“They’re having an excellent season. Really dangerous team going forward,” Cook said. “They have good width in their attacking play, and they’ve produced a lot of goal threats throughout what’s been a good run for them. So, we expect a great game tomorrow night at Jeffrey Field.”

Last season, Penn State ended the season with a four-game losing streak on the road with a loss against Northwestern. This time, it will have the opportunity to close out the season at Jeffrey Field, where four of Penn State’s five wins this season have come, only losing one game at home by more than one goal, which came against Indiana at a score of 4-1.

Despite the disappointing end to the season, Cook thanked the Penn State fans, including the Park Avenue Army, for all their support this season. Ahead of the finale, he urged people to come support the team one last time.

“For me, the support we’ve had at Jeffrey Field from our fans, led by the Park Avenue Army, has made this. I’m hoping that one last celebration of that can happen tomorrow night,” Cook said. “Our group of student-athletes has worked tremendously hard; we’ve been so competitive all year. What I would ask is we need that little bit of extra support to help drive us over the line to get a really memorable final game and a good win at Jeffrey [Field].”

The Nittany Lions will close out their season at Jeffrey Field against No. 10 Michigan on Friday, November 7, at 8 p.m. The game will be streamed on BTN+.