In a ceremony Wednesday night, Penn State's junior forward Tiffany Weimer was named the Big Ten's Offensive Player of the Year and in her team's first-round game of the 2004 Big Ten Tournament, she proved why that was an obvious choice. 

The rains subsided in Columbus in time for the No. 1 seeded Penn State Nittany Lions to take on the No. 8 seeded Indiana Hoosiers in the first round of the 2004 Big Ten Women's Soccer Tournament and sun shone through intermittently throughout the game's 90 minutes.  The early going of this opening-round game saw the majority of action controlled by Indiana in Penn State's half of the field, but the rushes yielded few scoring chances for the Hoosiers.  In the 10th minute, Penn State began to reverse field and from that point on, most of the action was in Penn State's offensive zone with Indiana rushes peppering the first half flow.  Penn State had a number of viable scoring opportunities in the first half, perhaps the best came when Weimer missed an open net by inches to the left while IU goalie Lauren Fabbro went to the right to cover an Amanda Lentz shot that turned into a pass for Weimer.  IU sophomore forward Megan Pipkens ended Nittany Lions rushes on a handful of occasions with spectacular steals, but another Penn State scoring chance came when All-Conference senior Amanda Lentz connected on a shot that hit the outside of the goal cage and sophomore All-Big Ten midfielder Ali Krieger followed with a shot that was cleared off the goal line by Indiana's sophomore defender Missy Vierling, who was covering far post on Fabbro's blindside.  In the 33rd minute Weimer attempted to trap a cross on her foot with only the goalie between her and the game's first score, but the ball skipped off of the wet grass and rolled harmlessly across the end line.  The first half ended with a scoreless tie with both teams missing opportunities to take the game's first lead. 

Physical play continued into the second half, but the story of this game was told in the 64th and 65th minutes of action when Weimer made her presence known.  After a steal deep in the IU half of the field, she crossed the ball to just in front of the goal and freshman forward Aubrey Aden-Buie buried it past the outstretched hands of Fabbro.  The goal was Aden-Buie's first of the season and Weimer collected her 10th assist of the year on the tournament's opening goal.  Barely a minute later, sophomore Sarah Dwyer struck the ball well and when it careened hard off of the crossbar, Weimer was in position to score the second goal of the game, and her 23rd of the campaign, earning Dwyer her first helper of the year on the play.  With her tally in the 65th minute, Weimer has now recorded a goal in 12-straight contests and has earned a point in each of Penn State's games this season except for one.   

After those goals, Penn State controlled the action, spending the majority of the time in Indiana's half of the field while the Hoosiers could manage only a handful of attempts from that point on.  Penn State's defense stymied nearly all Hoosier rushes allowing only two shots, both by first-team All-Conference selection Kim Grodek, and no shot ended up on goal.   The 2-0 score marked Penn State's 10th-straight shutout.  The last time a Lion goalie allowed one past was on September 26th against Purdue. 

Despite winning the regular season crown for seven-straight years, this was the first time Penn State had advanced beyond the Big Ten Tournament's opening round in three years.  In Wednesday's ceremony, seven Nittany Lions were named to the All-Big Ten squads including Weimer and Natalie Jacobs, the conference's Defensive Player of the Year.  Paula Wilkins of Penn State was named The Big Ten Coach of the Year.  The Lions will face the winner of No. 4 seed Illinois and No. 5 Northwestern on Friday at 4:30 p.m.