At one point early in the season, the Carlow University women's soccer team was 3-0. The Celtics ended up 4-13 and lost their final 10 games. Given the team's situation, it is surprising Carlow managed four wins.

Carlow is an NAIA school with 2,200 students located in the Oakland section of the city. The women's soccer team had 25 on its roster this fall with 12 of them majoring in nursing.

That does not seem like a big deal. In fact, having that many nursing students on the team would appear to be a plus, especially when someone is injured in a game or practice. Help is just a teammate away. But it also presents some problems.

"I think we had one practice [during the season] where we had everybody there," coach Marcus Pollidore said. "Most of the time, we were missing three to five players and we had to practice from 7 to 9 in the evening because some of the players had classes until 6 p.m."

Almost 20 percent of the students at Carlow are in the undergraduate nursing progam. When it comes to the 80 student/athletes at the university, almost half are in nursing.

Here's the problem.

Students in the nursing program, especially upperclassmen, are involved in clinical practice. That is the practical experience they receive on the floor at area hospitals. It is like working a full-time job a couple days a week.

"I have clinical from 7 a.m. until 3 p.m. two days a week," said Stephany King, a Thomas Jefferson High graduate who is a senior midfielder on the soccer team. "It's tough when you have clinical and then have to schedule classes around that and then have practice.

"It also makes it tough when we have away games in the evening during the week because we'd have to hurry up and get back because some people had clinicals in the morning and, if they have to rely on a bus to get some place, they have to get up at 5 a.m. We'd get to Wendy's just before closing time."

At least, Carlow had a roster of 25 to make up for those who could not get to practices or games. King said it was not that way her freshman year.

"My first year, we had only 13 or 14 girls," she said. "There were times when we had to play with just nine or 10 because of injuries. At least, this year we had enough [players] for decent practices."

Academics, not athletics are the most important thing at Carlow. King was quick to point out that none of the players on the team expect to play professional soccer.

Still, it is hard to build team chemistry and get players on the same page when attendance at practice is sporadic.

Add in injuries to key players, and it is easy to see how a 10-game losing streak can happen.

"One thing you learn is time-management skills when you're involved in something like this," King said.

Here is a new twist on Midnight Madness.

The Chatham University women's basketball team will play its first game of the season at 12:01 a.m. Nov. 15 when it entertains Wilson College. It will be the first official game for any NCAA Division III team, men or women, this season and will be preceded by events on campus.

"We spoke with Wilson College about the idea last winter and we both agreed that it would be a great experience for the student-athletes and our fans," Chatham coach Mark Katarski said.

The Clarion men's basketball team will be in Lexington, Ky., tomorrow night to take on --ready for this? -- Kentucky in an exhibition game.

Surprised? Don't be. Remember, first-year Kentucky coach John Calipari, who played his high school ball at Moon Area, played at Clarion.

He transferred there from North Carolina-Wilmington and was a top reserve on the 1980-81 team that earned a spot in the NCAA Division II tournament before becoming a starter the following season.

Ron Musselman's Penn State blog and videos and Paul Zeise's "Pitt Stop" videos are featured exclusively on PG+, a members-only web site from the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. Our introduction to PG+ gives you all the details.