This season, IMS will release weekly Big Ten men’s lacrosse rankings of the six teams conference teams that sponsor lacrosse. Here's our preseason edition.
Back in 2019, Penn State men’s lacrosse came four goals short of having a chance to play for a national title in its own backyard in Philadelphia. Then, before a global pandemic in 2020, the Nittany Lions were one of the most well-equipped teams in the nation to make another run to the Final Four. So entering 2021, despite some roster turnover in key positions, Penn State was poised yet again to be a national powerhouse and make a run deep into the postseason.
That quickly proved untrue. After entering 2021 as the No. 7 team in the country, the Nittany Lions finished 4-7 and were bounced from the first round of the Big Ten Tournament by a 2-8 Johns Hopkins team. There were some high points, but the season was mostly made up of a lot of lows for Jeff Tambroni and the program.
After allowing 17 goals to No. 3 Maryland Sunday, Penn State men’s lacrosse’s defense needs to do some soul-searching.
It’s easy to fixate on a team’s offensive output, but Penn State’s struggles have come on the defensive end of the field as well. In 2021, the Nittany Lions have allowed the most goals in the Big Ten (113) and generated the fewest turnovers per game (5.56).
In head coach Jeff Tambroni’s eyes, some of Penn State’s struggles have come because of the quality of opposition.
“I think we’ve played a really good slate of opponents,” Tambroni said. “The thing is, you want to compare yourself to that group. That’s who you need to play well against and limit.”
No 15 Penn State Lacrosse Wins First Game Of Season 15-13 Over No 12 Ohio State onwardstate.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from onwardstate.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
It s been a long week, and hopefully there was good focus at practice, because the horrible taste of the Rutgers loss needs to go. A depleted Penn State team is on the docket this week, at Panzer Stadium, and there s still everything to play for.
In fact, this game could be called a must-win game for Ohio State. Lose here, and it will take a miracle for this team to make the NCAA tournament for the first time since 2017. And it s going to be a tough, tough, climb for the Buckeyes.
This year s Penn State is not the Final Four team of 2019. There s no Grant Ament this year for the Nittany Lions. His absence is a gaping hole in the team, as no one else is even close to able to replace him. The scheme is largely unchanged from the 2019 run, however the personnel isn t quite as effective.