Jan. 20, 2015
UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa.; Jan. 20, 2015 - Penn State men's lacrosse earned a No. 14 ranking in the 2015 United States Intercollegiate Lacrosse Association (USILA) Division I Preseason Coaches Poll after being picked 15th in the Nike/Lacrosse Magazine Preseason Top-20 earlier this month.
The inaugural season of Big Ten lacrosse features six regular season opponents listed in the top-20. Both of Penn State's preseason scrimmages are against top-20 teams, No. 20 Army and No. 18 Lehigh.
Penn State's 2015 campaign kicks off on Feb. 7 with a noon contest against Vermont. The Nittany Lions travel to No. 7 Loyola on Valentine's Day, followed by an in-state battle at Villanova on Feb. 21. The Nittany Lions welcome 13th-ranked Penn to Happy Valley on Feb. 28 at 1 p.m. A spring break trip to the Boston metropolitan area follows, with matchups against No. 11 Harvard on March 7, Marist on March 10 and UMass on March 14, which received votes in the poll.
After traveling to Hofstra on March 21 to take on preseason favorite Denver, the Blue and White returns home for its first Big Ten game against Ohio State, receiving preseason votes. Penn State then heads to Maryland for conference matchups against the No. 8 Terrapins on April 4 and fifth-ranked Johns Hopkins on April 11. The Nittany Lions' home slate concludes with an April 19 game against Rutgers, before traveling to Michigan on April 25 for the season finale.
The Nittany Lions host exhibitions in Holuba Hall against the Black Knights on Sat., Jan. 24 at noon and the Mountain Hawks at 3 p.m. on Sat., Jan. 31.
2015 USILA Division I Preseason Coaches Poll
1. Denver
2. Notre Dame
3. Duke
4. Syracuse
5. Johns Hopkins
6. North Carolina
7. Loyola
8. Maryland
9. Virginia
10. Cornell
11. Harvard
12. Albany
13. Penn
14. PENN STATE
15. Yale
16. Drexel
17. Hofstra
18. Lehigh
19. Bryant
20. Army
Receiving votes: Ohio State, Princeton, UMass, Towson, Villanova, St.John's, Fairfield, Air Force, Brown, Bucknell, Navy
Bold indicates 2015 opponent; italics indicated 2015 preseason opponent