April 29, 2015
By Maria Canales, GoPSUsports.com Student Staff Writer
UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. - The Penn State men's lacrosse team has fought for every win so far this season, and on Thursday the team will battle for one more, this time in the first round of the inaugural Big Ten Tournament.
With history waiting to be written, the No. 4-seeded Nittany Lions (5-8, 2-3 Big Ten) are prepared to face a familiar foe, the No. 1 seed Johns Hopkins (7-6, 4-1 Big Ten).
The Lions and Blue Jays saw one another just less than three weeks prior they took to double overtime in one of the most thrilling games of the regular season. Although the outcome of that game didn't land in the Penn State's favor, this time around the Lions hope to change that; playoffs are a whole new ballgame.
Head coach Jeff Tambroni knows the significance of what his team has accomplished so far this season. Tambroni noted that just being in the tournament is an accomplishment in itself, since only four of the six Big Ten teams qualified; Michigan and Rutgers missed the cut.
"I think it's significant because of the fact that it's the inaugural Big Ten Tournament," said Tambroni. "I feel really good for our guys. I just think it's a wonderful group of young men who have worked very hard, we just have not always gotten the results that we would hoped for throughout the course of the regular season, but winning the last two games - must-win games - I think feels real good for our guys. I'm sure there's a sense of relief, but also a sense of pride, knowing that they're going to be representing Penn State in the inaugural tournament."
The pride the Nittany Lions have going in to the tournament stems from two strong wins to end the regular season, a home win against Rutgers and a win in Ann Arbor against Michigan. Penn State also has a sense of familiarity going in to their matchup against Johns Hopkins, after an 11-10 decision decided the first meeting in double overtime.
"I think it certainly provides our guys with the link of understanding that we can play with Johns Hopkins," said Tambroni. "Both teams were at a different place, I think both teams were coming off a loss, so I think the mindset of both teams coming in there was probably a little bit questionable. It's going to be a completely different game when the whistle blows [on Thursday] and you got to go back to square one."
Penn State will turn to its key players to contend with Johns Hopkins. Attack men like TJ Sanders will now more than ever need to find the back of the net, and continue to be aggressive in the offensive zone. Goalie Connor Darcey will need to find his groove early and settle in in net to stave off his opponents. And the defense must build off of its strong start against Michigan and continue holding off their opponents early on in the game.
"I think if we want or expect to win then our best players are going to have to show up and make plays, I think that's just fact of the matter," said Tambroni. "Both teams really want to win; I think it's going to come down to willingness of certain guys to make plays at certain times."
Although there are four teams in the tournament, Coach Tambroni emphasized that it's not about being better than all three of the other teams; it comes down to beating one team at a time.
"We don't have to play three teams; we have to play one team on Thursday," said Tambroni. "The reality of it is we don't have to be better than all three teams; we have to be better than one team on Thursday and one team on Saturday. I think if we don't bite off more than we can chew, we can put ourselves in a position to win."
Coach Tambroni has put great importance during the past month on his players getting back to the simplistic way of playing lacrosse. This strategy has proven successful, giving the Nittany Lions necessary wins to qualify for the Big Ten Tournament.
"You can tend to over prepare, so hopefully we just give these guys confidence in themselves," said Tambroni. "I think if we put in too much stuff they'll start to question if they can do it. [Back to the basics] will be the same philosophy going in to this one."
The Nittany Lions have proven they're fully deserving of their bid to the Big Ten Tournament. Now it is just up to Penn State to bring the competition with them to College Park.
"Hopefully [the team] will have stepped back and reflected for just an instant on the opportunity for us and take advantage of the opportunity that they have earned," said Tambroni.