April 6, 2018
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UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. - The No. 18 Penn State men's lacrosse team hosts No. 2 Maryland on Sunday evening at 7 p.m. in Panzer Stadium in the Nittany Lions' Big Ten home opener.
Penn State and Maryland faced each other twice last season, with the Terrapins coming out with both wins.
PROMOTIONS
Penn State is asking all fans to wear white for the game and will be providing a free student tailgate for Penn State students that are in attendance at the game.
LAST TIME OUT
Sophomore goalie Colby Kneese was the catalyst to the performance as he made a season-high 16 saves, 11 of which came in the first half, and helped cripple the Buckeye offense, which included shutting them out in the first and fourth quarters. Kneese finished with an 80.0-percent save percentage.
While Kneese provided the defensive adrenaline, junior Kevin Hill provided an early offensive spark to ignite the attack. The middie scored back-to-back goals and helped jump-start the Nittany Lion offense.
The Nittany Lions were firing on all cylinders as seven different players found the back of the cage. Senior Ryan Keenan finished the afternoon with a hat trick, while Hill led with four points as he added two assists to his two goals.
Redshirt sophomore Dylan Foulds and freshman John Nostrant both the net twice, while sophomore Mac O'Keefe added three points, a score and two assists.
Junior Nick Spillane added a goal and an assist, while Gerard Arceri recorded a face-off win goal. Freshmen Brian Townsend and Bobby Burns both tallied assists for Penn State.
Arceri finished the day with 13 face-off wins and eight ground balls. Long-stick middie Nick Cardile led the team with two caused turnovers and added four ground balls.
KNEESE GROWING IN GOAL
Sophomore goalkeeper Colby Kneese led Penn State men's lacrosse to its first Big Ten victory of the season as the Nittany Lions took down Ohio State, 12-4. Kneese finished the game with a season-high 16 saves and an 80 percent save percentage. He also recorded two shutouts in the first and fourth quarters to earn Big Ten Specialist of the Week honors.
Kneese earned the starting position in net as a freshman and has remained there since, establishing himself as one of the leaders in the defensive zone, alongside Nittany Lions like redshirt junior captain Mike Aronow and junior Chris Sabia.
Since his first year with the team though, Tambroni says there has been a noticeable difference in Kneese's level of maturity and confidence. It's his approach to the importance of practice that has shaped his attitude though.
"This year I think [Kneese has] shown much greater maturity in the goal," Tambroni said. "Each practice is an opportunity for Colby right now to get better, and I think he's taken advantage of it. I would not have said the same thing last year. I think there were certain days he really focused in on his task and his job at hand in practice. There were definitely certain games that he had a sharper focus, but I think a lot of those things come with the position. We probably require a little bit more out of Colby at the goalie position than we do at any other position and then to pile it on as a freshman, I don't think any of those things are characteristic of what most goalies go through."
Full Article: HERE
FOULDS AFFECT
After earning his role in the starting attack line, redshirt sophomore Dylan Foulds has found his groove. He earned his first start on March 3, and 13 of his 15 goals on the season have come since then. Even more so, over the last three games, Foulds has scored 10 goals and added four assists, and the Nittany Lions are riding a three-game winning streak during that time.
DEFENSE SHINES IN CLEVELAND STATE WIN
All season long though, Tambroni has placed a great deal of importance on getting the team to play as one cohesive unit. During Saturday's outing, Penn State's defense perfectly executed what the coaching staff has been waiting to see.
"I thought our defense did a better job of just playing together," Tambroni said. "Not just one guy had to do anything in particular, it was about just getting seven guys to do a better job of connecting with one another and I thought they did a really nice job in the second half."
Although the score was 6-4 in Penn State's favor at the end of the first half, associate head coach Peter Tonerknew the Nittany Lion defense could be better. During halftime, he and the team went over key adjustments, which then resulted in a nearly flawless second half.
One of the standouts from the defensive unit was sophomore Nick Cardile. Not only did he defend well against a hardworking Vikings offense, but even netted a goal of his own in the fourth quarter. Along with fellow veterans in his defensive unit, Cardile is confident Penn State can continue the momentum headed to Big Ten play.
"Coming out of halftime, the defense really put their foot down," Cardile said. "We came together and said we can't let this happen and especially moving on forward, if our offense isn't playing as well we're going to have to put our foot down."
ARCERI, SABIA NAMED INSIDE LACROSSE MIDSEASON ALL-AMERICANS
Gerard Arceri and Chris Sabia were both named to the Inside Lacrosse Midseason All-American teams. Arceri was named to the third team at the face-off, while Sabia was named an honorable mention defenseman.
AMENT, ARCERI NAMED TO TEWAARATON WATCH LIST
Junior Grant Ament was named to the first edition of the Tewaraaton Watch List. The list includes the top players across all three divisions of NCAA lacrosse and highlights the early contenders for the 2018 Tewaaraton Award.
Ament, who has yet to play a game in the 2018 season, recorded 30 goals and 30 assists in 2017 to lead the Nittany Lions.
Arceri was named to the watch list after the first round of additions. Arceri is arguably one of the top three faceoff specialists in the nation and ranks in the top three in all faceoff specific categories.
NITTANY LIONS SHIFTING FOCUS INWARD
Every Monday the coaching staff meets with the team to reflect on their individual performances from the weekend. During this week's session, the Nittany Lions were eager to add to the conversation and bring focus to the areas they feel they need to improve upon.
"There were several decent plays that were made throughout the course of the game, we just didn't connect enough of them," Penn State head coach Jeff Tambroni said. "It was tough. When we talked to our guys about things that needed to be worked on, plenty of hands went up, so it was nice to see our guys have a decent understanding about what needs to be done this week."
Although the team fell short executing plays successfully throughout the game, one positive to emerge was their consistent level of hard work. Throughout several momentum shifts, the Nittany Lions refused to give up or deviate from their style of blue-collar lacrosse.
Full Article: Here
NITTANY LIONS BUILDING IN DEPTH
The Nittany Lions present a menacing starting lineup on both attack and defense that can cause problems for many teams. Beyond their starters though, there are a lot of question marks on both sides of the ball at an early point in the season.
The challenge for Tambroni and his staff is motivating the rest of the team to step up and make meaningful contributions.
"Inevitably, every student-athlete wants to play, everybody wants to contribute on game day because they work so hard," Tambroni said. "The onus falls on Jeff Tambroni. It's my job to make sure there's a grander purpose than coming in here and playing. There's got to be a reason why these guys come here."
Although the message starts with the coaching staff, it is then on the team to uphold it in the locker room and on the field.
Headed into its fourth matchup of the year, Tambroni hopes this is a point of significance that Penn State can buy into.
"We have to provide that purpose and perspective that it's more about being a part of something bigger than yourself, about the preparation over four years and about being great teammates," Tambroni said. "If these guys can encapsulate that perspective, it makes it a little bit easier."
Full article: HERE
PENN STATE ON BTN
Penn State will be featured on the Big Ten Network four times, along with two ESPNU coverages which were announced earlier this month.
The Nittany Lions will be the first game of the season to be aired on BTN as Penn State's contest against Stony Brook on Saturday, February 17 will be aired live at 2 p.m. ET.
Penn State will also be on BTN for their conference games against Maryland, Rutgers, and Michigan.
The Terrapins will come to Happy Valley on Sunday, April 8 for a 7 p.m. game, and the Nittany Lions' home 'Senior Day' contest against Michigan on April 28 at 11 a.m. will also be aired. The Michigan game will be a Penn State doubleheader as the women's lacrosse team will also take on Michigan for their 'Senior Day' and will be aired at 2 p.m.
Penn State's road trip to Rutgers will be on BTN at 7 p.m. on April 22.
PSU ON ESPNU
ESPN announced its spring lacrosse television schedule on Wednesday evening with Penn State men's lacrosse receiving national coverage on ESPNU twice this season. The Nittany Lions will travel to Ohio State for their Big Ten season opener and will be featured on ESPNU on Saturday, March 31 at 3 p.m. ET. Penn State will also be featured on ESPNU on when they host Johns Hopkins on Saturday, April 14 at 2 p.m.
KNEESE, CARDILE EARN MLAX WEEKLY HONORS
Sophomores Colby Kneese and Nick Cardile honored by the Big Ten on Tuesday afternoon as Kneese was named Specialist of the Week, and Cardile was named Defensive Player of the Week for their performances against Ohio State.
Kneese was also named to the United State Intercollegiate Lacrosse Association Team of the Week.
Kneese was the catalyst to the Penn State 12-4 win on Saturday as he made a season-high 16 saves, 11 of which came in the first half and helped stifle the Buckeye offense, which included shutting them out in the first and fourth quarters. Kneese finished with an 80.0-percent save percentage. He also added five ground balls.
Cardile was also instrumental in the Nittany Lions' defense that held the Buckeyes to just four goals. The long-stick middie led the team with two caused turnovers and added four ground balls to his performance.
ARCERI NAMED BIG TEN SPECIALIST OF THE WEEK X5 (2/20, 2/27, 3/6, 3/13, 3/20)
Penn State men's lacrosse sophomore Gerard Arceri has been named the Big Ten Specialist of the Week for the fifth-consecutive week after his performance against Fairfield, according to the league office.
Arceri went 20 of 25 at the faceoff 'x' against the Stags and added 17 ground balls to his stat line. He also won his first 11 attempts to help power the Nittany Lions' offense.
The St. James, New York native, leads the Big Ten in faceoff percentage at 71.6-percent, which places him third in the nation. Arceri is also averaging 13.00 ground balls per game, which again, leads the Big Ten, and is good for second in the nation.
Against Cornell, Arceri won 11 of 19 attempts, bringing his weekly winning percentage to .750. He also added 10 ground balls against Big Red.
Arceri was named the Big Ten Specialist of the Week for the first time this season, as well as, being named to the USILA Team of the Week for his dominating performance against Stony Brook.
Arceri was a key cog in the Nittany Lions' offense as he went 20-27 on the faceoff, including a commanding 9 of 10 in the opening quarter that led to three goals in the first 1:03 of the game. The sophomore from St. James, N.Y., finished the game with a career-high 16 ground balls, and three points, scoring two goals and dishing out his first career assist. This was Arceri's first career multi-goal game and he finished with a season-high .741 faceoff winning percentage.
He then picked up his second-straight Big Ten honor after going 17-24 on the face, with 10 GBs and a goal against Robert Morris.
His third came after going 18-20, for a season-high .900-winning percentage. He scooped up a game-best 13 ground balls and scored a goal as well in the 10-7 win over No. 13 Penn.
O'KEEFE NAMED B1G OFFENSIVE PLAYER OF THE WEEK (2/13)
Mac O'Keefe was named the Big Ten Offensive Player of the Week for his performance against Hobart, as announced by the league office on TuesÂday afternoon. O'Keefe scored a team-best five goals against Hobart, adding an assist as well. The attackman added four ground balls and one caused turnover. He scored three of Penn State's goals during a crucial second half 8-1 run that gave the Nittany Lions the lead and the win after being down 7-6 at the half. His assist came during that run as well.
This is the second-straight Big Ten Offensive Player of the Week honor for Penn State as Ryan Keenan was honored last week. Freshman Jack Kelly earned Freshman of the Week honors as well last week. O'Keefe now has two career Big Ten Offensive Player of the Week honors, earning one in his freshman campaign (2/8/17).
KEENAN, KELLY EARN B1G HONORS
Following the first week of action, the Penn State men's lacrosse team saw senior midfielder Ryan Keenan and freshman midfielder Jack Kelly earn Big Ten weekly honors as Keenan was named the Big Ten Offensive Player of the Week and Kelly took home the Freshman of the Week honor, as announced by the league office on Tuesday afternoon.
Keenan, who was named a member of the USILA DI Team of the Week on Monday, earns his first career honor from the Big Ten after putting together a career performance against Villanova. The middie scored a career-high five goals and added two assists on the way to a personal best seven points. He also scooped up five ground balls in the game. His five goals put him in a four-way tie atop the NCAA goals per game leaderboard.
Kelly took home the Freshman of the Week honor after scoring two goals in his first collegiate game. His two goals came on his only two shots of the game. He also added two ground balls and a caused turnover.
PRESEASON RECOGNITION
The trio of juniors Chris Sabia and Grant Ament and sophomore Gerard Arceri were named to the USILA Preseason DI Player of the Year Watch List. They were also named as Penn State's Big Ten Players to Watch. Sabia was named an Inside Lacrosse Preseason Second Team All-America honoree, while Arceri was named to the Third Team and Ament earned Honorable Mention.
QUAD CORE OF CAPTAINS
The 2018 Nittany Lion squad will be led by senior middies Ryan Keenan, Tanner Peck, and Tripp Traynor, and redshirt junior defender Mike Aronow. When asked about their leadership skills, Head Coach Jeff Tambroni mentioned how each was different, and together they provided a well-rounded leadership core. The quartet has helped the Nittany Lions' program come from a 5-9 record in their freshman season to an improved 12-4, and a No. 1 ranking in the national poll in their junior year, and will look to build upon in 2018.
#BRICKSQUAD MENTALITY
The blue-collar work ethic of Penn State men's lacrosse has been a mainstay under Coach Jeff Tambroni, and even using a brick to symbolize what that means has been in play for a few years, but following the 2017 season, the now-graduated seniors of 2017 gave Tambroni a brick with the engraving "Leave it better than you found it... Class of 2017." "We wanted an identity piece," Tambroni said. "We wanted our program to think about a symbol more visually instead of just conversations with our guys about what we want it to look like. Also, there is a second brick that is passed around by the team to the player with the "most brick mentality" every week. The player who holds the brick chooses who deserves the brick the following week, and they pass the actual brick on to the next deserving player.