UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. – Coming off its first Big Ten regular season and tournament titles, the Penn State men's lacrosse team was picked as the unanimous favorite to repeat as conference champion in a vote of the league's coaches. The Big Ten released its annual preseason poll on Monday, as well as the league's Players to Watch list. That list included Penn State seniors Grant Ament, Gerard Arceri and Mac O'Keefe.
The Lions were followed in the preseason poll by Maryland in second and Johns Hopkins in third. Rounding out the poll were Ohio State, Rutgers and Michigan.
Penn State, which was picked No. 1 in the preseason poll for the first time since Big Ten lacrosse was formed in 2015, will play Maryland and Michigan at home this season. The games against Ohio State, Johns Hopkins and Rutgers will be on the road.
Five of the six teams in the conference were ranked in the US Lacrosse Preseason National Poll, including Penn State at No. 1.
Ament, Arceri and O'Keefe were all All-Big Ten selections at the conclusion of the 2019 season. Ament was the league's Offensive Player of the Year.
Penn State opens the 2020 season at home against Lafayette on Saturday at noon.
2020 MEN'S LACROSSE PRESEASON COACHES' POLL
- PENN STATE
- Maryland
- Johns Hopkins
- Ohio State
- Rutgers
- Michigan
ALL CAPS indicates unanimous selection
2020 BIG TEN MEN'S LACROSSE PRESEASON PLAYERS TO WATCH
Joey Epstein, So., Johns Hopkins*!
Kyle Prouty, Jr., Johns Hopkins
Cole Williams, Sr., Johns Hopkins^
Anthony DeMaio, Jr., Maryland
Roman Puglise, Jr., Maryland
Matt Rahill, Jr., Maryland
Alex Buckanavage, Jr., Michigan^
Bryce Clay, So., Michigan
Andrew Darby, So., Michigan
Justin Inacio, Jr., Ohio State^#
Tre LeClaire, Sr., Ohio State^
Ryan Terefenko, Sr., Ohio State*
Grant Ament, Sr., Penn State*%
Gerard Arceri, Sr., Penn State^
Mac O'Keefe, Sr., Penn State*
Garrett Bullett, Jr., Rutgers
Adam Charalambides, Jr., Rutgers*
Kieran Mullins, Sr., Rutgers*
* indicates 2019 First Team All-Big Ten honoree
^ indicates 2019 Second Team All-Big Ten honoree
! indicates 2019 Big Ten Freshman of the Year
% indicates 2019 Big Ten Offensive Player of the Year
# indicates 2019 Big Ten Co-Specialist of the Year