UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. – Penn State Intercollegiate Athletics is off to a strong start in the LEARFIELD Directors' Cup Division I standings after a successful fall season.
The Nittany Lions are No. 5 in the current standings following a strong fall in which four teams made their NCAA Tournament and the football team played in the Outback Bowl, making its 51st bowl appearance. The men's soccer team won Big Ten regular season and tournament titles.
The Directors' Cup awards points based on success in the NCAA postseason.
Penn State has placed in the top 10 in the final fall standings in 24 of the 28 years of the Directors' Cup.
BYU (368 points) leads the Directors' Cup standings followed by Notre Dame (360), Michigan (354), Wisconsin (339.5) and Penn State (298).
During the fall semester, the men's soccer team won its sixth Big Ten regular season title, and first since 2013, and followed by earning a 3-0 win over Indiana in the Big Ten Championship game. The squad advanced to the second round of the NCAA Tournament.
The women's soccer team advanced to the NCAA third round after knocking off Monmouth (3-1) and defeating No. 11 USC on penalty kicks in the first two rounds.
The field hockey team reached the Big Ten Semifinals and made an NCAA Tournament appearance and the women's volleyball team advanced to the second round of the NCAA Tournament.
The men's cross country team placed fourth in their NCAA Regional, including three athletes who earned All-Region honors.
The women's cross country team finished fifth in their NCAA Regional, including one athlete who claimed All-Region accolades.
Four Penn State teams were ranked in their respective final Top 25 polls: field hockey (4), women's volleyball (17), women's soccer (23) and men's soccer (24).
Under the leadership of Vice President for Intercollegiate Athletics Sandy Barbour, Penn State has one of the nation's most comprehensive and successful athletic programs, featuring 800 student-athletes across 31 varsity programs (16 men's, 15 women's). The Nittany Lions' 31 programs are tied for the fourth-highest number of sports sponsored by a Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) institution.
Penn State student-athletes have led the athletic department to 49 Big Ten championships and 11 NCAA National Championships in the last 10 years. The Nittany Lions have finished in the top 15 of the LEARFIELD Directors' Cup 19 times in the last 27 years (the Directors' Cup was not awarded in 2019-20).
Complete standings and the scoring structure of the LEARFIELD Directors' Cup can be found on NACDA's website at www.directorscup.org.
