UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. -- Penn State men's lacrosse wraps up its regular season Saturday at Rutgers in a game that will air live on B1G Network at 4 p.m.
The winner of Saturday's game will receive the Friendship Cup, given annually in the Penn State-Rutgers series. The Scarlet Knights currently have the Cup after winning last year's season opener, but the Nittany Lions are 13-7 in Friendship Cup games.
HOW TO FOLLOW
Saturday, April 23 | 4 p.m.
Live Stats| B1G Network
SERIES HISTORY
• Penn State trails 46-24 in the all-time series with Rutgers. The teams first played in 1946.
• The Lions are 5-4 against the Scarlet Knights during Jeff Tambroni's time as head coach.
• Rutgers won both meetings between the teams last season. Penn State won both times the teams played in 2019. The teams did not play in 2020.
• Jack Kelly has totaled 10 points on seven goals and three assists in addition to nine ground balls in five career games against Rutgers.
SCOUTING THE SCARLET KNIGHTS
• Rutgers, which is ranked fourth in the latest USILA Coaches Poll, is 11-2 overall and 3-1 in the Big Ten following a 13-12 win over Michigan.
• The Scarlet Knights haven't lost a regular season Big Ten game to a team other than Maryland since losing to Penn State 14-13 on April 27, 2019.
• Rutgers ranks first in the Big Ten and second in the nation in two categories -- clearing percentage (.919) and turnovers per game (13.54).
• Ethan Rall ranks first in the Big Ten and 12th in the nation in caused turnovers per game (1.85).
VS. THE BIG TEN
• Penn State is 59-112 (.345) all-time against current members of the Big Ten. The Lions are 28-25 (.528) against those same teams during head coach Jeff Tambroni's 12 seasons with the team.
• The Lions are 19-20 (.487) in Big Ten regular season games since the league added lacrosse in 2015. They have winning records in league play over Michigan and Ohio State.
FRIENDSHIP CUP
• The Friendship Cup game is a symbol of the friendship of four friends from Sewanhaka High School on Long Island, who under the leadership of legendary lacrosse coach Bill Ritch learned what it took to play Division I lacrosse. The four went off to college splitting two ways; one pair attending Penn State, and the other heading off to Rutgers.
• The four men dedicated the annual game between their alma maters to three things they hold dear: the idea of lifelong friendship, their old high school, and the close ties that have long existed between the Penn State and Rutgers athletic teams. The founders from Penn State are John Meisel and Vin Tedesco. Rutgers' founding members of the game are John Valestra and Ronald Yurcak.
B1G TOURNAMENT
• Penn State is locked in as the No. 5 seed in the Big Ten Tournament and will go on the road to play its quarterfinal game on Saturday, April 30. The Lions will either play at Johns Hopkins or at Ohio State depending on the results of this weekend's games.
