Men's Lacrosse Celebrates Seniors and Alumni in Regular Season Home Finale

SCOUTING THE WOLVERINES

• Ranked No. 20 in the country in the preseason USILA poll, Michigan is now unranked.
• Junior attacker Nick Roode has 28 goals on the season, placing him second in the Big Ten in goals per game with 2.50, while freshman attackman Luke Shannehan has tallied 22, ranking him eighth in goals per game in the Big Ten with 1.90 per contest.
• Senior goalie Hunter Taylor averages 10.5 saves per game, ranking first in the Big Ten. Taylor has a total of 113 saves on the year.
• Michigan as a team average 5.91 asissts per contest, placing them third overall in assists per matchup in the Big Ten.
• This past weekend, the Wolverines got their first Big Ten win of the year, defeating Rutgers, 13-10.

LAST TIME VS. MICHIGAN

• Matt Traynor’s 100th career goal guides no. 10 Penn State to 11-8 road win at no. 13 Michigan. Despite trailing heading into the second half, a five-goal scoring run for the Nittany Lions as well as a strong performance from Jack Fracyon as the netminder and dominance at the faceoff x for Reid Gills proved to be the difference makers in the contest.
• Penn State improved to 7-4, 1-2 Big Ten while Michigan fell to 6-5, 2-1 Big Ten.
• Traynor, Jack Aimone and Liam Matthews were the multi-goal scorers for PSU, Traynor had three and Aimone and Matthews had two.
• Ethan Long, Luke Walstrum, Kyle Lehman and Brendan Leary also put one goal on the board. Long led the team in assists with two and Lehman guided the Nittany Lions on the ground with four crucial ground balls.
• Between the pipes, Fracyon made nine saves while only giving up eight goals. Gills won 8-of-9 opportunities at the faceoff x down the stretch to allow Penn State to dominate in offensive possessions in the fourth quarter.

TEWAARATON TIME

• Penn State senior Alex Ross and sophomore Hunter Aquino were each named to the initial 2026 Tewaaraton watch list.
• The prestigious award, which recognizes the top man and woman lacrosse athletes across all divisions.
• In the past two seasons, Penn State has had a pair of Tewaaraton Award nominees (in mid-April, the Tewaaraton commitee narrows down the watch list to 25 names per gender to create the nominee’s list). Matt Traynor was a two-time recognizee (2024, 2025) and Jack Fracyon was named to the list in 2024.

FRESHMAN PHENOM

• Rookie Jack Iannantuono was acknoleged by Inside Lacrosse this week on the outlets 2026 Freshman Impact Rankings. The first year was named the fifth-most impactful player so far this season.

IL’s review of Iannantuono: “A steady performer, Iannantuono has been a consistent contributor for a Penn State offense that likes to spread the wealth. His big games came with a two-goal, four-assist display vs. Yale and a three-goal, one-assist performance in the dominant win vs. Cornell. He’s up to 11 goals and 11 assists through seven starts. A St. Paul’s (Md.) alum, Iannantuono won a starting job to play alongside Kyle Lehman and Hunter Aquino. He has made sure there has been no drop off since Aquino got injured, too.”

DRAFT NIGHT

• With the recent injury to Maryland’s Will Shaller, Alex Ross has moved into the top spot for a defenseman or pole in the Premier Lacrosse League big boards.
• In Adam Lamberti’s latest 2026 College Mock Draft, he slated Ross as his seventh overall pick, going in the first round to the Denver Outlaws.

Lamberti reasoned that “Denver needs defense here with the aging Jesse Bernhardt and Mike Manley. Schaller could be an option here for Denver, but the Outlaws would likely want defensive help this summer. Ross is a steady defender who does everything at a high level and would be a great second option to JT Giles-Harris.”

MIDSEASON CHECK-IN

• Penn State men’s lacrosse has earned a trio of midseason All-American honors, as announced by Inside Lacrosse on Friday morning. Senior defenseman Alex Ross garnered first team honors, senior short-stick Jon King was named to the third team, and sophomore faceoff Reid Gills was named an honorable mention. Notably, the Nittany Lion offense, which ranks number one in the Big Ten and top 15 nationally in goals per game and points per game, earned zero recognitions on the midseason list.
• Ross enters this coming weekend leading the conference and ranking 28th nationally in caused turnovers per game, averaging 1.70. Earlier this season, he eclipsed 100 groundballs in his career. While the senior’s statistical game doesn’t initially jump off the page, a greater analytical dive quickly shows how dominant of a defender Ross is. His defensive expected goals added, a metric that calculates how defensive plays translate to offensive goals, ranks in the 99th percentile. His caused turnovers per penalty ranks in the 100th percentile, as he has yet to find himself in the box this season. His groundball win rate of six percent ranks in the 96th percentile. All of these metrics culminate into one of the nation’s top defenders.
• King, who was recently named Big Ten Defensive Player of the Week following the win over Maryland, currently is tied for second among short-stick defensive midfielders in caused turnovers, with 12 so far this season. Similar to Ross, his defensive expected goals added number sits ranks in the 98th percentile, and his groundball win rate of 5.2 is good for the 95th percentile among active lacrosse players.
• Gills is one of the nation’s top faceoff athletes. He ranks ninth in the nation and second in the Big Ten in faceoff win percentage, clocking in at 61.7 percent. He also ranks second in the conference in groundballs per game, scooping an average of 4.9 per outing.

 

LAST TIME OUT

• What ended up being a nearly 24-minute scoring drought doomed No. 6 Penn State men’s lacrosse’s shot at its first ever win at Homewood field, as the Nittany Lions fell, 11-10, to No. 16 Johns Hopkins on Saturday afternoon. The loss moves Penn State out of sole possession of the inside track to the conference title. In the closing minute of action, the Penn State defense forced a turnover to get the offense one last opportunity, but both shots the PSU attack got off missed the cage, leading to the loss.
• Sophomore Chase Robertson led the Nittany Lion attack, scoring two goals and adding a pair of assists for four points. Redshirt senior Michael Faraone was the only other Nittany Lion with multiple scores, tallying two goals. Freshman Jack Iannantuono and redshirt sophomore Liam Matthews each had multi-point outings with a goal and an assist, while five other Nittany Lions accounted for one point.
• In a game ridden with turnovers, only four were caused by Penn State. Senior Jon King was the groundball leader, scooping five.
• Sophomore Reid Gills and junior Colby Balwin combined for 14 wins on 24 faceoffs.
• Freshman goalkeeper Preston Hawkins, who at one point had six saves on two goals allowed, finished with just a .421 save percentage after facing a barrage of JHU shots down the stretch.

PRESEASON NODS

• After putting the nation on notice in 2025, sophomore Hunter Aquino and senior Alex Ross raked in the preseason honors this year.
• Aquino, the reigning Big Ten Freshman of the Year, was recognized as a Second Team All-American by USILA and Inside Lacrosse, and earned a third-team spot on USA Lacrosse Magazines list.
• Ross was was a second-team honoree according to Inside Lacrosse, while he picked up third-team honors from USA Lacrosse Magazine.
• Senior captian Jon King joined the duo on Inside Lacrosse's list, earning an honorable mention recognition.
• The trio were named Big Ten Players to Watch by the conference offices prior to the start of the 2026 slate.
• The USILA preseason list also recognined short-stick Brendan Leary as a Third-Team Preseason All-American, alongside Aquino.