No. 16 Men's Lacrosse Faces No. 19 Rutgers in 2026 Regular Season Finale

SCOUTING THE SCARLET KNIGHTS

• Ranked No. 18 in the country in the preseason USILA poll, Rutgers now sits at No. 19.
• Junior attacker Colin Kurdyla has 52 points on the season, with 28 goals and 24 assists. Kurdyla ranks second in the Big Ten in points per game with 4.00 per contest, as well as being ranked second in assists per game and fourth in goals per game in the conference, respectively.
  Junior goalie Cardin Stoller averages 10.55 saves per game, ranking first in the Big Ten. He totals 137 saves on the year. Stoller also ranks third in save percentage in the Big Ten with a mark of 54.2%.  
• Rutgers is 1-3 in the Big Ten, with their sole win being an overtime victory against Johns Hopkins at home.

LAST TIME VS. RUTGERS

• No. 7 Penn State men’s lacrosse topples no. 19 Rutgers 12-4 on senior day. A massive performance from Jack Fracyon as the netminder gave the Nittany Lions their third consecutive conference victory as they head into the postseason. Penn State improves to 9-3, 3-2 Big Ten while Rutgers falls to 6-8, 2-3 Big Ten. Both teams await their fate in the Big Ten Tournament as the final two games play out this weekend.
• Fracyon posted one of his best performances of the season, making 13 saves while only allowing four goals for the second consecutive game. He also tallied his first career goal from well beyond midfield, becoming the first PSU goaltender to record a goal since 2008.
• Kyle Lehman and Luke Walstrum both added two goals apiece as the only multi-goal scorers for the Nittany Lions. Lehman also added an assist and two ground balls to the scoresheet. Matt Traynor, Ethan Long, Hunter Aquino, Jack Aimone, Liam Matthews, Brendan Leary and Colby Baldwin all produced one goal each.
• Defensively, the Nittany Lions were disruptive causing 14 turnovers and winning the ground ball battle 29-25. Jon King guided PSU with three caused turnovers while Will Costin led the team with four ground balls and Ryan O’Connor followed with three.

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

• Penn State men’s lacrosse continued its streak of athletes selected in the Premier Lacrosse League (PLL) Draft with Alex Ross joining the list of PSU draftees on Tuesday night. The Nittany Lions have now had a selection in all of the last three drafts, including back-to-back first round picks.
• Senior defenseman Alex Ross, selected as the eighth overall pick (round one, pick eight), is headed to New York at the end of the 2026 college lacrosse season. Ross will join former Nittany Lions Matt Traynor and Mac O’Keefe as the only PSU student-athletes to be selected in the first round. The close defender will join Traynor, a 2025 PLL All-Star, on the Atlas. Ross was the first pole to be selected in the 2026 draft.
• The Davidsonville, Maryland native is the Nittany Lions’ leader in caused turnovers this season, forcing 18 on the year so far. His per game number for CTOs (1.64) is the third best in the Big Ten and ranks top thirty nationally. Consistently tasked with tackling an opponent’s top attacker, he has helped the PSU defense to rank 13th in the country this season in scoring defense. His unit allows just 9.36 goals per game this season. Ross is the perfect example of defensive discipline, as he ranks in the 100th percentile in caused turnovers to penalties ratio. He has yet to be flagged in 2026.

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

• Penn State men’s lacrosse dropped a second-straight conference game, this time falling to Michigan, 9-8, at Panzer Stadium. The visiting team’s score in the closing minute of the fourth quarter proved to be the difference in the afternoon. PSU dropped to 6-5 (2-2 B1G) with the result, while Michigan improved to 5-7 (2-2 B1G). Turnovers were the bane of the Nittany Lions, who committed 26 compared to the Wolverines’ 18.
• Penn State’s attack was led by redshirt senior Luke Walstrum, who posted ta pain of goals and an assist for three points. Redshirt senior Michael Faraone also tallied three points, scoring once and dishing two assists. Sophomore Hunter Aquino returned to action today after being sidelined with injury since the game against Yale. He scored twice on the afternoon. Redshirt sophomore Liam Matthews and true sophomore Chase Robertson rounded out the multi-point scorers, posting a goal and an assist each.
• Defensively, the Nittany Lions tended to hold strong. Seniors Jon King and Will Costin, along with sophomore Lucca DiBartolomeo and redshirt sophomore Patrick Keenan, each tallied two caused turnovers. Also on the defensive end, junior Brendan Leary scooped four groundballs.
• At the faceoff, junior Colby Baldwin had a near-perfect day, winning eight of his nine pulls, with his only loss coming on a violation. Balwin vacuumed a team-high five groundballs. Sophomore Reid Gills followed, winning eight of 11 draws and scooping four groundballs.
• Freshman netminder Preston Hawkins made seven saves.

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.

A WIN WOULD...

• Move Penn State to a 7-5 record this season.
• Be the 29th Nittany Lion win over the Scarlett Knights. Penn State is 28-47 all time against Rutgers in a series that dates back to the 1946 season.
• Mark Coach Tambroni’s 10th win against RU. Head coach Jeff Tambroni is 9-5 all time against the Scarlet Knights, with each contest of his career occuring at PSU.

Ensure Penn State finishes top-three in the Big Ten conference this season. A Nittany Lion win and an Ohio State win over Michigan on Friday evening secures a two-seed and a first round bye for Penn State.

WHAT'S THE BIG DEAL

• After holding control of the conference title race for the first two weeks, Penn State now looks to the other two conference matchups this weekend to help determine the team’s seeding in the 2026 Big Ten Tournament.
• Maryland is the only team out of six that could control its own destiny with a win over Johns Hopkins on Saturday afternoon. The rest is not so easily determined. Penn State’s path to the two seed (which includes a first-round bye), starts with a Nittany Lion win over Rutgers. From there, PSU is a lock for the two seed unless Michigan and Maryland are the winners of the other two games this coming weekend. Then Penn State hosts a first round game as a three seed.
• There is only one other scenario in which Penn State could host a first round Big Ten game. It starts with a Nittany Lion loss, then a Johns Hopkins and Michigan win. In this scenario, seeding for the bottom three teams will be dependent on the final scores of other contests and eventual goal differential. There is a path to the fourth seed in that scenario only. Any other results where Penn State loses will have the Nittany Lions on the road in the first round at the three seed.

A LEADER AMONG MEN

• Penn State head coach Jeff Tambroni is one of the most successful active coaches in all of collegiate lacrosse, but especially at the Division I level.
• Coach Tambroni is the sixth-most winningest coach among active Division I head coaches, totaling 245 victories to date. Only John Danowski at Duke (492), Dan Sheehan at Le Moyne (381), Kevin Corrigan at Notre Dame (378), Chris Ryan at Mount St. Mary’s (276), and Joe Breschi at North Carolina (271) have more.
• Of the above list, only Breschi and Tambroni have earned all of their career victories at the Division I level.
• Not only is Coach Tambroni’s win total impressive, but his 65.0 winning percentage ranks 13th best among active DI coaches.