Men's Lacrosse and Johns Hopkins Square Off For Championship Saturday

SCOUTING THE BLUE JAYS

• The Blue Jays are statistically a middle of the pack team this season. Only one team statistic stands out, their turnovers per game. No one in the Big Ten, and only seven other teams nationally, take care of the ball better than Hopkins. The Jays average just 13.54 turnovers per contest.
• Oran Gelinas, who was recently named the Big Ten Specialist of the Year, is the conference's best goalkeeper. He leads the Big Ten in save percentage (57.1 percent) and saves per game (10.55). His save percentage tally ranks seventh in the country.
• Hunter Chauvette, Matt Collison, and Brooks English are a serious one-two (three?) punch for the Jays. Chauvette lead the conference in goals per game, Collison ranks fifth in the same category and fourth in points pergame, and English sits second in assists per game.

LAST TIME VS. JOHNS HOPKINS

• 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.

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

• Second-seeded Penn State men’s lacrosse downs third-seeded Maryland 8-6 to advance to Big Ten Tournament Championship for the third time in program history. The Nittany Lions improve to 8-5, 3-2 Big Ten while Maryland falls to 7-6, 3-2 Big Ten. Penn State will face top-seeded Johns Hopkins in the championship game on Saturday, May 2.
• Sophomore phenom Hunter Aquino paced the Nittany Lions offensively with three goals in addition to one caused turnover. Five other Nittany Lions tallied a goal in the defensive battle. Andrew Beard, Will Costin, Liam Matthews, Michael Faraone and Jon King all found the back of the net in the win.
• Defensively, Penn State forced seven turnovers including four in the clear. Senior defenseman Costin tallied his second goal of the season while also producing one caused turnover and scooping one ground ball. In addition to his goal, King also collected four ground balls in the contest.
• Freshman netminder Preston Hawkins had another outstanding performance between the pipes, tallying eight saves, four ground balls and one caused turnover.
• The Nittany Lions won the face off clash, earning 11-of-18 battles at the x. Colby Baldwin posted six wins while Reid Gills secured five.

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 9-5 record this season.
• Mark PSU's second Big Ten title. Penn State last won the title in 2019.
• Be the eighth Nittany Lion win over the Blue Jays. Penn State is 7-15 all time against Johns Hopkins in a series that dates back to the 1916 season.
• Mark Coach Tambroni’s 11th win against JHU. Head coach Jeff Tambroni is 7-10 all time against the Jays, with each contest of his career occuring at PSU.

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 247 victories to date. Only John Danowski at Duke (493), Dan Sheehan at Le Moyne (382), Kevin Corrigan at Notre Dame (380), Chris Ryan at Mount St. Mary’s (276), and Joe Breschi at North Carolina (272) 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 65.2 winning percentage ranks 12th best among active DI coaches.