Two Hundred Twenty Two Years Of Combined History Meet For Saturday Matinee on the U

SCOUTING THE BLACK KNIGHTS

• While not the flashiest team in the tournament, Army makes the plays when it matters. Known for their gritty playstyle and hard work ethic, the Black Knights rank top five in scoring defense, allowing an average of just 8.38 goals per game.
• The lack of goals allowed plays into the teams scoring margin, which ranks sixth nationally. The score differential sits at 4.63 goals per game entering the NCAA Tournament.
• Army’s special team unit, specifically the man-down crew, ranks third nationally. The team allows just .868 goals when man down.
• Ranking just outside the top 10 nationally, the Black Knights average 20.94 points per game, more than any Big Ten teams.
• In yesterday’s USA Lacrosse All-Americans release, four Black Knights were named to the list. The group includes Evan Plunkett, John Sullivan, Keagan Treacy, and Sean Byrne.
• A Tewaaraton Top 25 Finalist, Plunkett leads Army’s offense with 62 points and 39 assists this season while standing fourth on the team in goals with 23. He ranks ninth nationally in assists per game, averaging 2.44.
• Byrne is statistically one of the best goalkeepers in the nation. He allows an average of just 8.05 goals per game. His save percentage, 61.3 percent, is the best mark in the country.

LAST TIME VS. ARMY WEST POINT

• The Penn State men’s lacrosse team secured a 10-9 victory over Army West Point in the NCAA tournament quarterfinals on Sunday. With the win, the Nittany Lions advance to the NCAA tournament semifinals for the second time in program history.
• The Black Knights opened the game with a pair of goals coming with 14:17 and 10:25 remaining in the first goal to take a 2-0 lead.
• Penn State responded with six unanswered goals including two by TJ Malone to put Penn State ahead 6-2 with 12:44 remaining in the second quarter.
• Penn State and Army West Point each scored one more time before the end of the half to put the Nittany Lions ahead 7-3 at the midway mark.
• After both sides opened the third quarter exchanging two goals to make the score 9-5, Army added two more to cut the Penn State lead to 9-7 with 14:14 remaining in the fourth quarter.
• Kevin Winkoff cut the bleeding with a goal with 7:38 remaining in the fourth quarter to put Penn State ahead 10-7.
• Army countered with a pair of goals to cut the Penn State lead to one with 3:41 remaining in the fourth quarter.
• Penn State held strong in the final three minutes to prevent another goal and to walk away with the 10-9 lead.
• Goalie Jack Fracyon tallied 11 saves and allowed just nine goals to improve his record to 11-4 on the year.

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.

ALL-AMERICAN BOYS

• Penn State men’s lacrosse has three All-Americans named USA Lacrosse All-Americans, the publication announced on Thursday afternoon. Senior defenseman Alex Ross earned his spot on the second team, while senior short-stick defensive midfielder Jon King was tabbed a third teamer and sophomore faceoff Reid Gills was named an honorable mention.
• Ross leads the team in caused turnovers, with 20 forced so far this season. He has 30 groundballs scooped this season, totaling over 100 in his career. His caused turnover per game number of 1.43 ranks fifth in the conference. King boasts the second-most caused turnovers nationally by a SSDM. He has scooped the most groundballs on any non-faceoff athlete for the Nittany Lions, vacuuming 34 this season. Gills is the eighth-ranked faceoff athlete in the country, winning 62.4 percent of the battles he takes. He has won 113 faceoffs in 2026.

LAST TIME OUT

• Second-seeded Penn State men’s lacrosse upset top-seeded Johns Hopkins in commanding 16-8 victory for the Big Ten Tournament Championship. The trophy marks the Nittany Lions’ second program Big Ten Tournament crown and first since 2019. History repeated itself inside SHI Stadium, where Penn State defeated Johns Hopkins in the conference tournament in 2019 and duplicated the championship seven years later in 2026.
• Big Ten Tournament Most Ouststanding Player Hunter Aquino delivered on the big stage once again for the Nittany Lions, leading his squad with four points on two goals and two assists.
• Junior Kyle Lehman contributed his fourth hat trick of the season to lead PSU in tallies. Redshirt sophomore Liam Matthews and sophomore Chase Robertson were the other multi-goal scorers for the Blue & White. Freshman Jack Iananntuono, redshirt freshman Andrew Beard, redshirt senior Luke Walstrum, redshirt senior Michael Faraone, graduate student John Jude Considine, junior Ryan DiRocco and redshirt junior Wesley Scurci all contributed a goal to the Penn State total of 16 scores.
• Freshman goaltender Preston Hawkins posted six saves in addition to five ground balls while only letting in eight goals.
• Junior Colby Baldwin paced Penn State at the faceoff dot, winning 11 of his 15 attempts.

A WIN WOULD...

• Move Penn State to a 10-5 record this season.
• Mark PSU’s second consecutive year advancing to the NCAA Tournament quarterfinals. Penn State has never advanced to the quarterfinals in consecutive seasons.
• Be the fifth Nittany Lion win over the Black Knights in program history. Penn State is 4-29 all time against Army West Point in a series that dates back to the 1922 season.
• Mark Coach Tambroni’s eighth win against Army. Head coach Jeff Tambroni is 7-1 all time against the Black Knights, with only one contest of his career occuring at PSU. Tambroni’s only loss against Army came in his first matchup against them in 2005 while he was at Cornell. Army took the day with an 11-9 win.

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 248 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 (273) 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 65.3 winning percentage ranks 12th best among active DI coaches.

BY THE NUMBERS

• The Nittany Lion defense nears the same prowess as West Point, averaging 8.93 goals allowed per game. The mark ranks second in the Big Ten and eighth in the country.
• The PSU scoring margin is equally as impressive, as Penn State has outscored oppoenent by an average on 3.93 goals per game. That marks is best in the Big Ten and eighth best nationally.
• Penn State is the second most accurate shooting team int he country, scoring on 34.5 percent of its scores.
• In the words of sophomore attackman Hunter Aquino, “We don’t have one guy, we have ten.” Penn State has zero players ranked in the top ten in any offensive or defensive categories per the NCAA statistical database. Still, the Nittany Lion offense ranks top-15 in the country. PSU has used this balanced attack and defenive approach to confuse opposing team all season. It’s impossible to know who to put a pole on if any guys can go off on any given day.
• Specialist categories are a different thing though, as Reid Gills ranks eighth nationally in face off win percentage, scooping 62.4 percent of his pulls. Freshman netminder Preston Hawkins has settled into his own this season, also ranking eighth in a national statisitcal category. The rookie allowd just 8.73 goals per game, a mark that also ranks second in the Big Ten.