US Lacrosse Magazine released the Nike/US Lacrosse Division I Men’s Preseason Top 20 on Jan. 8. Team-by-team previews will be unveiled on uslaxmagazine.com throughout January and will also appear as part of the magazine’s NCAA preview edition that mails to US Lacrosse members Feb. 1 — opening day of the 2018 college lacrosse season.

No. 9 Penn State

2017 Record: 12-4 (3-2 Big Ten)
Coach: Jeff Tambroni (8th year)

All-Time Record: 520-516-8
NCAA Appearances: 4
Final Fours: 0
Championships: 0

Following a 2017 season in which Penn State was ranked No. 1 and reached the NCAA tournament for the second time under coach Jeff Tambroni, the idea of taking this season’s journey a bit further is once again on these Nittany Lions’ minds.

“Belief is a big strength,” Tambroni said. “This group could, and should, parlay off some of their success last year and put themselves in a position to strengthen the culture of our program.”

That’s happened bit by bit over the last few years, and last season especially, but there’s still a big elephant in the Penn State locker room: Entering its 104th season and in the 47 years since the sport first fell under the NCAA umbrella, the program has never won an NCAA tournament game.

This year’s roster wasn’t around for most of those years, but many of them were last season, when the Nittany Lions lost a first-round home game 12-8 to eventual final four team Towson.

Leading scorer Grant Ament is back, as is Mac O’Keefe, who led Penn State with 51 goals as a freshman. The third attack spot, vacated by graduated senior captain Nick Aponte, figures to be filled by junior Matt Donnelly, a hard-dodging converted midfielder who plays a similar style that Aponte did. A pair of sophomores, Canadian righty Dylan Foulds and Conor Smith, figure to get run on attack, too.

Gerard Arceri, who emerged as one of the best faceoff specialists in the country as a freshman, returns, as does the Nittany Lions’ sophomore starting goalie Colby Kneese.

If there’s a question mark, it’s the defense, which allowed nearly 11 goals per game last season, but several contributors return back there, too.

The blend all leads to expectations, at least internally — again. Penn State just has to run the Big Ten gauntlet to meet them, including facing defending NCAA champion Maryland, a program that, in another bit of oh-fer history, is 34-0 all-time against the Nittany Lions. Penn State is slotted 10th in the Nike/US Lacrosse preseason rankings, and 13th in the Inside Lacrosse Face-Off Yearbook, behind much of its Big Ten brethren.

“We recognize where the other coaches have put us in the Big Ten rankings,” Tambroni said. “We recognize where we stand within our own conference. We certainly will not as coaches highlight this, but our guys are smart enough to believe in themselves. Our guys are perceptive. As much as we respect our opponents in the Big Ten, we also feel very hungry to prove some of those pundits and our other head coaches wrong, in terms of where they have Penn State and where we believe we should be coming into this year.”

The Case For Penn State

Any team in the country would like to return their leading points producer from the last two seasons (junior attackman Grant Ament), one of the nation’s best sophomores (attackman Mac O’Keefe) and a faceoff guy (sophomore Gerard Arceri) that can get them the ball. In the trio, Penn State has three big pieces of a winning formula in place. The defense should get a boost from the return of Mike Aronow, who went down with a knee injury prior to last season, but was an All-Big Ten honorable mention close defender as a sophomore.

The Case Against Penn State

The Nittany Lions have some holes to fill in the midfield after the graduations of Mike Sutton and Matt Florence (11 starts each) and Dan Craig (five). Ament will be looked to for more leadership offensively, as the attack also will have a new third starter. Tambroni says he’d like to see more consistency in goal, where Colby Kneese (51.2 save percentage and 10.53 goals against average) took over as a freshman last season. The defense, which featured young starters like freshman defenseman TJ Connellan and short-stick Nick McAvoy, will need to play a year older and wiser. And, finally, can they get over the postseason hump?

Path to the Playoffs

The Big Ten has quickly put itself in the conversation for the nation’s best conference, and whoever emerges with the league title will be among the national championship contenders. Penn State begins the Big Ten slate at returning NCAA finalist Ohio State and follows with a home game against defending national champ Maryland. “It’s exciting to be a part of it. It’s extremely challenging to be a part of it,” Tambroni said. “You need to prepare yourself in both your confidence and your health prior to the Big Ten schedule. That five-week stretch is going to be nothing but challenges from one week to the next.”

Players To Watch

Grant Ament, A, Jr.
30 G, 30 A

He’s led the Lions in points in each of his first two seasons, with slightly more assists than goals, and will play a similar initiating-scoring role again. Also expected: More leadership after the graduation of senior captain Nick Aponte on attack.

Gerard Arceri, FO, So.
61.8 FO%, 103 GB

Arceri finished sixth nationally in faceoff win percentage as a freshman, giving the Lions consistency at the X for the first time in years. They’ll look for more of the same this season.

Mac O’Keefe, A, So.
51 G, 39.2 SH%

The Big Ten Freshman of the Year emerged early last season as one of the nation’s top finishers. He’s the rare Long Islander with a box background and it shows — in highlights and overall production.

National Rankings

Power Ratings (Scale of 1-5)

Offense
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

Defense
⭐⭐

Goalkeeping
⭐⭐⭐

Faceoff
⭐⭐⭐⭐

35.3

When it comes to stats, the Penn State staff emphasizes two: shooting percentage and ground balls. Tambroni says the profiles of NCAA final four teams from the past five years commonly show high national ranks in both categories. Indeed, Penn State shot 35.3 percent a year ago, better than three of the last five national champions shot in their winning seasons.

5-Year Trend
Ground Balls (Per Game)

Coach Confidential
Jeff Tambroni

“One of our goals since we walked on campus was to create a culture that was more symbolic of consistent success, to put ourselves in a position to believe that we should be in the top 10 and top five. The core of the guys that come back, they believe.” 

Enemy Lines
Rival Coaches

“They break through and earn a playoff win finally in 2018. ... It all starts at the FO X, where Gerard Arceri proved in his first year of collegiate lacrosse that he can dominate many games and hold his own against the nation’s very best (found right there in the Big Ten). … Losing Nick Aponte will be noticed early on, but Jeff Tambroni will create scoring opportunities and he has fantastic scorers in Grant Ament and Mac O’Keefe. … Chop-first, ask-questions-second defensemen.”