Johns Hopkins faces its toughest — and most important — test on Sunday afternoon when the Blue Jays head to University Park to take on Penn State, ranked No. 1 in the Nike/US Men’s Lacrosse Division I Poll.
Dave Pietramala lauded the work of Jeff Tambroni’s offense, calling the group as dynamic as he’s seen “in quite some time.” Indeed, Penn State’s top-ranked offense has caused fits to everyone its played, but Pietramala is hoping to throw the Nittany Lions different looks that fit his personnel group.
He knows it’ll take a nearly flawless game in all three phases to pull off the upset, but Pietramala doesn’t want his team to think it needs to be perfect. Far from it.
“This is a game where you can’t afford to play tight,” Pietramala said Wednesday. “We need to take some chances. We need to push the pace a little bit. We need to generate shots. We can’t play not to lose. If you’re trying to play perfectly, it means you’re not going to take a risk now and again.”
NO. 16 JOHNS HOPKINS AT NO. 1 PENN STATE
WHEN: Sunday, April 20, Noon
WATCH: ESPNU
Indeed, the smallest margin for error comes on the defensive side, where Patrick Foley, Owen Colwell, Jack Rapine and Hopkins’ midfielders must communicate when Penn State makes its many cuts for Grant Ament, who has picked apart nearly everyone he’s played.
It’s not as simple as just locking off Mac O’Keefe. Nick Spillane, Dylan Foulds and TJ Malone have each scored at least 20 times, and Jack Kelly has scored 19.
“That’s the challenge. What poison are you willing to pick with this team?” Pietramala said. “They’ve assembled a group that’s very dynamic in the fact that they have an alpha male [in Ament] that gets everybody involved. He wants the ball in his stick and wants to make plays.”
The best way to keep the ball out of Ament’s stick would be to dominate at the faceoff X, but that’s another challenge in itself. Penn State’s Gerard Arceri was just named Big Ten Specialist of the Week for the second time this season as one of the premier faceoff men in the country.
Pietramala bounced from Kyle Prouty to Matt Narewski, but said Prouty has now stabilized the position. He has to switch up his looks against Arceri to prevent him from getting comfortable.
At 2-1 in the Big Ten, it would behoove Hopkins to at least split against Penn State (3-0) and Maryland (2-1) to close its regular season.
“We have put ourselves in a situation where clearly these last two games are important,” Pietramala said. “The beauty is, we get to play the No. 1 team in the country. With the challenges that comes with that comes great opportunity. If you can’t get excited to play the team that’s No. 1 in the conference and No. 1 in the country … there’s no sense in taking the field.”