Penn State Nittany Lions men's lacrosse

Last updated
Penn State Nittany Lions
men's lacrosse
Penn State wordmark.svg
Founded1921;103 years ago (1921)
University Pennsylvania State University
Head coachJeff Tambroni (since 2011 season)
StadiumPanzer Stadium
(capacity: 1,300)
Location State College, Pennsylvania
Conference Big Ten Conference
Nickname Nittany Lions
ColorsBlue and white [1]
   
NCAA Tournament Final Fours
2019, 2023
NCAA Tournament Quarterfinals
2019, 2023
NCAA Tournament appearances
2003, 2005, 2013, 2017, 2019, 2023, 2024
Conference Tournament championships
2019
Conference regular season championships
2005, 2013, 2019, 2023

The Penn State Nittany Lions men's lacrosse team represents Pennsylvania State University in National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I college lacrosse.

Contents

History

Penn State was an independent varsity lacrosse program from 1913 through 1999 until it joined the Eastern College Athletic Conference (ECAC) from 2000-2009. Penn State was a member of the Colonial Athletic Association (CAA) Conference from 2010 -2014. Penn State joined the newly formed lacrosse Big Ten Conference (B1G) starting in 2015.

The current head coach is Jeff Tambroni since 2011, who was hired after a successful ten-year run as head coach at Cornell, including making it to two championship weekends with a close loss in the 2009 NCAA finals. He is among the winningest Division I lacrosse coaches with 200 career wins, was 2009 USILA Division I Coach of the Year, and three-time conference Coach of the Year with Penn State. He played collegiate lacrosse at Hobart, where he ranks among the school's all-time greats after he earned three All-America awards and three national championships resulting in induction into their Hall of Fame.

Penn State has made seven appearances in the NCAA Division I Men's Lacrosse Championship Tournament with a record of 2-5. The first appearance coming in 2003 resulted in a first-round loss to Towson 11-6. In 2005, they lost to Maryland in the first round 14-10. The Nittany Lions made the tournament in 2013 as the #8 seed, the first time they achieved a seeding in the NCAAs, losing to Yale 13–10. Penn State appeared in 2017 as the #7 seed but was eliminated in the first round by Towson 10-8. 2019 was their best season, the Nittany Lions were Big Ten Conference season and tournament champions for the first time and entered the 2019 tournament as the #1 seed. They had victories over UMBC 25-10 and Loyola 21-14 to advance to Championship weekend before their season came to an end with a 21-17 loss to Yale in the semifinals.

They have had 140 All-Americans and 12 Scholar All-Americans. There are two Nittany Lions in the National Lacrosse Hall of Fame, Glenn "Nick" Thiel, who was instrumental in making lacrosse at Penn State a viable sport, and Tom Hayes, an All-American player and later long time coach at Drexel and Rutgers. National Football League wide receiver Chris Hogan was a standout lacrosse player for Penn State from 2008 to 2010. Drew Adams '09, Hogan '10, Austin Kaut '13, Chris Sabia '19, Grant Ament '20, Gerard Arceri '21, and Mac O'Keefe '21 are Penn State lacrosse alumni playing professional lacrosse in the Premier Lacrosse League. In 2013, Kaut was named the first Penn State NCAA Division I goaltender of the year. Ament had a record-breaking year in 2019 when he was the first Nittany Lion awarded the NCAA Division I Outstanding Attackman of the Year, voted Big Ten Offensive Player of the Year, and became the record holder for most assists (96) and assists per game (5.65) for a season, and most points (tied 25) and assists (18) in the Championship Tournament. He also holds the records for most points (126) in a Big Ten season, and career points and assists in the Big Ten (284 and 191). O'Keefe is among the leaders in most career goals (221) in the history of Division I NCAA lacrosse, most goals in a Big Ten season (78 in 2019), and most goals in a Championship Tournament game (tied 9 vs Loyola in 2019)

Penn State has played Rutgers more than any other school and is 22-46 against them as of 2021. Since 1998, Penn State and Rutgers have played annually for the Friendship Cup. Penn State has won the Friendship cup 13 times and Rutgers has won it 8 times as of 2021.

When Michigan began Division I lacrosse play in 2012, the only Big Ten schools at the time (Penn State, Michigan and Ohio State) began playing annually for the Creator’s Trophy. The tradition continues today among the three original members. Penn State claimed the Creator's Trophy in 2012, 2014, 2016, 2017, 2018 (3 way tie), 2019, and 2021. (2020 - no Creator's Trophy games due to Covid).

Season Results

The following is a list of Penn State's results by season as an NCAA Division I program:

SeasonCoachOverallConferenceStandingPostseason
Dick Pencek (Independent)(1962, 1965–1977)
1971Dick Pencek 4–6
1972Dick Pencek 4–6
1973Dick Pencek 5–6USILA
1974Dick Pencek 6–5
1975Dick Pencek 9–2
1976Dick Pencek 7–2
1977Dick Pencek 4–6
Dick Pencek:70–68–2 (.507)
Glenn Thiel (Independent)(1978–1999)
1978Glenn Thiel 3–7
1979Glenn Thiel 2–9
1980Glenn Thiel 6–5
1981Glenn Thiel 9–2
1982Glenn Thiel 8–3
1983Glenn Thiel 4–7
1984Glenn Thiel 6–7
1985Glenn Thiel 3–10
1986Glenn Thiel 7–6
1987Glenn Thiel 10–5
1988Glenn Thiel 8–6
1989Glenn Thiel 10–5
1990Glenn Thiel 10–5
1991Glenn Thiel 9–4
1992Glenn Thiel 9–3
1993Glenn Thiel 6–5
1994Glenn Thiel 8–4
1995Glenn Thiel 11–2
1996Glenn Thiel 10–3
1997Glenn Thiel 8–4
1998Glenn Thiel 6–6
1999Glenn Thiel 8–4
Glenn Thiel (ECAC Lacrosse League)(2000–2011)
2000Glenn Thiel 7–73–3
2001Glenn Thiel 7–62–4
2002Glenn Thiel 8–51–4
2003Glenn Thiel 7–73–2 NCAA Division I First Round
2004Glenn Thiel 6–70–3
2005Glenn Thiel 9–65–1T–1st NCAA Division I First Round
2006Glenn Thiel 8–55–2T-2nd
2007Glenn Thiel 5–83–45th
2008Glenn Thiel 7–72–56th
2009Glenn Thiel 9–54–33rd
Glenn Thiel (Colonial Athletic Association)(2010–2011)
2010Glenn Thiel 2–111–46th
Glenn Thiel:236–186 (.559)29–35 (.453)
Jeff Tambroni (Colonial Athletic Association)(2011–2014)
2011Jeff Tambroni 8–64–2T–2nd
2012Jeff Tambroni 9–65–12nd
2013Jeff Tambroni 12–56–01st NCAA Division I First Round
2014Jeff Tambroni 7–63–23rd
Jeff Tambroni (Big Ten Conference)(2015–Present)
2015Jeff Tambroni 5–92–34th
2016Jeff Tambroni 8–72–3T–4th
2017Jeff Tambroni 12–43–2T–2nd NCAA Division I First Round
2018Jeff Tambroni 8–62–3T–4th
2019Jeff Tambroni 16–25–01st NCAA Division I Final Four
2020Jeff Tambroni 5–20–0
2021Jeff Tambroni 4–74–6T–3rd
2022Jeff Tambroni 3–111–45th
2023Jeff Tambroni 11–54–1T–1st NCAA Division I Final Four
2024Jeff Tambroni 11–53–2T–2nd NCAA Division I First Round
Jeff Tambroni:119–81 (.595)44–29 (.603)
Total:574–551–8 (.510)

      National champion        Postseason invitational champion  
      Conference regular season champion        Conference regular season and conference tournament champion
      Division regular season champion      Division regular season and conference tournament champion
      Conference tournament champion

† NCAA canceled 2020 collegiate activities due to the COVID-19 virus.

Alumni in the Premier Lacrosse League (4)

Year DraftedNamePositionHeightWeightDrafted ByDraft PickCurrent TeamAll StarAccolades
2014 Austin Kaut Goalie 6'1 197 Boston Cannons (MLL) 3rd round (19th overall) Chaos LC None None
2019 Chris Sabia Defense 6'2 200 Chrome LC 2nd round (10th overall) Waterdogs LC None None
2020 Grant Ament Attack 5'9 165 Archers LC 1st round (1st overall) Archers LC 1x All Star ('21) 1x McEneaney ('21)
2021 Mac O'Keefe Attack 6'0 180 Chaos LC 1st round (6th overall) Chaos LC None None

See also

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References

  1. "Design Essentials". Brand.PSU.edu. Retrieved March 15, 2024.