Penn State Nittany Lions men's lacrosse

Penn State Nittany Lions
men's lacrosse
Founded1921
UniversityPennsylvania State University
Head coachJeff Tambroni (since 2011 season)
StadiumPanzer Stadium
(capacity: 1,300)
LocationState College, Pennsylvania
ConferenceBig Ten Conference
NicknameNittany 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.

History

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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

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

Season Coach Overall Conference Standing Postseason
Dick Pencek (Independent) (1962, 1965–1977)
1971 Dick Pencek 4–6
1972 Dick Pencek 4–6
1973 Dick Pencek 5–6 USILA
1974 Dick Pencek 6–5
1975 Dick Pencek 9–2
1976 Dick Pencek 7–2
1977 Dick Pencek 4–6
Dick Pencek: 70–68–2 (.507)
Glenn Thiel (Independent) (1978–1999)
1978 Glenn Thiel 3–7
1979 Glenn Thiel 2–9
1980 Glenn Thiel 6–5
1981 Glenn Thiel 9–2
1982 Glenn Thiel 8–3
1983 Glenn Thiel 4–7
1984 Glenn Thiel 6–7
1985 Glenn Thiel 3–10
1986 Glenn Thiel 7–6
1987 Glenn Thiel 10–5
1988 Glenn Thiel 8–6
1989 Glenn Thiel 10–5
1990 Glenn Thiel 10–5
1991 Glenn Thiel 9–4
1992 Glenn Thiel 9–3
1993 Glenn Thiel 6–5
1994 Glenn Thiel 8–4
1995 Glenn Thiel 11–2
1996 Glenn Thiel 10–3
1997 Glenn Thiel 8–4
1998 Glenn Thiel 6–6
1999 Glenn Thiel 8–4
Glenn Thiel (ECAC Lacrosse League) (2000–2011)
2000 Glenn Thiel 7–7 3–3
2001 Glenn Thiel 7–6 2–4
2002 Glenn Thiel 8–5 1–4
2003 Glenn Thiel 7–7 3–2 NCAA Division I First Round
2004 Glenn Thiel 6–7 0–3
2005 Glenn Thiel 9–6 5–1 T–1st NCAA Division I First Round
2006 Glenn Thiel 8–5 5–2 T-2nd
2007 Glenn Thiel 5–8 3–4 5th
2008 Glenn Thiel 7–7 2–5 6th
2009 Glenn Thiel 9–5 4–3 3rd
Glenn Thiel (Colonial Athletic Association) (2010–2011)
2010 Glenn Thiel 2–11 1–4 6th
Glenn Thiel: 236–186 (.559) 29–35 (.453)
Jeff Tambroni (Colonial Athletic Association) (2011–2014)
2011 Jeff Tambroni 8–6 4–2 T–2nd
2012 Jeff Tambroni 9–6 5–1 2nd
2013 Jeff Tambroni 12–5 6–0 1st NCAA Division I First Round
2014 Jeff Tambroni 7–6 3–2 3rd
Jeff Tambroni (Big Ten Conference) (2015–Present)
2015 Jeff Tambroni 5–9 2–3 4th
2016 Jeff Tambroni 8–7 2–3 T–4th
2017 Jeff Tambroni 12–4 3–2 T–2nd NCAA Division I First Round
2018 Jeff Tambroni 8–6 2–3 T–4th
2019 Jeff Tambroni 16–2 5–0 1st NCAA Division I Final Four
2020 Jeff Tambroni 5–2 0–0 † †
2021 Jeff Tambroni 4–7 4–6 T–3rd
2022 Jeff Tambroni 3–11 1–4 5th
2023 Jeff Tambroni 11–5 4–1 T–1st NCAA Division I Final Four
2024 Jeff Tambroni 11–5 3–2 T–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)

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Year Drafted Name Position Height Weight Drafted By Draft Pick Current Team All Star Accolades
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

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