We have one game today, Johns Hopkins at #1 Penn State. The game starts at 12:00 PM and will be aired live on ESPNU but you can watch it online here. You can find the Live Stats link for today’s game here. Additionally, you can find the official Penn State Game Day post here and you can find the official Johns Hopkins Game Day post here.

The Nittany Lions are coming into this game red hot. They have won their last seven games in a row (tied with Penn for the nation’s longest active winning streak) and their defense has really come on as of late. Indeed, in their last three games, Penn State held Maryland to ten goals, Ohio State to eight goals, and last weekend held Michigan to only seven goals.

Offensively, the Penn State is a juggernaut. Led by Grant Ament, who leads the nation in assists/game (6.1) and points/game (7.4), PSU is the most formidable offense in college lacrosse, with an array of talented weapons able to inflict significant damage on an opponent’s defense. This will be the toughest game of the year for the Blue Jays and given the fact PSU won last year, at Hopkins, without Grant Ament, one can easily see a scenario where this game gets out of hand quickly.

In the other corner we have Hopkins. The Blue Jays have had an up and down season if you want to be charitable. At 6-5, they aren’t a bad team by any stretch, but they haven’t played consistently throughout the year and they’ve let a couple wins slip through their hands. Indeed, last weekend’s loss to Ohio State was especially difficult to watch if you are a Hopkins fans because of how well the Jays were playing in the first half.

Moreover, the Hopkins defense, which was supposed to be one of the team’s strengths this year, has given up 12.36 goals/game, good for 53rd in the country. That’s not going to cut it against PSU today. If you’re a Hopkins fan, you gotta hope that the team comes out and plays an entire 60 minutes like they played in the first half against Ohio State last week. Additionally, with a win today, they’ll clinch a spot in the Big Ten Tournament.

A loss this weekend would put Hopkins in an extremely difficult position. Losing to Penn State today would mean that Hopkins would have to win next week’s game versus Maryland to avoid finishing the year 6-7 overall and 2-3 in the Big Ten. Hopkins can still make the Big Ten Tournament with a 2-3 conference record if Rutgers loses to Penn State next week, however, they’d have to win the entire Big Ten Tournament, otherwise they’d finish the year with a below .500 record & ineligible for the NCAA Tournament. So yea, today’s game has a lot at stake for the Jays.e

Previews

Penn State men’s lacrosse puts undefeated Big Ten record on the line against Johns Hopkins.

Top-ranked Penn State is back at Panzer stadium this weekend to take on Johns Hopkins. Johns Hopkins enters this weekend’s matchup with a 6-5 record this season and a 2-1 mark in the Big Ten. Last week, Johns Hopkins lost 14-13 to No. 8 Ohio State for its only Big Ten loss. They had an 8-3 lead at the end of the half, only to lose it in under seven minutes in the third quarter. Freshman Attackman Joey Epstein leads the Blue Jays in scoring with 31 goals and 15 assists. Epstein was ranked as the No.1 freshman in the nation by Inside Lacrosse in 2019.

Hopkins plays pick your poison versus Penn State.

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.

Wearing No. 11: How tragedy built tradition for Penn State men’s lacrosse.

Matt Donnelly was 17-years-old when he lost his biggest fan. Donnelly was in the process of making a monumental transition in his life. He was playing his way through his high school lacrosse career at Clearview Regional with plans to continue competing in the sport he loved at the collegiate level. His father and mother fit the bill of the typical lacrosse parents. Matt and his sister, Megan, both immersed themselves in the sport growing up, and their parents loved nothing more than watching their kids excel on the field.

Weekend Scorecard For Week 11

Here’s the link to our Weekend Scorecard for Week 11 through yesterday’s games, with links to teams, box scores, recaps, & highlights from Friday & Saturday. For your convenience, I’ve added the Big Board with all of the box scores & recaps from the weekend directly below.

Attachments

Shout out to our man, Grayson!!

Now THAT’S great marketing.

UNC is now 1-3 in the ACC after their loss to Notre Dame yesterday.

With the rest of the ACC watching, the North Carolina men’s lacrosse team finished off their regular season with 12-10 loss to No. 12 Notre Dame in a game that decided the seeding in the upcoming ACC Tournament.

What happened?

In the pivotal regular season finale, Notre Dame erupted out of the gate with a goal from senior Brendan Gleason on the first possession of the game.

However, the first of many crucial saves from Tar Heel first-year goalkeeper Caton Johnson ignited a face-paced change of possession that helped standout first-year Nicky Solomon even the game at 1-1 with a long range snipe.

Towson rallied to defeat Delaware yesterday, 14-12.

Here’s a video of Senior Day at Rutgers.

Here’s BU’s press conference after their win over Holy Cross.