‘A worthy rival’ | How Penn State men’s lacrosse is preparing for a top-3 showdown against Yale
Penn State walked off the field last May at Lincoln Financial Field defeated, two wins short of a national championship.
It was only the second blemish on the Big Ten champion Nittany Lions record and it came from a familiar foe — Yale, which was responsible for both of Penn State’s losses in 2019.
But now, No. 1 Penn State will have a chance at redemption on its home turf, as No. 3 Yale comes to visit Panzer Stadium at noon Saturday.
“It’s tough to treat it like any other game because of the result last year. At the same time, I do think any conversation or any thought process about retaliation or getting anything back from last year is a waste of time,” coach Jeff Tambroni said Wednesday. “It is a worthy rival. I would say that is probably the best way to put it.
“There’s just no better element in sport or in life, for that matter, than to have someone that you know brings out your very best because of how well prepared they are or how talented or how successful they are.”
Instead of focusing on revenge or retaliation, Tambroni wants his team to focus on the opportunity in front of them — to take another team that has national championship aspirations in the 2020 season.
Saturday is going to serve as a learning moment for Tambroni and the rest of the coaching staff, a chance to find problems and fix them before the crucial end of the season.
“You want to know where you stand and if you constantly measure yourself up against top 10, or top five teams, I think you get a true sense of what needs to be worked on, especially at this point in the season,” Tambroni said. “I think that is why this game is so important to us, because we’re four games in and we’ve got a long season ahead of us.
“And now we have so much time to prepare or to clean up some of those mistakes or weaknesses, then later when it might be too late, so I’m thrilled that we have a game against such a worthy rival.”
All eyes will be on the faceoff X on Saturday as two of the very best in the country in Gerard Arceri and TD Ierlan once again face off in a battle that could very well determine the game.
In the NCAA semifinal game last season, Yale won the faceoff battle 28-14, with Ierlan winning all 28 for the Bulldogs.
But while this matchup could very well determine the game, Tambroni is more worried about how his team handles adversity outside of the faceoff X.
“I think there’s only so much you can do when those two guys go in there and the whistle blows and the ball comes out quickly,” Tambroni said. “I think we feel really good about Gerard as our representative going onto the faceoff X. What we need to do, however, is manage our emotions better when we’re winning faceoffs.”
Tambroni would also like to see his team improve when things aren’t going their way in the faceoff X, something that disappointed in the NCAA semifinal game.
“Just emotionally resetting, going back to the faceoff X and seeing if we can build momentum and, equally as important, manage our emotions when we’re not winning faceoffs and do a better job defensively of being a little bit more stout back at that end and and being a little bit more efficient offensively,” Tambroni said. “I don’t know if we did a good job in either game of managing situationally from the wins and losses that remodeled the base out back.”
Tambroni knows however that this isn’t a normal game, which will make it even harder for his team to handle these emotions.
So Penn State is not ignoring them.
According to Tambroni, the program talked about last season’s games against Yale at its retreat this fall and reflected on things that could be improved, or handled differently in the future.
Then, according to Tambroni, Yale was once again addressed on Wednesday.
“We talked a little bit about it, not as a means of motivation, but just a reminder of our reflection,” Tambroni said. “What is it that we thought, or think we could have done a better job with leading up into that game and during the game? Obviously, there are different faces on both teams. So neither team is exactly what we were last year at this point. But at the same time, if you had another opportunity, or another chance at this, how would you prepare a little bit better as a head coach? How would you prepare a little bit better as a staff? How would you prepare a little bit better as an individual or as a member of a team?
“That’s what we reflected on for about five minutes yesterday, and then in fairness to the new team, we just focused on what we think we need to do and, and in who Yale is in the 2020 version.”
This message has gotten across to the team, but at the end of the day, Penn State is ready to take that next step against the team that ended its season just one year ago.
“That’s been a big point for Coach this week, not getting too high or too low going into the game,” junior Jake Glatz said. “And then again, doing it for the seniors from last year’s team, which brings a lot more motivation for the seniors this year. We obviously all know it’s a huge game.”
This story was originally published February 21, 2020 at 7:00 AM.
