Phillylacrosse.com, Posted 1/27/14
From Press Release
The Penn State men’s lacrosse team is ranked seventh and ninth by both nationally recognized preseason polls as announced on Monday. The Warrior/Inside Lacrosse rankings peg Penn State seventh, while the United State Intercollegiate Lacrosse Association (USILA) has PSU ranked ninth, tying the highest preseason ranking in school history.
The Nittany Lions have continued their rise to national prominence under fourth-year head coach Jeff Tambroni following the program’s third NCAA Tournament appearance in 2013. Penn State faces a challenging schedule with six opponents being ranked in each poll and both exhibition opponents (Johns Hopkins and Lehigh) also ranked.
Following this weekend’s scrimmage at Hopkins, Penn State plays host to unranked Michigan Feb. 8 before facing four straight ranked foes. Loyola (USILA 16th, IL 12th) visits Happy Valley Feb. 15 before Penn State travels to Notre Dame (5th/5th), Ohio State (14th/9th) and Denver (4th/4th).
PSU kicks off a four-game home stand against UMass March 15 with the Minutemen receiving votes in each poll. Following a mid-week game March 18 against unranked Dartmouth, Albany (10th/11th) and Villanova (20th/20th) come to Penn State Lacrosse Field March 22 and March 29, respectively.
When the Lions cap the regular-season with four CAA games, road games against Drexel and Towson April 5 and April 12, respectively, are against teams receiving votes in each poll. Penn State finishes its time in the CAA with home games against unranked Delaware and Hofstra April 16 and April 26, respectively. Hofstra received votes in the USILA poll.
Penn State opened its exhibition season this past Thursday against Lehigh who was ranked 17th by the coaches and 19th by the media. This weekend’s scrimmage against JHU is slated for 1 p.m. at Homewood Field. Hopkins is tabbed 11th by the coaches and 13th by the media.
USILA COACHES POLL
1 Syracuse
2 North Carolina
3 Duke
4 Denver
5 Notre Dame
6 Maryland
7 Virginia
8 Princeton
9 PENN STATE
10 Albany
11 Johns Hopkins
12 Loyola
13 Yale
14 Ohio State
15 Bucknell
16 Cornell
17 Lehigh
18 Penn
19 St. John’s
20 Villanova
Also receiving votes: Harvard, Fairfield, Towson, Drexel, UMass, Bryant, Hofstra, Air Force, Stony Brook, Army, Navy
WARRIOR/INSIDE LACROSSE MEDIA POLL
1 Duke
2 Syracuse
3 North Carolina
4 Denver
5 Notre Dame
6 Maryland
7 PENN STATE
8 Virginia
9 Ohio State
10 Princeton
11 Albany
12 Yale
13 Johns Hopkins
14 Bucknell
15 Penn
16 Loyola
17 St. John’s
18 Cornell
19 Lehigh
20 Villanova
Also receiving votes: Towson, Bryant, Drexel,Stony Brook, Harvard, UMass, Georgetown
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