Blue White Illustrated

T he Penn State men's lacrosse team of- fered fans many flashes of brilliance in 2016, but the season ended with a harsh lesson in reality. The Nittany Lions put themselves in contention for the NCAA tournament by finishing the regular season with eight victories, but they were outclassed by Maryland in the Big Ten tournament semifinals, absorbing a 16-9 thrashing from the Terrapins that effectively ended their hopes of making the national tour- ney. It's been less than a year since that de- feat, but a different reality has emerged – one in which Penn State is often the team that is outclassing its opponents. With their 10-1 start, including six vic- tories in which they outscored their op- ponent by at least four goals, the Nittany Lions ascended to the No. 1 spot of every major poll. Head coach Jeff Tambroni attributed his team's success to its competitive mindset in practice. "The game plan was to set our guys up week in and week out, both home and on the road, with opportunities," Tambroni said. "We felt like if we could day in and day out compete against each other, that preparation regardless of result was going to get us prepared for the Big Ten." Penn State owes much of the credit for its emergence as a national contender to its highly productive offense. During their season-opening 10-game win streak, the Lions were fifth in the country in scoring, beating opposing goalkeepers nearly 15 times per game. At the forefront of that fre- netic attack has been fresh- man Mac O'Keefe, whose 3.5 goals per game ranked second in the country through 10 games. O'Keefe is the perfect complement for the pass-first tendencies of senior attack- man Nick Aponte, who was among the nation's top 20 distributors over that same span, averaging more than two assists per outing. Far from one-dimensional, however, the Nittany Lions have proven that they can win games with their defense as well. When the offense wasn't playing up to its standards in Penn State's Big Ten opener against No. 9 Ohio State, the de- fense clamped down, limiting the Buck- eyes to just four goals in a 9-4 win April 2 at Penn State Lacrosse Field. "I think we just finally played a full 60- minute lacrosse game," defenseman Peter Triolo said afterward. "We knew we have all the components to be a successful WOMEN'S LACROSSE Fifth-ranked PSU rolls past Cavaliers In front of a record crowd of 922 spectators and behind a career-best 14-save performance by senior Cat Rainone, the 89h-ranked Nittany Lions defeated No. 15 Virginia, 12-8, April 8 at Penn State Lacrosse Field. The Lions got four goals from junior Katie O'Donnell in improving to 13-1. The Cavaliers sprinted out to a 6-1 lead in the 8rst half, but Penn State got goals from Kelly Daggett, Steph Lazo and O'Donnell to close the de8cit to 6- 4 at hal9ime. The Lions maintained their momen- tum in the second half, scoring two early goals to tie the score at 6-6. Vir- ginia regained the lead less than a minute a9er Abby Smucker's equalizer, but PSU used a pair of 3-0 spurts to close out the game on a 6-1 run. ■ CONFERENCE CALL Nittany Lion laxers take on a highly competitive Big Ten | VARSITY VIEWS HELPING HAND Aponte has played a major role in Penn State's fast start, ranking among the nation's assist lead- ers. Photo by Patrick Mansell

• Cover