Blue White Illustrated

A t some point, everyone has to regroup. The number of teams in any sport that go undefeated over the course of an entire season is small, as even championship- caliber teams have bad days. In men's lacrosse, last year's national champion, Maryland, lost three times during the regular season before putting it all together at the NCAA tourna- ment. So it wasn't sur- prising when Penn State lacrosse coach Jeff Tambroni found himself having to re- mind everyone that setbacks and disap- pointments are part of the bargain. The surprise was that the Nittany Lions' first disappointing result came in their opener. Unranked Villanova nipped the No. 12 Lions, 17-16, in overtime on Feb. 3 at Hol- uba Hall. The Wildcats rallied for seven fourth-quarter goals to send the game to overtime, then got the winner from John Kluh just 50 seconds into the extra pe- riod. "It was definitely a bitter ending," Tam- broni said. "But we're keeping things in perspective, especially at this point in the season. Every goal that this staff and team have put on the table is still very much relevant, other than maybe an undefeated season. "I still feel very confident, our staff still feels very confident, and I get the sense that our captains and seniors feel very confident. There were a lot of good things that went on throughout the game. I think, defensively, we feel very good about where we will be moving forward. Obviously, it wasn't our best perform- ance, but that group has a lot of pride and a lot of talent, and we will be better. I'm confident there. Offensively, I thought we showed some life. … I think the combina- tion of those two things is positive mov- ing forward." The Nittany Lions justified Tambroni's optimism in their next game, trouncing Hobart, 15-8, on Feb. 10 in Holuba. Against the Statesmen, Penn State en- joyed a 9-1 scoring edge in the final two quarters to pull away. Sophomore Mac O'Keefe paced the team with five goals and an assist to earn Big Ten Offensive Player of the Week honors. The Nittany Lions are coming off a 2017 season in which they struggled at times defensively but made up for it at the other end of the field. Their average of 10.69 goals allowed ranked 38th in the country, but they scored 13.31 goals to rank sixth nationally. The result was a 12-4 finish, with those dozen victories tying the school record. One of the keys to Penn State's offen- sive success was the play of O'Keefe. A 6-foot-0, 180-pound attacker from Syosset, N.Y., he finished his freshman season with 51 goals, the most ever by a Penn State player and second-most in the nation last year. It was enough to earn him an honorable mention All-America nod. Now that O'Keefe has established himself as a potent offensive threat, his role will have to evolve, Tambroni said. With attacker Nick Aponte having grad- uated, the Nittany Lions will be looking for more productivity from the re- turnees, with O'Keefe leading the charge. It's a daunting prospect, and it might have taken him out of his comfort zone in the opener against Villanova, as he finished with two goals on eight shots. "I think he was pushing it a little bit in the first game. Maybe he played with higher expectations than we needed," Tambroni said. "We need him to be Mac O'Keefe – no more, no less – but we need him to be Mac O'Keefe at his best. I think as long as he realizes that, or the sooner he realizes that, the better he's going to be. When he's locked in, both mentally and physically, he is an extremely [dan- gerous] attackman." There's plenty of firepower elsewhere in the lineup, with senior Ryan Keenan and juniors Grant Ament, Kevin Hill and Nick Spillane all back. Ament had 30 goals and 30 assists last spring. Penn State's 2017 season ended with a 12-8 defeat at home to Towson in the first round of the NCAA tournament. O'Keefe scored three goals in the upset loss, and Ament added three of his own. But the Tigers had an excellent defensive team and shut down the eighth-ranked Nittany Lions for much of the afternoon. The Lions have never been to the NCAA tournament in consecutive sea- sons – they've made the field four times in their history – but they appear to have the potential to set that precedent this year. Senior midfielder Tanner Peck, one of four captains on this year's team, said that mental preparation will be the key to advancement. "One thing we stress as a team is put- ting some pressure on ourselves in prac- tice so that when game day comes, that is second nature," he said. "We're going to face adversity, and we have to under- stand that we need to play as a unit in order to make an impact. It isn't going to be one person; it's going to take all of us to accomplish what we want to ac- complish this season. ... We want to be our best no matter who the opponent is." ■ ATTACK MODE Oensive prowess fuels high hopes at PSU as lacrosse season gets under way | VARSITY VIEWS O'KEEFE

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