Penn State lacrosse hasn’t had the toughest road so far in the 2020 season. Despite a few slow starts, Jeff Tambroni’s squad has rattled off a 3-0 record to begin the year, the most recent being a 19-4 destruction of Saint Joseph’s.

The No. 1 team in the land will be thrust into the fire this Saturday, Feb. 22 when they play host to No. 3 Yale at Panzer Stadium.

Tambroni has committed to focusing on his own team rather than scouting a new opposition each week. Despite Yale being a national contender, Tambroni is adamant about maintaining that ethos.

“It’s a worthy rival, I’d say that’s the best way to put it,” Tambroni said of Yale. “We have a phenomenal team coming to town. We briefly reflected back to last years’ game. We attempted to talk about it, but that conversation will not be brought up prior to the game.”

Last year, the Nittany Lions’ Final Four exit came at the hands of Yale.

The Bulldogs beat Penn State during the regular season as well; they were the only blemish to Penn State’s 16-2 record in 2019.

While the team is doing their best to avoid the emotional aspect of Saturday’s marquee matchup, Tambroni admitted it would be hard to put last season performances out of mind.

“It’s tough to treat it like any other game because of the result last year,” he said.

However, the 10th-year head coach knows what is important heading into the weekend, where everyone in the lacrosse world will have their eye on Panzer Stadium.

“I do think that any conversation and thought process about retaliation is wasted time,” Tambroni said. “In the back of their mind maybe there is [some emotion], but I hope that they will focus on us.”

Regardless of the result on Saturday, both teams should be comfortably in the playoff picture come May. However, Tambroni believes this weekend will be an important measuring stick moving forward.

“We have a phenomenal team coming to town,” Tambroni said. “They are extremely capable, and will be in the national championship conversation again this year. We have worked hard to be in that same conversation.”

“We can stand toe to toe [with Yale] on the same field. It’ll give us some understanding and transparency as to where we are this year.”

Face-off is set for noon on Saturday, February 22 at Panzer Stadium. The game will be televised on the Big Ten Network.