After Penn State men’s lacrosse fell to Duke in the NCAA Tournament semifinal due to a missed crease violation, fans erupted in outrage. However, the Nittany Lions didn’t let their castle crumble. They continued to fortify it and reinforce its foundation little by little.

Head coach Jeff Tambroni has always emphasized the resilience of his team, and it’s largely due to the brick-by-brick mentality he’s established at Panzer Stadium over the last 10 years.

“One of the goals that we asked our guys to take on when they came back in the preseason is to not only recognize what the brick stands for as part of the identity but to create action plans,” Tambroni said. “Day-to-day action plans and habits that just resemble these characteristics that we’ve talked about every day about resilience, reliability, and toughness.”

Keeping these values at the forefront of the team’s mentality can carry over into the life of Nittany Lion lacrosse alumni in their actions as employees, fathers, or husbands. But Tambroni’s main hope is for someone to sit in the stands and use those words to describe his team every time they step onto the field.

Creating a unified culture helped each player hold themself to a higher standard, one that can seem daunting to surpass, but the team manages to achieve time and time again.

Jack Fracyon had a remarkable showing last year in his first as the starting goalkeeper. He was named the Big Ten Specialist of the Year and led the conference with a .582 save percentage, anchoring the defense throughout the season.

He comes out every day with the mentality of bettering himself and helping his team, with his internal motivation so high he doesn’t require any extra attention or validation from coaches or players, according to Tambroni.

“At this point, you’re trying to get 1% better in these categories to become the very best in the country, and I think he has the ability and mindset,” Tambroni said.

In every area, Penn State’s resilience has risen in the offseason and made the team’s championship run more likely.

Jack Posey exited the NCAA Tournament quarterfinal against Army injured and has been working to prepare himself mentally and physically for his return. In the face of adversity and his selection in the 2023 NLL Draft, Posey chose to come back for a fifth year to have one more chance to lead the defense to a championship, even with his return still unknown.

TJ Malone opted to return for his sixth season and final year of eligibility, the epitome of resilience and leadership to the team. Malone missed all of the 2022 season due to injury before returning last year and having a career season, notching 73 points, Big Ten Offensive Player of the Year honors, and more. His comeback was widely praised by his teammates last season and gave them motivation, something he’ll do in an even bigger role as a captain in 2024.

In the few areas the Nittany Lions had issues in, they generated solutions. While struggling for a dedicated player to dominate the face-offs, Penn State brought in a new coach. Each player in the group brings something different to face-offs, and the competition will grow through the season.

“The entire face-off room has done a really good job,” Tambroni said. “[Andy] Meyers was hired this summer and has done a terrific job of providing direction with that entire group.”

Despite narrowly missing out on two tournament championships, the losses aren’t creating a revenge tour for Penn State.

“It’s not so much a fuel of revenge as much as it is just a reflection,” Tambroni said. “When we got back in August, we tried to use everything, both the wins, losses, experience, and journey, as fuel for how to get better. I think you have to take great stock and just get to those situations where you’re playing for a Big Ten Championship, you’re playing for a national championship.

With two scrimmages against Bucknell and Army looming before the season opener on February 3, the Nittany Lions have three goals in mind: to enter the season healthy, to be battle-tested, and to sharpen play to reach a full 60 minutes of terrific form.

“Hopefully we put ourselves in some uncomfortable situations,” Tambroni said. “We try to limit timeouts in scrimmages like this so that our guys would have to work through some situations we wouldn’t ask them to work themselves through in games and try to pick up the heat and condition and mental and physical kind of expectations.”

Everything comes back to the resilience of Tambroni’s program, highlighted by its durability in injury recovery, facing unknown players and uncomfortable situations, and battling through the different conditions it’s forced to play through.

Every step taken has been brick by brick, focusing on each piece of the puzzle to create another team set to challenge on the best in the country.

Repeating its run from last season won’t be an easy feat, but already ranked No. 4 in the preseason poll, Penn State is simply waiting for its chance.

The Nittany Lions will start the season as host to Colgate at noon on Saturday, February 3, at Panzer Stadium.