Comebacks.

That’s what has defined Penn State men’s lacrosse’s run to the national semifinals of the NCAA Tournament.

Heading into the NCAA Tournament, Penn State had only two comeback wins during the regular season, both on the road. One of those comeback wins came against its semifinal opponent, Cornell, where it came back from a four-goal deficit with two minutes left to win 13-12 in overtime. Its second comeback came in its win over Michigan, where it trailed 7-6 heading into the final period before it finished on a 5-1 run in the period to win 11-8. In the span of two games in the NCAA Tournament, it matched that total from its 14-game regular season, including the Big Ten Tournament.

In their first-round game of the NCAA Tournament, the Nittany Lions were down 11-10 to Colgate with five minutes left in the game. However, it showed its resilience and ended the game on a 3-0 run en route to a first-round victory. Their reward for beating Colgate: a meeting in the quarterfinals against the reigning two-time champions, Notre Dame.

Penn State had an even more daunting task that it had to overcome during its game against Notre Dame. It was down 12-6 midway through the third period, and it looked like it was all over for it. However, it refused to be deterred by that deficit, and in the end, it finished on an 8-0 run to pull off the improbable comeback over Notre Dame.

“If your leaders continue to play with poise, they don’t start to press, [and] I think there are times that you can start to press and make the matter worse,” head coach Jeff Tambroni said. “I felt like it was just the opposite. We gained experience [and] confidence from the Colgate game. Moving forward, we tried to just create incremental games.”

After going down 12-6 midway through the third period, Tambroni switched to a zone defense in hopes of trimming the deficit. According to him, the goal was to get within two or three goals of Notre Dame’s lead heading into the fourth period. The Nittany Lions did just that, and the team had the belief to finish off the comeback after Matt Traynor scored with 14 seconds left in the third period to cut the deficit to two.

“At that point, I just felt like our guys really did believe and things had to fall our way,” Tambroni said. “Having that experience is healthy. Knowing the roots of that belief in that bond, I think that’s the substance that is required if we’re getting into those situations moving forward.”

Now, Penn State will play a rematch against No. 1 Cornell in the semifinals at Gillette Stadium, whose only loss of the season came at the hands of the Nittany Lions. After making the semifinals for the first time since 2023, where it lost to Duke in controversial fashion, Tambroni emphasized the importance of bond and belief within his teams that has helped two Penn State teams to make the semifinals in the last six years, and three of his Cornell teams when he was the head coach.

“When we get to this point, we talk to our guys a lot about bond and belief. You need to have an authentic bond with your teammates because there’s going to be crossroads in every game that you’re going to have to navigate your way through. It’s a relationship that was established way back when this season started,” Tambroni said. “The other one is belief, just a genuine belief in the preparation, your teammates, and system. I would say it’s more of a commonality than it is a difference.”