Last Saturday, Penn State men’s lacrosse defeated Johns Hopkins in the Big Ten Championship. Following the win, the team earned home-field advantage in round one of the NCAA Tournament and is set to face No. 12 Army.

While being regarded as a top seed in the upcoming tournament, Penn State has had poor performances against unranked teams or teams ranked lower than it at the time. Four of the five losses the Nittany Lions have suffered were when they were favored to win.

Penn State appears to have more motivation against stronger opponents. It took down three teams in the regular season ranked higher, and then again in the Big Ten Championship against Johns Hopkins.

Despite these concerns, Penn State is heading into the NCAA Tournament prepared to win the national championship.

“Coming off Saturday, we were on a high coming back and super excited about winning the Big Ten Championship,” Jeff Tambroni said. “But, it’s also a challenge because human nature tends to point more towards complacency after wins when it requires the most humility, and it points more towards resiliency and hunger after losses.”

Tambroni added that the team has to continue to strive forward, no matter the opponent. He said the message to the team was to continue to build and be simple to reach the end goal.

“If we focus on what just happened, you tend to gain a sense of comfort, certainly a sense of accomplishment,” Tambroni said. “But we haven’t arrived anywhere yet in regard to our overall goals. If we point more towards how we got to that point, it reflects more appropriately the amount of time, the amount of effort, and the details that need to go into it on a day-to-day basis to get to that point.”

Penn State is facing a strong opponent in round one. Army only had three losses on the season and won the Patriot League Championship. Penn State has built momentum, but Army has done the same. The Black Knights are on a seven-game win streak and have been dominant on both sides of the field.

Army is third in the nation in man-down defense and fourth in scoring defense. It has both the Patriot League Goalkeeper of the Year, Sean Byrne, and the Patriot League Defensive Player of the Year, John Sullivan.

There were only two games this season in which Army scored fewer than 10 goals. The Black Knights have three players with over 25 goals, led by Brayden Fountain with 41. Army has caused major offensive issues against its opponents and is coming prepared to take on Penn State.

Tambroni gave his assessment of the opponent his squad will face on Saturday.

“I would go two ways on this. One is what you would expect stereotypically from one of the military organizations that are super well-organized, they play really hard, and play really well together in all facets of the game,” Tambroni said.

He added that the Black Knights not only won the Patriot League, but they dominated the competition.

“They’re an extremely dangerous team. They take a lot of very calculated risks coming in from defense to offense and are an exciting team to watch because they are willing to push the ball and create some very uncomfortable situations with favorable numbers,” Tambroni said.

Tambroni commented on the team’s discipline and mentioned Byrne’s talent as a goalkeeper. However, Penn State is playing in front of a home crowd. Being able to eat, sleep, and practice where the team normally does is a huge advantage for the Nittany Lions.

While having home-field advantage is beneficial for the team, Tambroni added that the players need to remain focused.

“I do think it plays a factor, but I do think at this point we also recognize during the NCAAs that all of these teams are extremely capable of winning on certain matchups, winning in certain plays, and winning on certain days that it’s probably minuscule, minute, the amount of advantage it is,” Tambroni said. “But when you’re competing in these kinds of games, when it’s especially an 8:00, 9:00 game, you’re going to try to take every advantage you can, and hopefully that will be just one of the many things that we could utilize to push us over the top.”

Along with playing at home, another advantage Penn State has is having Hunter Aquino back on the field. This season, Aquino missed six weeks due to an injury, but is still Penn State’s second-leading scorer. He even won the Most Outstanding Player after the Big Ten Championship game.

The sophomore attackman made an immediate impact on the offense late in the season. He is a huge reason why Penn State won its last three games, scoring a combined nine goals in the stretch.

“If you look at the stat sheet, he’s an extremely efficient, talented shooter, but he is also a terrific passer of the ball, so he’s productive just about every time he touches the ball,” Tambroni said. “But I do think there are other factors that go into this and his presence in confidence. There’s intangibles that go along with this, like the confidence other guys have playing alongside him, the way he rides.”

Tambroni added that Aquino’s presence on the field helps his teammates.

“He gives tremendous effort off the ground and in the ride, that is also extremely contagious, and he tends to take the opponent’s best defenseman and manage that situation so that everyone else down that trickling effect tends to have a more manageable matchup,” Tambroni said.

However, there are other factors to go into playing in an NCAA Tournament for the whole team to remember. When inexperienced, it can create nerves and make younger players feel pressured.

Tambroni spoke about the importance of senior leadership heading into round one. Since he has coached many players on the team for a few years, they tend to understand playing on a bigger stage and listening to what he tells them. He added that the way players act is the most important factor.

Tambroni mentioned how players give insight on the reality of playing in the NCAA Tournament, but “more important to all of that is how you act a certain way,” he said. “That gives the freshmen, the newcomers, the transfers, everything they need to know about what is actually authentic or genuine in their experience. If it doesn’t match up to what they’re saying, then I don’t think you’re going to have any edge or advantage, but if it does, if you walk to talk and talk to walk, then I think you’re going to have a chance to actually maximize that experience into an actual edge.”

After a season with dominant wins and close losses, Tambroni gave his insight on what the team has to do against Army.

“I think these guys have earned the right just to go out and have some fun and play, rather than put any sort of undue pressure on trying to make a play, which usually makes it worse,” Tambroni said.

By staying true to themselves and continuing to work together as a team, Penn State looks to make a run in the NCAA Tournament, starting with Army.

Penn State and Army will face off at 2:30 p.m. on Saturday, May 9, at Panzer Stadium.