The first round of the men’s lacrosse NCAA Tournament has arrived.

No. 7 Penn State will face No. 12 Army in game one of the road to the national championship. The Nittany Lions will play at home in Panzer Stadium. The last time these two teams met in the NCAA Tournament, Penn State beat Army 10-9 in the semifinal.

After winning the Big Ten Championship, the excitement around the team is high. Penn State is looking to prove it’s the best team in college lacrosse.

The Nittany Lions have had some ups and downs this season, with wins over top-10 opponents and losses to unranked teams. Attackman Hunter Aquino had an injury throughout the season, which was a huge loss for the offense. But now he’s back and healthy, and just won the Most Outstanding Player of the Big Ten Tournament.

The Team

Army finished the season 13-3 and 6-2 in Patriot League play. Like Penn State, the Black Knights won their conference tournament, beating Loyola Maryland 14-7. They ended the season hot with seven straight wins.

This season, Army scored 208 goals, 127 assists, and 685 shots on a .304 shooting percentage. The team is 197-199 on face-offs and has committed 39 penalties, compared to its opponents’ 31.

Army’s head coach, Joe Alberici, is in his 21st season with the Black Knights with a total record of 189-114. Alberici is an experienced coach and has practiced preparing for strong opponents.

Associate head coach Kyle Georgalas is in his 15th season with the Army coaching staff, and his 9th as the associate head coach. He started his career as an assistant coach at Cornell, then switched to West Point, where he played a key role in coordinating the defense.

Assistant coaches Rick Lewis and Ian Moore are recent additions to the staff. Both have made strong contributions to the team’s offense, helping Army earn a playoff spot in the tournament.

The Offense

Army has consistently put up double-digit goals in each game. There were only two this season when the Black Knights didn’t reach at least 10 goals, and both were losses.

Brayden Fountain leads the team in goals with 41 this season. The second-year attackman out of Acworth, Georgia, has taken the reins on offense. Along with Fountain, midfielder Evan Plunkett was named the Patriot League Offensive Player of the Year. Attackman Hill Plunkett and midfielder Aiden Weisborn were named to the Second Team All-Patriot League.

The top five scorers for Army all have a shots-on-goal percentage above .500 this season. The starting attackmen for the Black Knights have frequently put the ball on target, which would mean Preston Hawkins has a big day ahead of him.

Three players have over 25 goals this season, which is more than any Penn State player has. Kyle Lehman leads the Nittany Lions with 24 goals, but Army’s fourth leading scorer has 23. Army’s attackmen have been dominant and a serious threat on the field.

The challenge Army faces is matching up against an experienced Penn State defense, especially senior Alex Ross. Ross was recently selected No. 8 overall in the PLL Draft by the New York Atlas. Ross was also named to the First Team All-Big Ten in 2026.

The Defense

Army’s defense has been strong for the majority of the season, with 11 of the Black Knights’ games seeing their opponents score fewer than 10 goals.

Army had a total of 137 caused turnovers, 489 ground balls, and a .893 clear percentage this season. They beat out their opponents in these stats, but Penn State ranks No. 1 in goals scored this season among Big Ten teams.

They will have to watch out for Hunter Aquino on Saturday. Aquino has 23 goals on the season while also missing six weeks. He recently had impressive games against Rutgers, where he scored four goals and had one assist, and then against Johns Hopkins, where he scored two goals and had two assists.

Army’s defense ranks third in the nation for man-down and fourth in the nation for scoring. Senior John Sullivan leads the team in caused turnovers this season with 20. Sullivan was also named the Patriot League Defensive Player of the Year.

Sullivan wasn’t the only player who received an accolade, though. Sean Byrne was named the Patriot League Goalkeeper of the Year, and Keagan Treacy was named to the First Team All-Patriot League.

This season, Treacy has totaled 13 caused turnovers, 21 ground balls, and has an .846 clear percentage. Byrne leads the Patriot League in save percentage and is also second in the nation.

The Black Knights play aggressively, and with their strengths in man-down defense and low scoring allowed, Penn State will be put to the test.