Johns Hopkins faces its toughest — and most important — test on Sunday afternoon when the Blue Jays head to University Park to take on Penn State, ranked No. 1 in the Nike/US Men’s Lacrosse Division I Poll.
Dave Pietramala lauded the work of Jeff Tambroni’s offense, calling the group as dynamic as he’s seen “in quite some time.” Indeed, Penn State’s top-ranked offense has caused fits to everyone its played, but Pietramala is hoping to throw the Nittany Lions different looks that fit his personnel group.
He knows it’ll take a nearly flawless game in all three phases to pull off the upset, but Pietramala doesn’t want his team to think it needs to be perfect. Far from it.
“This is a game where you can’t afford to play tight,” Pietramala said Wednesday. “We need to take some chances. We need to push the pace a little bit. We need to generate shots. We can’t play not to lose. If you’re trying to play perfectly, it means you’re not going to take a risk now and again.”
NO. 16 JOHNS HOPKINS AT NO. 1 PENN STATE
WHEN: Sunday, April 20, Noon
WATCH: ESPNU
Indeed, the smallest margin for error comes on the defensive side, where Patrick Foley, Owen Colwell, Jack Rapine and Hopkins’ midfielders must communicate when Penn State makes its many cuts for Grant Ament, who has picked apart nearly everyone he’s played.
It’s not as simple as just locking off Mac O’Keefe. Nick Spillane, Dylan Foulds and TJ Malone have each scored at least 20 times, and Jack Kelly has scored 19.
“That’s the challenge. What poison are you willing to pick with this team?” Pietramala said. “They’ve assembled a group that’s very dynamic in the fact that they have an alpha male [in Ament] that gets everybody involved. He wants the ball in his stick and wants to make plays.”
The best way to keep the ball out of Ament’s stick would be to dominate at the faceoff X, but that’s another challenge in itself. Penn State’s Gerard Arceri was just named Big Ten Specialist of the Week for the second time this season as one of the premier faceoff men in the country.
Pietramala bounced from Kyle Prouty to Matt Narewski, but said Prouty has now stabilized the position. He has to switch up his looks against Arceri to prevent him from getting comfortable.
At 2-1 in the Big Ten, it would behoove Hopkins to at least split against Penn State (3-0) and Maryland (2-1) to close its regular season.
“We have put ourselves in a situation where clearly these last two games are important,” Pietramala said. “The beauty is, we get to play the No. 1 team in the country. With the challenges that comes with that comes great opportunity. If you can’t get excited to play the team that’s No. 1 in the conference and No. 1 in the country … there’s no sense in taking the field.”
OTHERS TO WATCH
No. 15 Towson at No. 20 Delaware
Saturday, noon, YouTube
Delaware is the lone undefeated team left in the Colonial Athletic Association at 3-0, while UMass and Towson are right behind at 2-1. The Blue Hens gets Towson on Saturday. Towson won the last meeting, 9-8, but Delaware enters with a head of steam. They downed Hofstra, 13-7, behind four goals and five assists from Charlie Kitchen. These teams score virtually the same amount (Delaware’s 11.92 goals per game to Towson 11.91), but it’s Delaware’s defense that stands out here. The Blue Hens allow 8.83 goals per game, compared to Towson’s 10.27. Austin Haynes, Zach Strassner and Matt DeLuca have been exceptional on that end.
No. 9 Cornell at No. 10 Notre Dame
Saturday, 1 p.m., Big Ten Network
Ohio State needs a win against Maryland to solidify its conference resume before taking on Michigan in the Big Ten finale on Friday, April 26. Obviously, the Buckeyes’ overall resume is a boon for the NCAA tournament, but they’d much rather have the guaranteed bid from winning the Big Ten tournament. Maryland, meanwhile, faces another strong team in Johns Hopkins after this contest, so it’s paramount for the Terps to win here. This should be a great matchup at the faceoff X between Maryland’s Austin Henningsen and Ohio State’s Justin Inacio, two FOGOs who’ve won over .600 percent of their attempts this spring.
ON THE RADAR
All times Eastern. For a full list of broadcast games, please visit our US Lacrosse TV/Streaming page.
FRIDAY, APRIL 19
7 p.m.
No. 2 Yale at Albany (ESPN+)
SATURDAY, APRIL 20
11 a.m.
No. 4 Duke vs. Marquette (in Bethpage, N.Y.)
Noon
No. 10 Cornell at Brown (ESPN+)
Bucknell at Lehigh (CBS Sports Network)
Air Force at VMI (N/A)
North Carolina at No. 11 Notre Dame (ESPNU)
1 p.m.
Dartmouth at No. 5 Penn (ESPN+)
2 p.m.
Drexel at Hofstra (Pride Productions)
2:30 p.m.
No. 6 Loyola at No. 18 Army (CBS Sports Network)
3 p.m.
Michigan at Rutgers (Big Ten Network)
5 p.m.
No. 9 Syracuse at Navy (CBS Sports Network)