Feb. 18, 2016
By Maria Canales, GoPSUsports.com Student Staff Writer
UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. ââ'¬" The No. 19 Penn State men's lacrosse team (2-0) travels to No. 15 Cornell (0-0) this Saturday to take on the Big Red, in what is the Nittany Lions' first ranked matchup this season.
The Nittany Lions started off their season with a 20-7 takedown of RMU followed by 17-12 win over Hobart. However, this time around the team is looking for to focus on consistency across the field.
"The first game we started out hot with offense but the second game we didn't start out quite like that," said senior midfielder Tommy O'Neill. "So this third game we want to come out strong and play hard for four quarters."
With several veterans this season on defense, including senior Ryan Guittare and senior James Chakey, the Nittany Lions have worked on developing their defensive strategy, focusing on having every defensive player remain an equal part of the defensive game, rather than favoring a few select players.
Head coach Jeff Tambroni said it's more of a team image, rather than spotlight defense.
"The unit back there is so just predicated on playing with all seven guys, goalie and six included," said Tambroni.
To add to this plan of action, Tambroni looks toward defensive midfielders to become the playmakers, by winning face-offs, controlling possession time, and looking for opportunities at both ends of the field.
"They're probably playing the most challenging position on the field outside of the goalie," said Tambroni of defensive midfielders. "They're trying to defend people with a stick that's three feet shorter than a defensive stick and they've also adapted a new rule this year of creating more transition, being a little bit more confident transitioning the ball from defense to offense."
Being able to effectively play at both ends of the field is key to the Nittany Lions' game strategy.
However, when it comes down to it, there's one thing that everyone on the team would agree is needed for every position ââ'¬" communication.
Communication is needed on the field, for players to know which play is happening, where they need to be, who is covering whom, and what is coming next.
Off the field, communication is remains important for players entering or exiting the action. Teammates on the sideline also communicate to players on the field to help them know where the opposing team is setting up, or where a ball might have gone out of bounds.
All this communication breaks down into choreographed madness, which includes lots of systematic yelling that might otherwise seem unusual. But it all has a purpose.
"If there's one thing that needs to get better as a team, not just defensively, as a team as it relates to our defensive end, it is communication," said Tambroni. "That is the key to starting to build a foundation for defense because for us it connects their understanding, knowing your job, knowing your defense, and communicating to your teammates."
Tambroni explained that if you lack communication, the team would play less as a unit and more as individuals, which would make for a scrambled style of play.
The Nittany Lions have embraced this communication-focused practice strategy this week and has credited this for helping them effectively prepare for Cornell.
"I definitely think coach challenged the older guys this week, they've really stepped up communication, they've been kind of yelling at us but we honestly need it," said sophomore goaltender Will Schreiner. "They've set the tone and hustle that we look up to."
Although not a focus of this weekend, but definitely a notable point, this matchup between Penn State and Cornell marks Tambroni's first game against his old team. Tambroni coached Cornell from 2001-10 and coached them to three NCAA Final Four appearances, including the 2009 national championship game.
Returning to Ithaca on Saturday, Tambroni looks forward to seeing some familiar faces, but knows this is a business trip for his team and doesn't think that his history of coaching at Cornell will provide any leg-up for the Nittany Lions.
"When you have a program like that, like Cornell, they tend to replace not rebuild, so I'm sure there's a lot of guys that are juniors or sophomores that just have not played because of the talent, that will step into those shoes and play playoff level of lacrosse," said Tambroni. "Our job is to respect their tradition and respect their team and understand we're going to see a few new faces, but focus more so on us than them and just play Penn State Lacrosse."
Penn State will faceoff at Cornell on Saturday at 3 p.m.