Penn State lacrosse to face Army in NCAA tournament first round

After an invigorating upset victory over the Johns Hopkins Blue Jays in the Big Ten championship game, the Penn State Nittany Lions men's lacrosse team has learned their fate for the upcoming NCAA tournament: a home date with a familiar foe. The Army Black Knights will be coming to Panzer Stadium looking for revenge for 2023, when the Blue and White beat them in the quarterfinals.

For Penn State, this is fantastic news after a bit of a bizarre regular season that saw them log three wins over RPI top 30 ranked teams, but lose three games inexplicably ranked outside the top 30 as well. This left many to question what Penn State's resume would mean come selection time for the tournament. Luckily, those losses did not end up affecting their seeding or place in the Big Dance. This means that so far, no team in the history of the tournament has been left out with three top 30 wins.

Penn State is also looking to do something they still haven't quite figured out how to achieve: reach the national championship game and win it. They have reached the semifinals in three of the past seven years, but still have not managed to break through. While this year's group of players has proven to be special, they could be without star Hunter Aquino for the start of this tournament. If the Nittany Lions want to advance far in this tourney, they will have to rely on their elite depth.

Faceoff for the first round matchup will be on Saturday at 2:30 pm.

This article originally appeared on Nittany Lions Wire: Penn State lacrosse to face Army in NCAA tournament first round