There is no more room for error.
If the Penn State men's lacrosse team hopes to make a run at the NCAA tournament, it has to start winning now.
With the 10-9 loss to Massachusetts last Saturday, the No. 19 Nittany Lions (3-4, 0-3 in the ECAC) may have already lost any chance of winning the league, and will likely have to win out for any hope of getting in the 12-team NCAA tournament.
"We have to play each game for the sake of each game," Penn State men's lacrosse coach Glenn Thiel said. "We have to do it now, or we're going to have nothing to shoot for."
Standing in their way will be a brutal seven-game schedule that includes four straight ranked opponents. The first of those is No. 16 Hobart (4-1, 4-1 in the Patriot League), who will be visiting Happy Valley for a game at 2 p.m. tomorrow at Jeffrey Field.
"It will be a war," Penn State men's lacrosse coach Glenn Thiel said. "This is a big time rivalry. It's going to be super-intense.
"Hobart's players are like interchangeable parts. Everyone they put in there is going to be a very talented lacrosse junky."
The Statesmen are led by a strong attack line. Sophomore John Bogosian leads the team in scoring with nine goals and 13 assists, which places him among the nation's leaders in points per game. Senior Jamie Breslin, last year's offensive player of the year in the Patriot League, leads the team in goals with 11.
"They're a very deliberate, play-oriented team," defensive coordinator Lars Tiffany said. "Defensively, we just have to focus on specific looks, be-cause we know what they're going to doing out of those looks."
Hobart's de-fense has been so-lid, but they all-owed 12 goals to Bucknell in a crucial loss that will probably keep them from winning the Patriot League.
The Nittany Lions have focused less on Hobart this week and more on themselves. A lot of stress has been put on controlling the game for all 60 minutes after the Lions fell 6-2 to UMass last Saturday, and fell short of a dramatic comeback.
"This week was a lot more about us coming out fired up," senior goalie Matt Vallone said. "We're getting prepared for Hobart like we always do, but we're focusing more on not having any lapses, and putting a complete game together from start to finish."
They have also given a lot of attention to picking up ground balls. The Lions have lost the ground ball battle in the past four games. They were thoroughly dominated there against UMass, with 22 ground balls going to the Minutemen, compared to just 12 for Penn State.
There is a sense of urgency among the players, but most of them are using it as a motivational factor instead off allowing that urgency to cause nervousness.
"I think we're all using it positively," senior midfielder Kevin Haggerty said. "This doesn't make us nervous at all, we just know that we have to go out, play hard and try to win every game."
For the 12 seniors on the squad, this do-or-die stretch takes on a lot more meaning.
"For the seniors, this is it," senior midfielder Michael Kern said. "We know we're running out of games to play, and we really want to go out with some wins. We're going to go out and take it to them this weekend."
