Similarly, they will have exactly three home and two away games remaining, exactly like last year.
However, between the white lines, things have been anything but similar. It's fair to say that heading into tomorrow's game against Mount St. Mary's College (3-6) the two aren't even in the same area code.
"At this point it's really just one game at a time," Penn State men's lacrosse assistant coach Lars Tiffany said, emphasizing the word one. "Our lack of execution this late in the season is surprising to me."
The glaring difference this season has been the Lions lack of a transition game. Seemingly gone is the constant running up and down the field, the connecting passes and the ripping of wide-open shots. However, gone too from a year ago are standout goalie Chris Garrity and a group of senior laden defenders who made the transition game much easier with their poise and solid stick work in starting the attack.
But while the Lions may use that as a crutch, there is no excuse for the poor starts they have gotten off to recently, being outscored 7-2 in the first quarter in each of the last three games. However, it's not the score as much as the lack of intensity that is lacking at the start.
"Our last three games we have stunk in the first quarter," Tiffany said.
Short of calling it a must-win game tomorrow, the Lions know they have to take care of their own. Tomorrow should be a perfect opportunity to do so, a road match against a team that it should be able to handle.
"Right now for the state of Penn State men's lacrosse it's not a must win; it's a must play hard and a must play well," Tiffany said.
But can they turn back the clock and dust off a little bit of magic from a year ago?
"We'll just see what happens. I don't know. It will be interesting," Penn State men's lacrosse coach Glenn Thiel said. "I think we have more talent then we've shown so far."
