The Penn State men's lacrosse team announced its 2005 schedule today. The Nittany Lions will play eight home games including three against new Eastern College Athletic Conference opponents: Loyola, Hobart and St. John's. Penn State will contend against six teams ranked in the final USILA Top 20 poll from last season, including: No. 5 Georgetown, No. 6 Ohio State, No. 10 Rutgers, No. 12 Notre Dame, No. 14 Villanova and No. 17 Hobart.

The Lions will face a challenging start to the year as they open their season at home against Ohio State (Feb. 19) and Notre Dame (Feb. 27). Penn State will begin its ECAC schedule at home against Loyola (Mar. 5) before looking to earn its first victory in school history over Duke (Mar. 8) on the road just three days later.

Penn State will also travel to Stony Brook (Mar. 19), Massachusetts (Apr. 2), Bucknell (Apr. 19), Rutgers (Apr. 23) and Georgetown (May 8) in the season finale. The Lions will battle Mt. Saint Mary's for the second time in its history (Apr. 5) and St. John's (Apr. 16) for the third time at University Park.

The Nittany Lions will be in action on Sunday, Oct. 17 when they host their 29th Annual Fall Tournament at the Multisport Field. Penn State will compete in two home exhibitions on Saturday, Feb. 5 against the Alumni Team at 3:00 p.m. and Saturday, Feb. 12 against Lehigh at 1:00 p.m.