Penn State men's lacrosse coach Glenn Thiel knows he can teach his players about defense and offense all he wants, but there is one thing in the game that can not be taught -- momentum.

A lacrosse game can change hands at any time with goals being scored left and right.

With momentum currently on the No. 15 Nittany Lions' (7-4, 5-1 ECAC) side, they travel to Philadelphia at 7:30 tonight to face off against the Villanova Wildcats in the team's last non-conference game of the regular season.

Penn State's last two games have been back and forth with momentum swinging from side to side, and the Lions have been fortunate enough to win the second game against Rutgers in overtime.

Thiel hopes to harness that momentum for tonight's game, something they didn't have at the end of their game two weeks ago.

"We should have been able to ice them away when we had them," Thiel said about the loss against Bucknell. "We had the shots we wanted at the end but couldn't get anything out them."

That game was back and forth with the lead changing many times.

Unfortunately momentum was not on the Lions side that night something Thiel blamed on the day of the week.

"Everything was just a little bit off," Thiel said. "It was just your typical Wednesday game."

Thiel spent the next few days resting his players with light practices and then went back into action four days later against Rutgers in a game that ended with the momentum on the Lions' side.

After another back-and-forth game in the rain, the Lions pulled out the win with a game-winning goal by captain Nate Whitaker in overtime.

Rutgers dominated the first half, having a 4-1 lead early in the contest, but the Lions came back tied the game going into intermission.

The Lions took the coveted momentum in the second half until the Scarlet Knights tied the game, which led to overtime.

Now the Lions have had a week off to rest and hope the vigor from last week's thrillers carries over.

Thiel knows that the rest is something that will benefit his team.

"We know what have to do," Thiel said. "We needed this week to rest our guys up."

With two things that can not be taught on the Lions' side, momentum and rest, Thiel has his team poised to take on the Wildcats.

The Lions are currently atop the ECAC and look to show Villanova that they are ready for the NCAAs.

A win tonight will help the Lions' chances at making the tournament, something Thiel hopes that the team's current momentum carries his team to.

"We just have to keep winning," Thiel said. "We can't afford any more losses, that's for sure."