As the Penn State men's lacrosse team prepares for its sixth ECAC game this season, it will be playing for a little more than a mere conference win.

In a historical contest that the teams call the Friendship Cup, the Nittany Lions (4-6, 3-2 ECAC) will face Rutgers (4-5, 2-2) at noon tomorrow at Yurcak Field. Each year, the winner of the rivalry takes home the Friendship Cup trophy to keep in the locker room until the next matchup. Penn State will be defending the prize it won by one goal in 2006.

"Rutgers has always played us tough, and now, we're playing for this piece of hardware," senior defender Dan Saltsman said. "It's been a matter of pride and bragging rights, so I'd say it's definitely become a rivalry."

The rivalry started when some lacrosse players from Penn State and their friends from Rutgers decided to dub the game the "Friendship Cup" because of the familiarity on both teams, Saltsman said. Because both Penn State and Rutgers belong to the same conference, the stakes are even higher than a simple trophy.

"We get really pumped up for it because it's an ECAC opponent," said senior midfielder Pat Heim, who also said he has friends on the Rutgers team.

"We take it as any league opponent. It's been an ongoing rivalry for many years. It's always been a very close, well-fought game."

The Lions are also very aware of Rutgers' talent. The Scarlet Knights beat Loyola by 10 goals earlier in the season, a team Penn State fell to by one goal in the final seconds in the season's third game. Penn State head coach Glenn Thiel compared Rutgers to Bucknell, which just defeated Penn State on Tuesday, because of the Scarlet Knights' ability to control the ball in addition to being skilled offensively. Although Rutgers lost, 22-7, against Syracuse on Sunday, it outshot the Orange, 48-45.

"They've got a lot of potential to be a very explosive offense," Saltsman said. "We've got to be really focused and be sure we don't make too many mistakes."

A win Tuesday against Bucknell would've put Penn State at .500, but now, it must focus on rebounding from a missed opportunity to defeat a top-ranked team that could have propelled the Lions into the rankings and even postseason consideration.

However, the Lions know that despite a losing record, they have not been outmatched this season, and they take that confidence into the Friendship Cup.

"We could be undefeated," Thiel said.

"We're good enough. We're close enough to everybody. We could've won every single one of our lost games. We're perfecting what we are. We're a pretty good lacrosse team. Maybe the ball will bounce our way one of these games."