April 18, 2008

By Chris Melchiorre Daily Targum

April 18, 2008

New Brunswick, NJ (UWIRE) -- When trying to size up an opponent in any sport, it is always good to start by looking for consistencies in the play of your opponent. Unfortunately, for the Rutgers men's lacrosse team, there aren't many consistencies to be found in the play of conference rival Penn State, who they will face-off against Saturday in State College, Pa.

In the last six days alone, the Nittany Lions have lost to St. John's, who had been winless up to that point, only to come back three days later and knock off No. 9 Bucknell in a shocking 8-7 victory.

In their first regular season game of the year, Penn State was able to put up an impressive 18 goals only to fail to reach double-digits in scoring for another four weeks.

Of course consistency is not always a good thing. After all, the Scarlet Knights have been all too consistent in their play this year and that has led them to a 4-6 record.

Rutgers head coach Jim Stagnitta noted the season long pattern that his team simply has not been able to break.

"All year, we've proven over and over again that we're good enough to play with the best teams in the country," Stagnitta said. "We're just not good enough to pull away and finish the game."

Through all the inconsistencies that Penn State has had this year, there are several aspects of the Nittany Lions' game that the Knights know they can count on seeing Saturday.

The first thing RU knows is regardless of how Penn State has played in any other game during a season, they will hold nothing back the week they play the Knights.

The last two times the teams met, both games went into overtime with Penn State beating RU in 2006 and the Knights grabbing a double-overtime victory in 2007.

"Rutgers has been playing Penn State forever," Stagnitta said. "It's a great rivalry, and we know we have to be ready for a war when we play them. It's one of those things you can't quite put your finger on, but every year it's never more than a one or two goal game."

Another aspect of a Penn State lacrosse game that is as consistent as a Joe Paterno sideline tirade at any Penn State football game is the play of junior goalie Drew Adams.

Adams is a two-time Eastern College Athletic Conference goalie of the year and is the anchor of the Nittany Lions team. Only in Penn State's loss to St. John's has Adams allowed a team to score double-digit goals in the last seven weeks, and he has repeatedly held teams to under five goals throughout the season.

"The key to Penn State is their goalie," Stagnitta said. "He's terrific, he's one of the best in the country. They don't need to score a lot of goals to beat you. We just have to be smart about the shots that we take against him, we can't always take a shot on the first opportunity that we get because he'll make you pay for it."

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