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Dixon Previews Penn State vs. Yale

May. 8, 2013

Mark Dixon covers lacrosse for the ESPN Networks and Inside Lacrosse. This weekend he will be calling the Detroit-Notre Dame and Syracuse-Bryant games on ESPNU. Here is what he has to say about this week's Penn State game:

Coming up: Penn State hosts Yale in Happy Valley

Forecast: The Nittany Lions earn their first NCAA appearance since 2005 and their first home NCAA Tournament game in program history despite losing in the CAA final. They feature a terrific trio at attack in Jack Forster, Shane Sturgis, and TJ Sanders. Yale avoided elimination by taking down Penn and Princeton to win their second consecutive Ivy Tournament championship and the AQ. The Bulldogs have a veteran defense led by Mike McCormack and Peter Johnson. I think the loss by Penn State could have a silver lining; riding a 10-game win streak coming into the CAA tourney, the pressure is now off in terms of the first loss in months being the end of the season. Often a loss before the NCAAs can refocus a team. The Bulldogs hope they can carry the momentum into the NCAAs and win their first tournament game since 1991.

Where the game will be won: Penn State figures to play a ton of defense in this one since Yale's Dylan Levings has been brilliant at the face-off. Levings took 30-40 over this past weekend at the Ivy Tournament and was a difference-maker for the Elis. The Nittany Lions need to contain Levings, but they cannot play good team D and stay out of the penalty box, something Princeton did not do. Balanced scoring will also be crucial. Yale had nine different goal scorers in the Ivy final against Princeton. Penn State needs its midfielders to take scoring pressure off of their attack. The team that has secondary scorers step up should walk away the winner.

Note: This game will feature two of the top face-off specialists in the country. Of the top 60 ranked face-off specialists, Yale's Dylan Levings is ranked #7 at 193-125 for .607 pct. and Penn State's Danny Henneghan is ranked #13 at 191-142 for .574 pct.