State College, Pa. - January 6, 2006 - The Penn State Nittany Lion men's lacrosse team, under the guidance of veteran head coach Glenn Thiel, has earned a No. 11 preseason national ranking from Lacrosse Magazine, the official publication of U.S. Lacrosse, the sport's national governing body.

Penn State, which is coming off a 9-6 season and is the defending ECAC Lacrosse League co-champion, is one of four league teams listed in the publication's initial poll. Georgetown is No. 8, Massachusetts is No. 9, Penn State is No. 11 and new entry Fairfield is No. 20.

The Lions return leading scorer Nate Whitaker (Great Falls, Va.) and fellow co-captains Greg Gurenlian (Springfield, Pa.) and Keith Benjamin (Short Hills, N.J.). Attacker Whitaker led Penn State with 44 points off 31 goals and 13 assists last year. Midfielder Gurenlian won 194 of 305 face offs and had 11 ground balls while Benjamin emerged as an anchor on defense, starting all 15 games.

Penn State opens up its 2006 season with two exhibitions in Holuba Hall. The Lions host Robert Morris on Saturday, Feb. 4, at 1 p.m. and Lehigh on Saturday, Feb. 11, at 1p.m. Penn State begins the regular season with four straight road games, including the season opener at No. 10 Notre Dame on Sunday, Feb. 26. The complete 2006 Lacrosse Magazine Preseason Top 20 is as follows:

1: Duke
2: Johns Hopkins
3: Virginia
4: Maryland
5: Syracuse
6: Cornell
7: Navy
8: Georgetown
9: Massachusetts
10: Notre Dame
11: PENN STATE
12: Towson
13: Army
14: Princeton
15: Denver
16: Hofstra
17: Delaware
18: North Carolina
19: Maryland-Baltimore County
T20: Fairfield
Stony Brook