UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. – Boosted by the women’s lacrosse team advancing to the NCAA semifinals and an NCAA second round appearance by the men’s tennis squad, Penn State is No. 12 in the first spring compilation of the Learfield Directors’ Cup standings.
Penn State is seeking its 18th Top 15 finish in the Directors’ Cup. The Nittany Lions are among only nine programs nationwide to have finished in the Top 25 in all 22 Learfield Directors’ Cup final standings.
The Nittany Lions have 800.5 Directors’ Cup points, with 40 points separating eighth place (Florida, 836.75) from 13th (Notre Dame, 797.0). Stanford leads the Directors’ Cup and is followed by Ohio State, Michigan, USC, North Carolina, UCLA, Virginia, Florida, Texas, California, Syracuse and Penn State.
In the latest compilation, the women’s lacrosse team earned 83 Directors’ Cup points by advancing to the NCAA semifinals for the first time since 1999. Led by Coach Missy Doherty, the Nittany Lions fell to eventual national champion North Carolina, 12-11, in the semifinals. Ranked No. 11 at the end of the regular season, Penn State defeated Winthrop, No. 2 seed Florida and No. 7 seed Penn en route to the national semifinals. Senior midfielder Madison Cyr and junior attacker Steph Lazo earned IWLCA All-America honors for Penn State, which was ranked No. 4 in the final polls.
The Penn State men’s tennis team delivered 50 Directors’ Cup points. Directed by Coach Jeff Zinn, the No. 37 Nittany Lions earned their second NCAA Championship berth in the past three years, again advancing to the second round. Penn State defeated No. 25 Columbia in the NCAA first round before falling to No. 1 and eventual national champion Virginia in the second round. Senior Leonard Stakhovsky and freshman Constant De La Bassetiere earned All-Big Ten accolades.
The Learfield Directors’ Cup standings will be updated later in the spring. Penn State was No. 8 in the 2014-15 Learfield Directors’ Cup standings, earning its third consecutive Top 10 finish and 11th overall. The Nittany Lions are among only nine programs nationwide to have finished in the Top 25 in all 22 Learfield Directors’ Cup final standings.
Penn State student-athletes have an NCAA Graduation Success Rate of 88 percent and have earned 191 Capital One/CoSIDA Academic All-America selections, the fourth-highest total among Division I programs. The Nittany Lions have won 76 team national championships and 97 Big Ten Conference crowns all-time and their 29 NCAA Championships since 1992-93 are the most of any Big Ten institution.
The Learfield Directors’ Cup standings were developed as a joint effort between the National Association of Collegiate Directors of Athletics (NACDA) and USA Today. Points are awarded based on each institution’s finish in up to 20 sports — 10 women’s and 10 men’s.
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