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Penn State field hockey heads to Columbus, Ohio to rematch the No. 10 Iowa Hawkeyes in the Big Ten Tournament Quarterfinals.
The Hawkeyes are the only team to down the Nittany Lions in the last 10 games despite a pair of last second opportunities by Penn State.
The last time the two squads took on each other, Iowa was able to hold the Penn State attack without a goal while the Hawkeyes were able to convert a penalty corner. Aby Deverka was able to grab four saves while Joji Purdy, Ella Gaitan and Natalie Freeman were able to get a shot on goal.
Penn State has defeated Iowa seven times in 13 opportunities in the Big Ten Tournament. The last time the two met up in the conference tournament was in 2019 where the Blue & White lost in overtime. If the Nittany Lions can win, it will be the first time since 2021 that Penn State will have reached the Big Ten Tournament Semifinals.
Everybody Love Penn State Field Hockey
Penn State ended the season with the highest total attendance in the nation at the Penn State Field Hockey Complex.
In the first weekend of competition, 1,214 people spent their afternoons watching Penn State Field Hockey with the opening game against Virginia bringing in 792 souls, the biggest crowd at the Penn State Field Hockey Complex since October 22, 2023 when the Nittany Lions defeated the Iowa Hawkeyes in the team's regular season finale.
During the second slate of games, the Nittany Lions welcomed an additional 718 fans to the confines of the Penn State Field Hockey Complex. In the third weekend, against a nationally ranked Princeton team, Penn State fans once again showed out with 642 attendees at the Penn State Field Hockey Complex. When looking at games played against Maryland and Lafayette, 899 fans showed out to support the Nittany Lions.
During the weekend versus Ohio State and Michigan, Penn Staters came out in force. A total of 1,259 fans came out to see an electric pair of games, beating out the opening weekend total. Against Ohio State, the Penn State Field Hockey Complex saw the second-most fans of the season with 757 while 502 joined the Nittany Lions for the Sunday matinee against Michigan. Against then-No. 1 Northwestern, a season-high 812 fans came to watch the top-15 ranked matchup and saw a historic shutout for the Nittany Lions.
The Penn State Field Hockey Complex hosted 5,544 fans throughout the season with an average of 550 per game, the best and second-best nationally, respectively.
National Recognition
After the weekend sweep of Ohio State and then-No. 18 Michigan, Penn State finally earned a spot in the National Field Hockey Coaches' Association Coaches' Poll as the No. 19 team in the country. The Blue & White climbed up to No. 12 in the country after downing the then-No. 1 Northwestern Wildcats in shutout fashion. The Nittany Lions are ranked for the first time since the week of September 23, 2025, when the Blue & White found itself at No. 20 in Division I.
After defeating Northwestern, Deverka earned the nod for Big Ten Defensive Player of the Week. It was the second time the junior netminder earned the accolade this season, the first Penn State player to win more than one Big Ten weekly award this season and the fourth time a Nittany Lion earned a Big Ten weekly honor.
Deverka was named both the Big Ten Defensive Player of the Week and the NFHCA National Defensive Player of the Week thanks to her efforts against Villanova and Delaware. Deverka was the first Penn State field hockey player this season to earn a Big Ten weekly award and is her third Big Ten weekly honor after earning two Big Ten Freshman of the Week honors in 2024. She is the first Penn State player to earn a Big Ten weekly accolade since Gladieux was named in Big Ten Offensive Player of the Week in late September of 2024. Deverka is the first Nittany Lion to earn Big Ten Defensive Player of the Week distinctions since Anouk Knuvers did so in October of 2023.
Derverka was the first Penn State player to earn a NFHCA weekly accolade since Gladieux was named NFHCA Offensive Player of the Week in late October of 2023. Deverka is the first Nittany Lion ever to earn the NFHCA Defensive Player of the Week distinction.
Gaitan secured the Big Ten Offensive Player of the Week after leading the Nittany Lions to a victory over then-No. 18 Michigan and Ohio State. Gaitan scored both of Penn State's goals in the ranked win over Michigan. The first goal came in a penalty corner to the top left corner and the second found the back of the cage during a two-on-one fast break. Against Ohio State, Gaitan set the tone in the shootout, scoring the first of Penn State's three shootout goals to help lead the Nittany Lions to victory.
The award was Gaitan's first Big Ten weekly award, and she was the third Nittany Lion to win a weekly accolade. She is the first Penn State player to earn the offensive variant of the award since Olympian Phia Gladieux.
Standish was tabbed as the Big Ten Defensive Player of the Week after leading Penn State to a pair of dominant defensive showings against fellow Big Ten school Michigan State and Kent State. Between both games, the Nittany Lions' defense only allowed eight shots to be taken while forcing all of them off-target and not letting a single shot on goal during the weekend. Standish played 108 out of a possible 121 minutes on the weekend.
The award was Standish's first Big Ten weekly award, and she was the second Penn State field hockey player to earn a conference weekly award this season after junior goalie Deverka's win earlier this season.
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Taking Down the Wildcats
Penn State took down the No. 1 Northwestern Wildcats in a massive 2-0 shutout from the Penn State Field Hockey Complex on Friday night.
While the first two periods of play remained scoreless for both teams, the Nittany Lions pulled off two massive goals, one in the third period and one in the fourth period, to give head coach Hannah Prince her first ever win over the No. 1-ranked team in the country.
Cooper Cutchins and Lilly Holmes both scored goals on penalty corners with Cam Standish and Sienna Dunn grabbing assists. Deverka had 7 saves against the Wildcats, putting her at 205 career saves, and pitched her eighth shutout of the season.
The win by the Nittany Lions snapped a 35-conference game winning streak by Northwestern and tripled the amount of conference wins from 2025 to 2026.
All-Conference Accolades
Dunn and Gaitan both earned All-Big Ten First Team selections while Olivia Marthins and Lara Pyle were named to the All-Big Ten Second Team. Holmes and Kira Takahashi-Trader notched Big Ten All-Freshman Team nods and Emmy McCulley won the Big Ten Sportsmanship Award for Penn State.
A newcomer from the Isle of Man, Dunn has become one of the most prolific midfielders in the Big Ten. Her 14 assists are the second-most in the Big Ten and tied for the sixth-best total in the country. Dunn's 0.82 assists per game are also the second-most in the conference with the seventh-highest in Division I. Her prowess in penalty corner attacks has made the Penn State set piece offense one of the best in the country and plays ferociously on the press.
Gaitan has blossomed into one of Penn State's biggest offensive threats under Prince. The Maryland transfer secured her first double-digit goal season of her career after her brace against the Wolverines. Her 11 goals, 24 points and five game-winning goals all lead Penn State with her total goals and points ranking within the top-10 of all Big Ten players and top-50 nationally. She is the first Penn State player since Gladieux to hit 20 points in a season.
Marthins has become one of Penn State's standouts on offense. It only took 10 games for the sophomore to surpass her freshman year goal and point total and Marthins recorded her first multi-goal game of her career against then-No. 19 Lafayette and another one versus Ohio State. Her eight goals and 17 points rank second on the Penn State squad and are double her freshman year totals.
Pyle established herself as a threat in the midfield for the Nittany Lions. The Australian registered her first two goals of her career in Big Ten conference games in high leverage situations. Her goal against Indiana was the lone one of the contest while her goal and shootout goal against Ohio State were monumental in keeping the Penn State winning streak alive. Her four assists have quadrupled her previous year total and eight points easily surpass her freshman year total.
Both of Penn State's All-Freshman Team selections have been instrumental to the Nittany Lion defense. Holmes has started every game of her Penn State career while Takahashi-Trader has played in every contest with both coming in as backs. Both have been a part of the Penn State penalty corner defense and Holmes has carved out a role in the Blue & White penalty corner attack as a passer and stopper. Against Northwestern, Holmes, in the last two minutes of competition, fired the Penn State insurance goal in the back of the cage for her first goal of her career.
Nittany Notables
After the weekend sweep of Ohio State and then-No. 18 Michigan, the 2026 campaign marked the first Penn State season with double-digit wins since 2022 and the first since 2023 with at least four Big Ten victories. Following the Nittany Lions win over the No. 13 Indiana Hoosiers, the Blue & White secured eight-straight victories, the longest streak for Penn State since the 2013 season and was the seventh shutout and third ranked win of the 2026 campaign. The Nittany Lions won nine of the team's last 10 games to close out the 2026 regular season after downing Northwestern and was on the verge of a 10-game winning streak after a last second opportunity to score against Iowa.
On October 7, Penn State was ranked 14 in RPI. It is the highest ranking that the Nittany Lions have held in the RPI since the 2022 season. The Blue & White, at the end of the regular season, peaked at ninth in the country in RPI and are sitting at 10 prior to the rematch against Iowa. Penn State's victory over Northwestern marks the team's highest RPI win of the season with the Wildcats clocking in at No. 4. The Nittany Lions have top-30 RPI wins over Northwestern (4), Rutgers (14), Lafayette (15), Indiana (21), Michigan (28) and Delaware (30).
Prince coached her 100th career game against the Golden Flashes on Oct. 11. She holds a winning percentage of 72.1% through her first 107 games as a head coach and has won 70.6% of her games in Happy Valley so far.
The Prince Era
On January 13, 2026, Penn State Field Hockey ushered in a new era with the hiring of Hannah Prince as head coach. Prince came to Happy Valley after an extremely successful four-year run at the helm of the St. Joseph's Hawks where she compiled a 64-24 record, four consecutive A-10 titles, secured the NFHCA Mid-Atlantic Region Coaching Staff of the Year accolade and was highlighted by a NCAA Runner Up finish in 2024.
Prince was also a successful player at UMass earning A-10 All-Rookie Team and All-Conference First Team recognition as well as NFHCA First Team All-Region honors. Prince, as a member of the United States Field Hockey National Team, won a gold medal at the 2017 Pan American Cup.
Prince has extensive coaching experience, having started her coaching career at New Hampshire, helping lead the team to a pair of America East title games during her three seasons there (2015-17). She left New Hampshire for an initial tenure at Saint Joseph's as an assistant coach in 2017 and 2018, helping guide the team to the NCAA tournament for the first time in 2017. Prince transitioned to Princeton University in 2019 where she was part of the NFHCA Mid-Atlantic Region Coaching Staff of the Year for the Tigers.
During her transition to Happy Valley, Prince brought along her associate head coach from the Hawks, Mark Wadsley. Along with Wadsley, Prince is joined by assistant coaches Janelle Ward, a former St. Joseph's goalie during Prince's tenure, and Ally Hammel from last season's staff and US Olympian.