June 19, 2017
UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. - Penn State field hockey Head coach Charlene Morett-Curtiss announced the 2017 schedule for the Penn State field hockey team Monday, as the Nittany Lions are slated to take on six NCAA tournament teams from last season including the defending national champions from Delaware.
Penn State will host six regular season games at the Penn State Field Hockey Complex this year and will travel to East Lansing, Mich. for this year's Big Ten Tournament as the defending champions. The Nittany Lions have two scrimmages slated for Aug. 15 and 19. Penn State will host a top-notch program in James Madison on Aug. 15 followed by a trip to Syracuse, N.Y. to face the Orange for a second preseason scrimmage Saturday, Aug. 19.
Looking to continue last season's success that saw Penn State piece together a 17-3 record, the Nittany Lions will open up the year with the traditional early season opponents; the squad will open against Old Dominion on the road Aug. 25. Two days later, the team will visit the Virginia Cavaliers, an NCAA Tournament team last year, on Aug. 27 having defeated then-No. 5 Virginia in Happy Valley by a score of 3-0 during opening weekend last season.
Following the opening weekend of hockey, Penn State will welcome Temple (Sept. 1) and Wake Forest (Sept. 3). Penn State routed Temple 8-1 last season as the Owls opened their brand new Temple Sports Complex on Sept. 2, 2016.
The next opponent on the Penn State schedule is a rematch of the final game of last season's NCAA First-Round match as the Nittany Lions face Princeton on the road Sept. 10 followed by an away game against in-state rival Bucknell two days later on Sept 12 in Lewisburg, Pa.
Over the next two weeks, Penn State will play at home against Iowa (9/15), Northwestern (9/22), and Michigan (9/24) with the lone road game over the two week span being a matchup against the defending NCAA Champion Delaware Blue Hens in Lancaster, Pa. at the Nook.
The final seven games to round out the season will see Penn State play all but one on the road with Michigan State (9/29), Kent State (10/1), Ohio State (10/6), Maryland (10/15) and Indiana (10/22) all being true road matches while the clash with California will be a neutral match in Columbus, Ohio and the lone home game coming on Oct. 20 against the Scarlet Knights of Rutgers.
This year's Big Ten tournament will be hosted by Michigan State Nov. 2-5 while the NCAA semifinal and championship games will be hosted by the University of Louisville Nov. 17-19.
To view the complete 2017 Penn State field hockey schedule click here.
For more on Nittany Lion field hockey, log onto www.GoPSUsports.com or follow the team on Twitter @PennStateFH.