GAME DAY: Penn State FH vs. Ohio State & Michigan

A Tale of Two Opponents

Penn State are headed into the bulk of its Big Ten by first taking on Ohio State.

The Buckeyes offense is led by a pair of double-digit point scorers in Sienna Golden and Emily Barker. Golden has a team-high six goals and 12 points while Barker has four goals and a pair of assists for 10 points. Victoria Kutz has notched four assists on the season and Phillippa Jowett has three goals and three assists in 2026. Maddie Stevens and Avery Alleva have split time as goalies for Ohio State. Alleva has most of the minutes with 41 saves at a 70.7% clip while Stevens has nine starts with 12 saves at a 52.2% save rate.

The Buckeyes are helmed by Jarred Martin along with associate head coach Kate Lipton and assistant coach Patrick Cota.

The Blue & White will cap off the weekend against the Michigan Wolverines.

The Wolverines offense is led by a trio of four-goal scorers: Juliette Manzur, Esmée de Willigen and Natalie Millman. Manzur leads Michigan as the team’s only double-digit points scorer and leads the Wolverines in assists with three on the year. Along with the trio, 12 other Michigan players have scored points this season. Hala Silverstein has been the primary netminder for the Wolverines, starting all 12 games this season with 29 saves for a 59.2% save rate.

Kristi Gannon Fisher is the head coach of the Michigan Wolverines along with assistant coaches Ryan Langford, Clare Brush and Abby Tamer.

Everybody Love Penn State Field Hockey

Penn State has the second-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.

The Penn State Field Hockey Complex has hosted 3,472 fans through the first half of games this season, the second-best mark in the nation, with an average of 496 per game, the second-best nationally.

When looking solely at the Big Ten, Penn State has a 36% higher accumulative attendance than Michigan, the next closest total attendance in the conference, and has a 36% higher average attendance than the Wolverines.

National Recognition

Cam 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 is Standish’s first Big Ten weekly award, and she is the second Penn State field hockey player to earn a conference weekly award this season after junior goalie Deverka’s win earlier this season.

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 is 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 Phia 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.

The junior goalkeeper has had an extremely effective start to her 2026 campaign. In her four games in the cage, Deverka has registered a pair of clean sheets while registering a Big Ten-leading 19 saves. Against the Wildcats, she secured a clean sheet with four saves on four shots on goal against Villanova while facing three penalty corners. While facing the Delaware, Deverka recorded a season-high nine saves against 10 shots on goal against the Blue Hens with five penalty corners headed in her direction.

PSU Weekend Update

Penn State has extended its winning streak to five straight after a pair of victories over Michigan State in overtime, 1-0, and Kent State, 3-0.

The Nittany Lions won its second consecutive overtime game with the victory over Michigan State. Ella Gaitan scored the golden goal with Lara Pyle assisting her. The Blue & White outshot the Spartans to the tune of 12-1 and maintained the corner advantage, 8-1. Aby Deverka had another clean sheet, her fifth of the year, as the Penn State defense as a collective dominated the game by only allowing a single shot.

Penn State dominated Kent State to push the team’s winning streak to five. Freshman Chloe D’Hage led the offense with her first three-point outing since Lock Haven earlier this year. Gaitan and Olivia Marthins both scored goals in the second quarter to push the momentum squarely in Penn State’s favor. Senior Natalie Freeman and graduate Sienna Dunn each added an assist to their totals.

Penn State led Kent State in every offensive statistical category. The Nittany Lions outshot the Golden Flashes, 25-7, while not allowing a single shot on goal and placing 15 into dangerous territory. The Blue & White held a 9-2 advantage in penalty corners. With the win, the Nittany Lions have recorded six shutouts, the most since the 2022 season.

Nittany Notables

Dunn has become one of the most valuable stoppers and passers in the country. The Isle of Man native has recorded double-digit assists and currently leads the Big Ten and is tied for the national lead in assists and assists per game.

Gaitan has blossomed into one of Penn State’s biggest offensive threats under Prince. The Maryland transfer has tied her single-season-high in goals in eight less games and is a point off from establishing a new career-high in a single-season. Gaitan leads the team with nine goals and 20 points, both of which rank inside the top-five of the Big Ten and top-30 nationally.

Deverka is on the verge of 200 saves in her career, the Texan currently stands at 180 saves. The netminder’s six clean sheets in 2026 has tripled her career total heading into the 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.

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, as of games played through October 11, are ranked 19th in the country in RPI.

Prince coached her 100th career game against the Golden Flashes on Oct. 11. She holds a winning percentage of 72% through her first 100 games as a head coach and has won 66.7% 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.