GAME DAY: No. 14 Penn State FH vs. No. 1 Northwestern

Welcoming the Reigning National Champs

Penn State will take on the reigning national champions in the final regular season contest at the Penn State Field Hockey Complex. Northwestern has already clinched a share of the conference regular season title while Penn State can play for seeding.

The Wildcats are headed to Happy Valley on a three-game winning streak and an unblemished conference record.

The Northwestern offense is led by a pair of 12-goal scorers in Ashley Sessa and Ilse Tromp. Sessa and Aerin Krys lead the Wildcats with 10 assists while the former has a team-high 34 points on the campaign. The trio of Sessa, Tromp and Olivia Bent-Cole all have scored at least 20 points while Krys and Sol Martinez Vivo round out the quintuplet with double-digit points. In the cage, Juliana Boon has led the Wildcats, starting all 17 games with 62 saves at an 83.8% rate and seven shutouts.

Northwestern is helmed by head coach Tracey Fucks in her 18th season alongside associate head coach Georgia Holland and assistant coach Will Byrne.

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. 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.

The Penn State Field Hockey Complex has hosted 4,752 fans through the first three-quarters of games this season with an average of 526 per game, both of which are the second-best nationally.

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

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 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.

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.

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 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.

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.

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 extended its winning streak to eight after shutting out No. 13 Indiana in a defensive showcase on the road.

Lara Pyle scored the only goal of the contest on a penalty corner attack with Lilly Holmes and Cam Standish each grabbing an assist. The Nittany Lions’ defense held the Hoosiers to six total shots throughout the game and only allowed a shot off on two of Indiana’s penalty corners. The win is the highest ranked victory of the Hannah Prince-era and capped off the longest winning streak for the Nittany Lions since the 2013 campaign that saw 12 consecutive victories.

The Blue & White’s lost for the first time since September 28 after being downed by the No. 6 Iowa Hawkeyes. Aby Deverka secured four saves during the afternoon while Joji Purdy, Ella Gaitan and Natalie Freeman all recorded shots on goal.

Nittany Notables

After the weekend sweep of Ohio State and then-No. 18 Michigan, the 2026 campaign marks 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.

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 is currently second in the Big Ten in total assists and assists per game and top-10 nationally in both categories.

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-30 nationally. She is the first Penn State player since Gladieux to hit 20 points in a season.

Deverka is on the verge of 200 saves in her career, the Texan currently stands at 198 saves. The netminder’s seven clean sheets in 2026 have 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 and another one versus Ohio State.

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 25, are back to being ranked 14 in the country in RPI. Penn State’s victory over Rutgers marks the team’s highest RPI win of the season with the Scarlet Knights clocking in at No. 15 and the win over Lafayette follows right behind with the Leopards at No. 17.

Prince coached her 100th career game against the Golden Flashes on Oct. 11. She holds a winning percentage of 72.1% through her first 104 games as a head coach and has won 66.8% 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.