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

A Tale of Two Opponents

Penn State will face its second consecutive Big Ten road test, this time against the Michigan State Spartans.

The Spartans are led on offense by Bianca Pizano as the lone double-digit point scorer for Michigan State with five goals and an assist. Lilian Knorr, Ellie Kendall and Mora Cavazza all join Knorr with at least five points scored in 2026 while the assist leader for the Spartans is Carmen Mauldin with four. Michigan State has split time between goalies with Lola Munoz de Verger having one more start and 140 more minutes than her counterpart, Catherine Wolf. Munoz de Verger has registered 32 saves for a 65.3% save rate while Wolf has secured 29 saves at a 70.7% clip.

Tamara Durante leads the Spartans along with assistant coaches Bridgette Street, Emma Hilton and Jennifer Johnstone.

The Blue & White will cap off the weekend road trip against the Kent State Golden Flashes.

The Golden Flashes offense is led by Eva Usoz with six goals for 12 points with Sophia Livingston being the only other Kent State player with more than one goal on the year. Adelaide Gagnon, Torie del Collo and Mary Kate Finnan join the pair as multi-point scorers for the Golden Flashes. Michaela Skinner has not left the net for Kent State with 54 saves at a 65.1% save rate. 

Kent State field hockey is helmed by head coach Heather Hefner along with assistant coaches Lizzie Hamlett and Tanner Ridgely as well as graduate assistant Bella Carpenter.

Everybody Love Penn State Field Hockey

After seven games at home, Penn State is still the nation’s leader in total attendance 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 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 is approximately 50% higher than Maryland for the next closest accumulative attendance and has a 33% higher average attendance than Michigan.

National Recognition

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 on the weekend.

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.

A Pair of Firsts

Penn State earned head coach Hannah Prince a pair of firsts after sweeping its weekend slate against Rutgers, 1-0, and then-No. 19 Lafayette, 3-2, in overtime.

Penn State’s win against Rutgers was the first Big Ten win for the Nittany Lions in the Prince-era. Junior forward Katelyn Strawser scored the lone goal of the afternoon in the first quarter of play against the Scarlet Knights. Aby Deverka kept Rutgers off the board with six saves on the day while Ella Gaitan recorded a spectacular defensive save during a penalty corner. Penn State held the advantage in penalty corners and saves while Rutgers outshot the Blue & White.

The Blue & White’s overtime thriller over the Leopards, 3-2, marked the first ranked victory of the Prince-era. Penn State found itself down by a goal early in the fourth stanza when sophomore Olivia Marthins dominated the next minute and a half, scoring two goals off with the first being assisted by Natalie Freeman and Lilly Holmes. The Nittany Lions would let up a goal on a penalty corner that would force overtime. In overtime, on the second penalty corner the Blue & White earned, Cam Standish would score the game winning goal off a rebounded shot by Ella Gaitan with Sienna Dunn setting up the shot. 

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.

Deverka is on the verge of 200 saves in her career, the Texan currently stands at 180 saves. The netminder’s four clean sheets in 2026 more than doubled 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.

Prince will coach her 100th career game against the Golden Flashes on Sunday. She holds a winning percentage of 71.4% through her first 98 games coached and has won 60% 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.