A week ago on Wednesday, Penn State became the ninth and final Big Ten school to announce their full regular season schedule for the upcoming fall field hockey season, confirming a 17-game slate that features nine home games and eight on the road.
Because the other eight Big Ten teams had already confirmed their schedules, Penn State's conference schedule was already effectively solidified before their own announcement, save for a few game times.
Every Big Ten team is set to play every other Big Ten team once in regular season conference play, and those eight-game records are set to determine the seeding for the seven-team conference tournament, as well as which two teams fail to qualify.
It's no different than it's been in previous years, although Penn State is hoping the result will be; they failed to qualify as the eighth-place team with a 2-6 Big Ten record in both 2024 and 2025.
But it's the non-conference slate where things have changed a bit for the Nittany Lions from 2025 from a schedule standpoint.
PSU field hockey schedule sees 2 opponents changed from 2025
Of their nine non-conference opponents from 2025, seven are back on their schedule in 2026. Just as the locations of their eight Big Ten games have all flipped from a year ago, the same is true for those seven returning non-conference foes.
But two from 2025 are not on the Nittany Lions' 2026 schedule, and two new ones have been added.
Two of Penn State's biggest nailbiters in 2025 came against Saint Joseph's and Syracuse. The former was an early-season home overtime victory against a Hawks teams that was ranked No. 9 at the time in the Penn Monto/NFHCA Division I National Coaches Poll, and the latter was a crushing road defeat against an Orange team that was ranked No. 6 at the time and did not lead until the closing seconds.
Neither team is on Penn State's regular season schedule for 2026.
Penn State had squared off against Syracuse for three consecutive seasons dating back to 2023. They had faced Saint Joseph's, then coached by their own new head coach Hannah Prince, in back-to-back years.
Instead, Penn State is set to host Villanova on Friday, September 4, and they are set to travel to Monmouth on Sunday, September 20.
Penn State is 5-0 all-time against Villanova, with the most recent meeting coming in 2019. They are 2-0 all-time against Monmouth, with the more recent of the two meetings coming in 2012.
Villanova was not ranked in the poll at all during the 2025 season and finished No. 45 in the RPI, just behind Penn State (No. 41). Monmouth was ranked inside the top 20 in all but the preseason poll. They finished No. 15 in the poll and No. 17 in the RPI.
Penn State's other non-conference opponents for 2026 once again include Virginia, Lock Haven, Delaware, Princeton, Bucknell, Lafayette, and Kent State. They went 4-3 against those seven teams in 2025, including a 3-0 record at home.
Penn State's 2026 season is scheduled to get underway in a non-conference home game against Virginia on Friday, August 28. Live coverage from Char Morett-Curtiss Field is set to be provided by B1G+ beginning at 4:00 p.m. ET. All Penn State home games and Big Ten games are set to be shown live on B1G+ throughout the year, with one conference game (exact game TBD) set to air on Big Ten Network as well.
Add us as a preferred source on Google