It took until the Week 8 edition of the Penn Monto/NFHCA Division I National Coaches Poll for the Penn State Nittany Lions field hockey team to make their first appearance of the 2026 season, and when they did, they were only slotted in at No. 19 out of the 20 teams included in the rankings.
They had just beaten No. 18 Michigan, and Michigan was No. 18 despite being just 6-6 overall and 1-4 in Big Ten play when the Week 7 edition was released. To put that in perspective, Penn State's win over Michigan brought the Nittany Lions to 10-4 overall, thanks to a seven-game winning streak, and a 4-1 record in Big Ten play.
Despite their long-awaited poll inclusion, the Nittany Lions were still ranked behind Lafayette, whom they had beaten head-to-head and whose strength of record was (and still is) nowhere near Penn State's.
Penn State was also notably still six spots behind Indiana, whom they were due to meet in Bloomington later in the week, despite having the same conference record, a better overall record, a better RPI rank, and a better strength of schedule than the No. 13 Hoosiers.
Bottom line, even amid the inclusion, Penn State was still underrated, and their success was still greatly undervalued.
Penn State's success finally being noticed, appreciated
But the team that earned only 19 points in the Week 8 voting made a statement on the road against the team that earned 92, earning their third consecutive Big Ten road shutout and their third ranked win during a historic eight-game winning streak that featured a number of "firsts" for the program in many years – and in some cases, many decades.
The win over Indiana was the seventh overall shutout for Penn State in their first 15 games under first-year head coach Hannah Prince, eclipsing their total from the previous three seasons combined. It was also their fifth straight Big Ten win, after they had won only four of their previous 18 games against Big Ten opponents.
Penn State's win streak did come to an end on Sunday at Iowa against the No. 6 Hawkeyes. But a 1-0 loss in a game that came down to back-to-back Nittany Lions penalty corner opportunities in the closing seconds would not be enough to erase the many achievements of the previous eight games.
Quite frankly, finishing the season with just one goal allowed in four Big Ten road games, after going 0-8 with a total of 24 goals allowed in Big Ten road games across the 2024 and 2025 seasons combined, doesn't really feel like a huge loss anyway.
And the NFHCA voters finally took notice.
Penn State lands highest rank in past 33 polls
After it took just four out of eight scheduled Big Ten regular season games for Penn State to punch their first Big Ten Tournament ticket since 2023, despite preseason expectations as dire as an outright declaration that they'd "take a few years" to get back to the postseason, it took a little bit longer than it probably should have for the Nittany Lions to be ranked.
But with 57 voting points this week, they are now up to No. 14, the school's highest national ranking since the 2023 season. It's their highest rank in the 33 most recent editions of the poll, dating back to October 2023, and it's tied for their highest rank in its 40 most recent editions, dating back to September of the same year.
more to build on#GameOn | #PSUFH pic.twitter.com/PWst5SDTZc
— Penn State Field Hockey (@PennStateFH) October 27, 2026
Their five-position jump is the biggest for any team this week, as is their 38-point pickup on the ballots from Week 8 to Week 9.
Penn State is notably finally ahead of Lafayette, despite Lafayette still having lost only one other game this year; Lafayette is actually now tied with Indiana at No. 15.
Was Penn State's jump too generous?
Not in the slightest.
Even after the loss to Iowa, Penn State's jump makes sense because of Iowa's other game this past week: a loss to Rutgers. Rutgers moved back into the rankings at 10-7, but like Indiana, they too dropped a 1-0 decision to Penn State on their home turf. They are No. 18 this week and are appropriately placed behind Penn State.
Iowa actually dropped to No. 9 this week, despite their win over Penn State, due to their loss to Rutgers. They are still one game behind Penn State in the Big Ten standings at 4-3, with the Nittany Lions at 5-2, and they lost their conference meetings with the other two 4-3 teams, Indiana and Rutgers.
That being said, Iowa did also beat Indiana head-to-head, but it was not considered a conference game since the two teams played twice. Had the Big Ten designation been flipped, however, Iowa would be third in the conference at 5-2, due to the head-to-head tiebreaker over Penn State.
So even amid Iowa's drop this week, keeping the Hawkeyes ahead of both Indiana and Rutgers is more than justified after they beat Penn State, since they're technically now tied with Penn State in terms of failing to beat only two of the Big Ten teams they've played thus far.
It's always challenging to rank a set of teams when Team A beat Team B, Team B beat Team C, Team C beat Team D, and Team D beat Team A, since you have to compare those teams with all the other teams in the country as well. The full body of work has to matter, and head-to-head can never be the be-all and end-all.
It is worth noting that Penn State is also ahead of Virginia (No. 19), and Monmouth is no longer ranked, and both teams did beat Penn State head-to-head. But those games were both early-season contests, and even if we go strictly by the "eye test", neither team has played better than the Nittany Lions since the calendar flipped to October.
All things considered, the NFHCA got this one right, from top to bottom.
What's next for Penn State and the rest of the Big Ten?
Iowa is set to take on No. 2 Maryland this Friday afternoon, while Penn State is set to take on No. 1 Northwestern. Indiana and Rutgers are also set to battle the same day, as are Ohio State and Michigan.
Heading into Friday afternoon's regular season finale against No. 1 Northwestern, Penn State can still be seeded anywhere from No. 3 to No. 5 in the conference bracket, as Northwestern has clinched the top seed and the first-round bye, while Maryland has clinched the No. 2 seed, meaning that the Terrapins are set to play the winner of Friday's Ohio State vs. Michigan battle for the No. 7 and final seed.
We have a detailed article scheduled for later this week on possible seeding and first-round Big Ten opponent scenarios for the Nittany Lions, but the TL;DR version is that they can play either Rutgers, Indiana, or Iowa in the opening round.
It's only fitting, since all three of the Nittany Lions' regular season games against these three opponents concluded with 1-0 scores.
All of Friday's action is set to be shown live on B1G+.
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