The Penn State Nittany Lions Field Hockey team wrapped up their stretch of six consecutive home games to open up the 2026 season with a 4-1 loss to the No. 5 Maryland Terrapins on Thursday evening.
They finished that homestand with a 3-3 record, with all three losses coming against opponents ranked inside the top five in the Penn Monto/NFHCA Division I National Coaches Poll.
They opened up the season with an overtime loss to the Virginia Cavaliers, after a resilient effort saw them overcome a three-goal deficit in the fourth quarter, and after losing 6-1 to the Princeton Tigers a year ago, they dropped a tight 2-1 contest against the 2025 national runners-up this past Sunday, following another second-half comeback that came up just short.
Penn State hasn't been ranked in the NFHCA poll all year, with the preseason omission ending a 28-year streak of being ranked in the season-opening poll dating back to the poll's inception.
But according to Field Hockey Corner, the Nittany Lions entered the week ranked No. 14 in RPI, placing them fourth out of nine teams in the Big Ten. Their strength of schedule was tied for fifth nationally and will have improved considerably after losing to a now 7-0 Maryland team, and they were one of only three teams in the top six in that category with a winning record, prior to Thursday's loss.
RPI, a metric that is used across multiple college sports, is effectively a formula that determines how strong your own record really is, based on the strength of your schedule and the strength of your opponents' schedules. It's by no means the be-all and end-all – no calculation, no matter how advanced, is – but it's a widely acceptable way to compare teams on the basis that no two records, even if identical, are truly alike.
Penn State's tough schedule is exactly what they need for the long haul
For Penn State, that ranking is an especially good indicator that this kind of early-season schedule is
exactly what they need as their gauntlet continues and they seek their first Big Ten Tournament appearance since 2023. Despite going 0-3 against top-five teams, they've held their own in each contest.
A year ago, Penn State was one of just two teams to face 10 teams ranked inside the preseason top 16. While they did fall shy of the Big Ten Tournament for the second year in a row by just one spot, finishing eighth in the nine-team conference, the challenging schedule proved to have its benefits, with the Nittany Lions collecting two upset victories over teams ranked inside the top 11.
This year, Penn State has put themselves in good positions in every single one of those losses, and it's hard to imagine that won't serve them well down the stretch as they continue to play ranked teams and other formidable conference foes they'll need to beat to crack the top seven in the Big Ten standings.
No, a 4-1 loss to Maryland isn't pretty on paper, but the game was not played on paper, and it was not nearly as lopsided as the score would indicate, even for as highly ranked as the Terps are. Maryland's fourth goal came in an empty net situation after goalkeeper Aby Deverka was pulled to give Penn State an extra attacker while down by two in the second half of the fourth quarter.
And while the weather conditions were the same for everybody, the game was tied at 1-1, after Deverka had registered seven saves on eight shots faced, before a torrential downpour effectively turned into a monsoon, eventually resulting in a delay of about five minutes before both head coaches decided to resume play on a completely soaked field.
Prior to Maryland's three-goal fourth quarter, Penn State had been somewhat of a second half team all year. And in many ways, they still are. Even against Maryland, they tied the game after being down at halftime. Of the 17 goals they've scored this season, 15 have come in quarters three and four. And even factoring in Maryland's three-goal fourth quarter, Penn State is outscoring opponents 15-5 post-halftime this year.
This is a team that knows how to play from behind. Faster starts would obviously be beneficial, especially for a team that hasn't actually recorded a comeback win in nearly two years, but the way they have battled adversity to stay in the fight – consistently – against the best of the best has been impressive.
Sure, they are going to have to be able to close the deal at some point, likely on multiple occasions against ranked teams, if they are to end their postseason drought, when you consider the depth of the Big Ten. They are probably going to need to score at least one comeback win at some point as well, and whether they trail early or trail at all, they are going to need to be more efficient in quarters one and two after scoring just two goals in first halves through six games.
But they've proven they can give some of the best teams in the country a run for their money, and getting that experience against top-tier competition straight out of the gate could prove crucial as conference play heats up throughout the month of October.
Penn State's tough schedule is set to continue this weekend with their first road game of the year, a non-conference match against the No. 19 Monmouth Hawks. Monmouth is 4-1, with their most notable win being a 5-1 blowout victory against a Rutgers team that figures to be one of Penn State's primary competitors when it comes to qualifying for the Big Ten Tournament.
Rutgers is the next team on Penn State's conference slate, with that game, the ninth on the 2026 calendar, scheduled to take place in Piscataway on Friday, October 2.
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