Penn State pulls off mammoth upset, shuts out two-time reigning champs

The last time Penn State Nittany Lions field hockey head coach Hannah Prince lined up on the sideline opposite Tracey Fuchs and the Northwestern Wildcats, it was in the 2024 National Championship Game, a game that Prince's Saint Joseph's Hawks ultimately lost 5-0.

Northwestern would go on to win the regular season Big Ten title again in 2025, followed by the Big Ten Tournament championship and another national championship later in the year.

They began the 2026 regular season a unanimous No. 1 in the Penn Monto/NFHCA Division I National Coaches Poll. They only dropped from No. 1 when they lost to Princeton, the same team that beat them in the regular season a year ago before they ultimately made amends in the National Championship Game, and they quickly ascended back to the top by beating then-No. 1 Maryland.

Unanimously No. 1 again, Northwestern entered Happy Valley with a chance to clinch their fourth consecutive outright Big Ten title, with only Prince's Nittany Lions standing in their way.

The Wildcats hadn't lost a Big Ten regular season game since Saturday, October 8, 2022. They were 35-0 since.

Skip ahead 60 minutes, and they instead end the regular season having been shut out for the first time since 2024 and for the first time in a regular season conference game since 2022.

And, of course, with no 36th straight win to speak of, thanks to Penn State's first-year head coach and a roster that has played as well as, if not better than, anybody in the country throughout the month of October.

Penn State pulls off the unthinkable

Even when Penn State started the season 3-4, this was different from past teams, specifically the two teams that missed the Big Ten Tournament in 2024 and 2025 after 4-3 starts.

This was a team that would be down, but was never out. It was a team that had established an identity, both offensively and defensively, and was matching up competitively against several of the top teams in the country. Their strength of schedule, at the time, was No. 2, with three of those four losses coming against top five teams. Three of the four losses were single-goal losses.

They began to prove that this team was more than just "potential" once Big Ten play rolled around, going on an eight-game winning streak, including five straight conference wins. They had won just four of their 18 most recent Big Ten games before that streak began.

The win streak may have ended this past Sunday against Iowa, whom they're set to get another crack at in the opening quarterfinal round of the Big Ten Tournament this coming Wednesday.

But first, they got back in the win column with their first victory over a No. 1 team since 2002.

The game was scoreless through the first half, which should have come as no surprise considering the elite level of defense these two teams have played all year.

Penn State took a 1-0 lead in the third quarter off of a shot from sophomore Cooper Cutchins on a penalty corner. Northwestern went with an empty net as the clock wound down in the fourth quarter, and Penn State was able to draw another penalty corner opportunity. With no goalkeeper defending for the Wildcats, freshman Lilly Holmes converted.

Penn State beat Northwestern at their own game

This was the single-best defensive effort from any team in any game at any point this season. Period. They delivered a performance worthy of beating the nation's best, and they beat the nation's best.

Penn State managed to stave off multiple Northwestern threats within the circle while playing with only 10 players due to cards, and for whatever it's worth, one of those cards was extremely questionable.

Right from the start, you could tell that Penn State had an energy that Northwestern simply couldn't match. It almost had the vibe that Northwestern came out expecting Penn State to roll over and be too intimidated to compete.

Instead, the Nittany Lions outplayed the No. 1 team in the country in every facet of Friday's match. If you'd have swapped jerseys, anybody who follows the sport regularly would have looked at the result and called it a normal, expected outcome, just another day on the pitch for the Wildcats as they inevitably steamroll their way to yet another Big Ten regular season title, conference tournament title, and national title.

Northwestern has had their fair share of comeback victories this season. To be the champs, you have to beat the champs, and the Wildcats have proven time and time again how difficult that is over a 60-minute game.

But Penn State has been a second-half team all season too. And seeing as how they've lost just one Big Ten home game since 2015 when they have, at any point, held a lead, this one was never going to be easy for Northwestern to overcome.

And it wasn't. Especially not against Penn State's defense.

Aside from the broader feisty, aggressive approach from the defensive unit that had Northwestern trying to catch their breath from the start, an approach that has been on display all season, goalkeeper Aby Deverka saved all seven of the shots on goal she faced, bringing her save percentage to 77.9% on the year and lowering the team's overall goals against average to 1.18.

And speaking of Deverka...

Aby Deverka made a statement that can't be ignored

She was already the most improved goalkeeper in the country this year, not just the Big Ten. Her save percentage is up more than 14 percentage points from a year ago, and the team's overall goals against average is 1.18, which is half of what it was a year ago, before Prince took over and brought in both associate head coach Mark Wadsley and goalies coach Janelle Ward with her.

Deverka gave up seven goals to Northwestern in 2024. She gave up nine goals in a stretch of 46 minutes at one point in 2025. She gave up 18 goals in Big Ten play a year ago, including seven in two must-win home games to close out the year.

This year, she gave up nine total goals in eight Big Ten games, good for just 1.125 per contest, and recorded four shutouts.

Now, after besting Northwestern's Juliana Boon and eclipsing her in total shutouts in a direct head-to-head competition between the two teams, it's not a stretch to say she's the outright best goalkeeper in the conference, and you could make a case for her as the best in the country, especially over the past month.

Eight shutouts in 17 games. Sure, it's one thing to shut out perceived lesser competition from weaker conferences. Not that we needed to clarify, but Northwestern doesn't qualify as lesser competition from a weaker conference, even if that's exactly how Deverka and Penn State's stingy defense made them look on Friday afternoon.

Shut down, and shut out. 60:00, and not a second less.

Unlikely heroics

Back to Cutchins and Holmes for a second, because those two deserve their flowers and then some.

Cutchins entered this game with just two career goals. She scored once early in her freshman season and settled into more of a defensive role as the year progressed. She scored again earlier this year against Princeton, but it was off a deflection, and the goal wasn't initially even scored as hers until scoring was reviewed and confirmed later on.

Despite being more involved in the offense this year, she had settled into more of a supporting role, even coming off the bench a couple of times after leading the team in total minutes played as a freshman.

But this goal was unmistakably hers, and Cooper Cutchins turned into Cooper Clutch-ins at the most fitting moment possible, a moment that will forever be considered one of the greatest in program history.

(Of course, that made it 1-0 Penn State, not 1-1, but that can be forgiven.)

As for Holmes, her primary role during her freshman season, in which she's started every game, has also seen her serve as a defensive force on the back line. But she has gotten progressively more involved in the offensive gameplan as the year has gone on, having assisted on three goals and taken some nice shots on goal of her own.

All of that said, we can simplify what happened on Friday night down to one line: what a way to score your first goal.

Holmes put the game on ice with roughly two minutes to go in the fourth, and suddenly the NW of Northwestern stood for "No Way" would the Wildcats be coming back.

Penn State's two goal scorers in their biggest regular season victory in program history entered the game with one total goal all year and just two all-time.

I'm reminded of a quote from World Series champion manager Pat Murphy, after the Brewers' four-game sweep of the two-time reigning champion Dodgers in NLCS: "They got a bunch of Hall of Famers, we got a bunch of gamers."

Penn State vs. Northwestern in a nutshell. And the gamers dominated.

Is Penn State NCAA Tournament-bound?

We spent much of the offseason talking about whether Penn State could even get back to the Big Ten Tournament for the first time since 2023 by finishing in the top seven in the nine-team conference.

Penn State was focused on a lot more than that.

In an interview with Victory Bell Rings back in May, senior captain Natalie Freeman told us that "you can have a goal to go to the Big Ten Tournament or be in the postseason, but ... that’s an expectation at this point. Goals are high, so let’s aim higher when we’re talking about goals. The Big Ten Tournament is a stepping stone. That’s an expectation now."

Maybe those goals even included a generational upset over the two-time defending champions and unanimous No. 1 team in the country.

We called out one particular news outlet for declaring (we say that, because it wasn't even a prediction...) that it would take years for Penn State to get back to the postseason under Prince.

We've called out our own early season takes that Penn State belonged at No. 7 in the conference power rankings, and the fact that we called a potential win over Northwestern unrealistic. An upset, we said, "would be absolutely huge, but don't bet on it."

Perhaps we should have spent less time worrying about how high the team's floor was, and more time imagining what this team's upside is – and still might be.

Penn State moved up to No. 14 in the rankings this past week, after they were slotted in at No. 19 for their first appearance of the 2026 season. But the NCAA selection process isn't as simple as taking the top 18 teams, even though it's an 18-team bracket.

While the factors considered extend far beyond a coaches' poll, we'll use their No. 14 ranking as a baseline here. Based on the fact that there are multiple automatic qualifiers from single-bid, non-power conferences, No. 14 would have put Penn State as the first team out if we go by rankings alone.

That is, before they pulled off arguably the most impressive win in school history.

But now? Leaving Penn State out after this win would be an injustice to collegiate field hockey and a total travesty from a broader sporting perspective. And at this point, we're comfortable saying that regardless of how the Big Ten Tournament goes.

Friday's win is, hands-down, the best win for any program in the country this season. Princeton beat Northwestern as well, but it was a 2-1 overtime win.

Penn State just shut them out.

Can Penn State win it all?

I can't believe I'm saying this, but yes.

I don't want anybody to get ahead of themselves. But after entering Friday's game having already locked up the No. 3 seed in the Big Ten Tournament, it's now abundantly clear that that isn't going to be an issue for Penn State.

The NCAA Tournament is about getting hot at the right time. It's about momentum, it's about toughness, it's about grit, it's about staying disciplined, and it's about the belief that, one game at a time, you can keep moving forward.

And now, saying that Penn State can beat anybody is the biggest understatement you could make about their first year under Prince and the new coaching staff.

Quite frankly, Penn State beating Northwestern might not even be as big of an upset as it looks. Both teams beat Lafayette by one. Both teams lost to Princeton 2-1. Both teams beat Rutgers by one. Both teams allowed one goal to Iowa's high-powered offense, and to a then-ranked Michigan team. Both teams shut out Michigan State.

And even excluding the shutout win over Northwestern, yes, Penn State recorded more shutout victories than the Wildcats did against Big Ten foes this season.

This team has what it takes to make a ton of noise in November. And if it's anything like October, the rest of the country better look out.

Penn State's opening-round Big Ten Tournament game is scheduled to take place against Iowa on Wednesday, November 4, with live coverage set to be provided by B1G+ beginning at 5:00 p.m. ET.

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