While those in the locker room are markedly optimistic that the Penn State field hockey team can end their two-year postseason drought after enduring the disappointment of back-to-back eighth place finishes in the nine-team Big Ten, the public evidently still needs additional convincing as the 2026 season approaches.
The preseason edition of the Penn Monto/NFHCA Division I National Coaches Poll was released on Tuesday morning, ahead of this weekend's season opener, and the Nittany Lions will begin the season unranked.
Their omission from the top 20 ends a 28-year streak dating back to the first edition of the poll. Penn State had previously been ranked in every season-opening NFHCA poll ever conducted before 2026, dating back to the poll's 1998 inception.
This streak included the years 1999 through 2005, when the first poll was not released until a few games after the season began. They were ranked in the preseason each year from 2006 to 2025, including a year ago when they came in at No. 19.
Penn State with a point to prove after preseason rankings snub
On paper, their omission from the rankings does stand to reason. They finished 7-10 (2-6 in the Big Ten) a year ago, lost six seniors, failed to record a single comeback win, won just one game on the road against a team that entered the game 0-14, and saw a 29-game win streak in Big Ten home games they had led at any point come to an end. They also lost fourth quarter leads on three separate occasions with under a minute to play.
But under a new coaching staff, led by former Saint Joseph's head coach Hannah Prince less than two years removed from her old team's run to the National Championship Game, there are plenty of reasons to believe that this team, which beat two top 11 opponents a year ago, has what it takes to capitalize on the potential that has already been made plainly visible on more than one occasion.
Penn State, which has added another deep freshman class of seven to go along with two transfers from rival Big Ten schools, is due to be tested early and often this season, just as they were a year ago when they had 10 ranked opponents on their schedule, tied for the most of any team in the Big Ten. Eight of the teams ranked inside this year's preseason top 20 are on the Nittany Lions' schedule.
Qualifying for the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 2022 will undoubtedly be a challenge, with only eight at-large bids given to the teams not among the 10 conference tournament champions, and two-time reigning national champion Northwestern once again the clear favorite to win the Big Ten.
But the preseason rankings notably only feature five Big Ten teams. Aside from Northwestern (No. 1), those teams include Iowa (tied for No. 11), Maryland (No. 13), Michigan (No. 14), and Rutgers (No. 17), indicating a wide-open battle for second place.
Along with Penn State, unranked Big Ten teams include Ohio State, Indiana, and Michigan State, and all Penn State needs to do to get back to their first Big Ten Tournament since 2023 is be inside the top seven in the standings by the end of the season.
Despite finishing eighth in both 2024 and 2025, they actually did beat two of the other eight teams each year, missing out on the postseason due to the parity throughout the rest of the conference. They beat Michigan State, which has also undergone an offseason coaching overhaul, both years, and they beat Indiana in 2024 and Iowa in 2025. Iowa made it to the conference title game, a testament to the fact that Penn State can truly compete with the best on any given night.
Ohio State is unranked in the preseason for the first time since 2023 after losing a number of key contributors from a year ago. Penn State's most recent win over Ohio State came that same year, although their Big Ten Tournament appearance that season ended with a loss to the Buckeyes in the opening round.
While it will have no direct impact on their standing within the Big Ten, a strong performance at home this Friday against the No. 5 Virginia Cavaliers, the second-ranked team in the ACC, would be a welcome statement to begin season number one under Prince, specifically one that makes the voters take notice after leaving the Nittany Lions out of their initial top 20.
Penn State's season-opening weekend is set to feature two games, both at Char Morett-Curtiss Field at the Penn State Field Hockey Complex, to begin a six-game stretch of home matchups to start the season. Both games are set to be shown live on B1G+, Big Ten Network's subscription streaming service. Friday's game against Virginia is scheduled to begin at 4:00 p.m. ET, and Sunday's game against Lock Haven is scheduled to begin at 12:00 p.m. ET.
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