No. 7 Penn State will take on No. 15 Wake Forest at home this Sunday.
During the opening week of the 2017 college field hockey season, there were a ton of top 25 matchups that certainly did not disappoint. Opening week action got the new season off to a great start, so it will be tough to follow that up this weekend. Fortunately, these matchups will have field hockey fans pumped.
Sunday, September 3rd
No. 7 Penn State vs. No. 15 Wake Forest: The Nittany Lions grabbed a pair of road wins against top 25 teams last weekend to kick off their season. Penn State defeated No. 23 Old Dominion 3-2 followed by a 4-2 win over No. 10 Virginia. Penn State then rolled past Temple 5-0 in its home opener Friday. Wake Forest opened the season last weekend against two Big Ten foes in No. 17 Iowa and No. 11 Michigan. The Demon Deacons defeated Iowa 3-2 before losing 5-4 to the Wolverines. Wake Forest then dropped a 1-0 decision to Indiana on Friday.No. 3 Delaware vs. No. 8 Princeton: Princeton’s second top 10 matchup this weekend comes against another team that participated in last year’s Final Four. In fact, it’s the team that took home the national title: Delaware. The Blue Hens opened with a 7-0 win over Indiana before losing to No. 9 Louisville on the road 3-1. Delaware defeated Ivy League foe Dartmouth 9-1 in its home opener on Friday.
First goal at home pic.twitter.com/1ESpmmOJhv
— DelawareFieldHockey (@DelawareFH) September 1, 2017
No. 22 UMass vs. No. 13 Stanford: The second game of Stanford’s homestand comes against No. 22 UMass, who won its first two games of the season last weekend. UMass first took down Holy Cross 8-3 in its home opener, followed by a 2-1 win over Vermont. Before facing the Cardinal, UMass opened its weekend set with a 2-1 road loss to Cal.
Hot commodities #BURN pic.twitter.com/soFHyOzOuI
— Stanford FieldHockey (@StanfordFH) September 2, 2017
No. 4 UConn vs. No. 11 Michigan:Â After hosting Liberty, Michigan will have its first real home test of the season when No. 4 UConn travels to Ann Arbor. Standing at 2-0 after one weekend of play, the Huskies have yet to give up a goal this season. UConn first shut out No. 13 Stanford 2-0 and followed that up with a 7-0 dropkick against No. 14 Northwestern. Michigan will be looking to score the first goal and victory against UConn this season, rather than be the second Big Ten team to fall to the Huskies so far this year.
First goal at home pic.twitter.com/1ESpmmOJhv
— DelawareFieldHockey (@DelawareFH) September 1, 2017
Monday, September 4th
No. 13 Stanford vs. No. 20 Harvard: The third and final game on Stanford’s homestand will feature the Crimson of Harvard, who will face No. 25 Pacific before playing against the Cardinal. Harvard’s west coast swing will be its first three games of the season. Last year, the Crimson made its first NCAA tournament appearance since 2004. Having made it to the NCAA tournament five times in school history, Harvard is still looking for its first trip to the national semifinals.
This story was originally published on Excelle Sports. Visit ExcelleSports.com for more coverage of women's sports at all levels.
