CAMBRIDGE, Mass. – No. 8 Harvard field hockey is back on the road this weekend, as the Crimson head to Penn and then conclude the week against No. 5 Wake Forest at home.

The Crimson face the Quakers in the Keystone State on Friday, Oct. 2 at 2 p.m., as Harvard and Wake Forest will meet at 12 p.m. on Sunday, Oct. 4. Both matches will air live on ESPN+ and admission to Berylson Field is free of charge.

CRIMSON UPDATES

• Harvard is 6-1 and 2-0 in Ivy League play this year, as the Crimson's four-game winning streak is the longest active winning streak in the conference.
• Last weekend saw Harvard earn a pivotal victory in Ancient Eight play, defeating long-time rival No. 8 Princeton, 2-1, after a dramatic shootout.
• Senior midfielder and team captain Lara Beekhuis scored the opening goal in the second quarter off a Harvard attacking penalty corner, as the Tigers would even the score after the halftime break in the third quarter.
• After the fourth quarter and the overtime period couldn't separate the two sides, Harvard would make all four of its attempts in the shootout, as sophomore keeper Linde Burger would make two critical saves in the 4-2 shootout to provide the Crimson the win.
• With the victory, Harvard is now 2-0 against top 10 teams, as the Crimson is 22-1 in its last 23 regular season contests. The Crimson has also defeated Princeton in consecutive regular season matches for the first time in school history, as Harvard's 15 shots in last week's match is the most Princeton has allowed in a game this year.
• In the Ivy League, Harvard leads the conference in attacking penalty corner attempts (69) and ranks second in goals against average (1.00).
• The Crimson's team captains this season are Beekhuis and junior midfielder Tilly Butterworth. Across the seven matches this season, Beekhuis and Butterworth have combined for six goal, one assist and 13 points.
• Head coach Tjerk van Herwaarden is in his 14^th season as the Crimson's head coach. A four-time Ivy League Coach of the Year, van Herwaarden is 172-70 in his collegiate coaching career.

SCOUTING THE OPPOSITION

• Under the direction of second-year head coach Scott Tupper, Penn is 1-6 this season with a 0-2 record in Ivy action.
• Last weekend saw the Quakers drop a 4-0 decision against Dartmouth on the road, as Penn also fell, 3-0, against Drexel away from home turf as well. Junior forward Reese Czajkowski and sophomore midfielder Lucy Mangat are tied for the team lead in goals with three each.
• An NCAA Tournament team last year, Wake Forest heads into the weekend with a 6-3 record and a 1-1 mark in Atlantic Coast Conference. Last week saw the Deamon Deacons split a pair of decision, falling in overtime, 3-2, against No. 5 Duke and rebounding with a 4-2 win against No. 11 Syracuse. Wake Forest will face Boston College before its trip to Cambridge.
• First-year Bianca Rees-Gibbs leads the team in both goals (10) and points (20) this year, as three different Deamon Deacons have tallied double-digit points.

SERIES HISTORY

• The Crimson leads the all-time series against Penn, 29-17-2, winning the last 10 matches in the rivalry.
• In the 2025 iteration of the series, Harvard took down Penn, 6-1, as five different Crimson scored. Senior forward Sage Piekarski led the way with two goals, as Harvard outshot the Quakers, 18-6, across the 60 minutes at Berylson Field.
• Facing off for the first time since 2024, Harvard trails the all-time series against Wake Forest, 4-1. The two sides meet in Cambridge for the first time since 2002.
• Harvard shutout Wake Forest on its way to a 1-0 win in Winston Salem, North Carolina. Emily Guckian '25 scored the only goal of the contest on a penalty stroke in the third quarter.

LIMITED OPPORTUNITIES

• Harvard is excelling at limiting shots taken by opponents this season.
• Across seven matches, Harvard is only allowing 6.7 shots per game, as Harvard allowed less than 10 shots in five of the seven matches this season.
• On average, Harvard is taking 11.4 more shots than its opponents per game.

IMMEDIATE IMPACT

• First-years are already making a huge impact on the pitch for the Crimson this season.
• First-year forward Evie Smith has started all seven matches for Harvard so far this season, scoring a goal in the season opener against UMass Lowell. In the shootout triumphs against Princeton and Northeastern, Smith scored both of her shootout attempts.
• In the backline, first-year defender Elin van Sante is leading a Crimson defense that ranks ninth nationally in goals against average (0.93). After leading stellar defensive efforts against Dartmouth and Northeastern, van Sante earned Ivy League Defensive Player of the Week honors for the first time in her career.

POLL POSITION

• Harvard is No. 8 in the latest iteration of the Penn Monto/National Field Hockey Coaches Association's National Coaches Poll and No. 3 in the NCAA's RPI, as the Crimson is the highest-ranked Ivy League team in both publications.
• The Crimson is in the top 10 of the Penn Monto/NFHCA National Coaches Poll for a 17^th straight week, representing the longest streak in school history.
• Harvard is 2-1 against ranked teams this season, defeating No. 9 UConn and No. 8 Princeton, as the Crimson awaits three more ranked opponents this year (No. 5 Wake Forest, No. 9 Syracuse, No. 18 Monmouth).

CARDIAC CRIMSON

• Prevailing in narrow decisions is a major theme for Harvard across the first half of the 2026 season.
• The Crimson is 4-0 in one-goal games this season, as Harvard went 6-1 in contests decided by a single goal last year.
• Harvard defeated Northeastern and Princeton in consecutive matches via shootout, marking the first time in school history that Harvard won back-to-back games that went to a shootout.

TAKING CARE OF BUSINESS

• Dating back to the 2016 season, Harvard is maintaining a 99-game winning streak against unranked foes.
• The last loss against an unranked opponent arrived on Sunday, Sept. 18, 2016, a 3-1 defeat against UMass.
• During the 2025 season, Harvard went 9-0 against unranked teams. This year, Harvard is 4-0 against unranked programs.

UP NEXT

Harvard faces a pair of foes from Upstate New York next weekend, hosting Cornell on Friday, Oct. 9 and heading to the Salt City to face Syracuse on Sunday, Oct. 11.

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