No. 19 Penn State Nittany Lions set to host two matches this weekend against Indiana and Lafayette

Penn State has dedicated the newly renovated field to long-time head coach Char Morett Curtiss, and it will dawn her name.

Penn State is 4-3 so far this season and is looking to improve their 1-2 record at home today with a win over the Indiana Hoosiers. The Hoosiers are ranked outside the top 25 and have a record of 2-4 this season, most recently losing 1-0 to the No. 1 team in the nation at the time, Northwestern.

The Nittany Lions are on a four-game winning streak coming into the weekend thanks to an overtime winner from Sophia Gladieux, who leads the nation in goals per game (1.71), and points per game (3.71).

Gladieux has scored at least two goals in every game during this win streak and leads the team with 12 goals in seven games. She has accounted for a staggering 70% of all Penn State goals this season. Clearly, she is a force to be reckoned with.

For the Hoosiers, Mijntje Hagen, Sydney Keld and Ines Garcia Prado are tied for the team lead in goals with two apiece, with Yip Van Wonderen and Maggie Carter tied for second with one goal each.

Sadie Canelli and Arabella Loveridge have split time in net for the Hoosiers both earning a 1-2 record, But Canelli’s 0.846 save percentage has been the best so far.

Aby Deverka has seen the majority of the time in net for Penn State, earning six starts to go along with a 0.722 save percentage. Lauren Delgado has seen 90 minutes of action this season, only being forced to make three saves in the two games she has played in.

The Nittany Lions will be hoping to extend the winning streak to five in their first Big Ten match of the season, while the Hoosiers will be looking to avenge a close match against a highly ranked Northwestern team for their first conference win this season.

On Sunday, the Lafayette Leopards will travel to Penn State for a 1:00 game, it will be their second ranked matchup this season. They previously lost 1-2 over No. 14 Syracuse on Sept 15. The Leopards are coming into this weekend with a 5-2 record and will have a Friday Night matchup at home versus American University.

Lineke Spaans and Stella Malinowski are leading the team in points with 11 and seven respectively, and Spaans has accounted for four of the team's 13 goals this season. Raffi Fragomeni has seen nearly all the action in net for the Leopards this season and has a 0.800 save percentage in the 40 shots she has faced on target.

Both of the Leopard losses have been on the road, so it will be interesting to see who bucks that trend on Sunday.

Will the Nittany Lions be able to bring their home record back to positive this weekend with a sweep, or will the Leopards be able to find a win and blemish the Nittany Lions’ record at the newly named Char Morett Curtiss Field?

Carson Schuler is a fourth-year majoring in broadcast journalism, to contact him please email cts5357@psu.edu.