More than 15 field hockey teams qualified for fall nationals this past weekend, but none was able to take down the dominant Penn State club team. For the second year in a row, the girls returned to Happy Valley with a national championship trophy in hand.

After the regular season, Penn State Club Field Hockey (PSUFHC) had an 8-0-0 record and was ranked #2 heading into the Fall National Tournament held in Virginia Beach. The girls faced six top-ranked teams, and only allowed one goal the entire weekend. In the final match, the Nittany Lions endured an intense and physical 50 minutes of play to defeat University of Delaware 2-0 for the championship.

Captain Ali Kirk was proud of her team’s performance and credits their on and off-field chemistry as a factor that helped them reach another national title.

“This team comes out 2-3 times per week for 2 hours of practice each night, involving sprints and drills nobody likes to do,” said Kirk. “Through it all, we are best friends and there is no team who works harder, has a bigger heart or deserves this title more.”

While the girls wanted to rack up as many goals in the tournament for obvious reasons, they also wanted to meet a personal quota to benefit THON. They were disappointed in their inability to participate in the final canning weekend due to the conflict with Nationals, so THON Chair Erin O’Brien figured out another way to raise money for the cause.

“We asked family and friends to pledge $3 for every goal scored during the weekend,” said O’Brien. “Throughout the tournament we scored a total of 22 goals, resulting in $66 from everyone who pledged to help our team fundraise for THON. Every time a goal was scored you could always hear someone on the team yell ‘FTK.'”

To date, PSUFHC has been 2004, 2012, and 2013 National Field Hockey League Champions (Fall) and 2005, 2007, and 2013 National Field Hockey League Spring Tournament Champions.