When Hannah Prince came to Happy Valley this past winter, she knew she would love to call it home.

The former St. Joseph’s field hockey head coach was hired to spearhead Penn State’s program — which posted a 7-10 record last season, missing the Big Ten Tournament — on January 13 in an announcement from athletic director Pat Kraft.

“I got the offer, and I was extremely confident that it was the right move for me, and I still feel that way,” Prince said. “Just really grateful for this opportunity, and we obviously have a lot ahead of us, but we already accomplished a lot with our development within the team.”

In the Prince era, the Nittany Lions have already posted a 6-4 record, including a recent key win over No. 19 Lafayette. They’ve faced five ranked programs, four of which came within the first seven games; Penn State lost all four.

Sunday’s 3-2 home win over Lafayette was its first ranked win of the season. All three goals came in the second half, including the overtime winner.

It epitomized the Nittany Lions season so far.

“[Some] strengths are that they like to turn it on in the second half,” Prince said. “They have more in them sometimes than I think people realize. They have another gear; they can kick it on.”

Through 10 games, Penn State has scored only four goals in the first half — two in each quarter.

The other 21 have come in the second half and, as of Sunday, in overtime. Ten of those goals have come in the third quarter, including a stretch of three games against nationally ranked squads Princeton, Maryland, and Monmouth when the Nittany Lions scored only in the third quarter.

This pattern has led to Penn State trailing in three of its four losses entering halftime.

“I think the ability to play four full quarters consistently,” Prince said, defining success beyond wins. “While executing the tactics, executing the effort pieces, executing the organizational pieces on the field, [that’s] a win for me.

“The goal is always to win, and that will never change. But if I’m seeing them make the adjustments we’re asking them to make, working tirelessly on the field, managing the game appropriately, those are all areas that, if we can check those boxes, it’s going to make us stronger for Big Ten play [and] stronger for the postseason.”

The Nittany Lions have won their last three games, all within the last week, and their win over Big Ten opponent Rutgers and No. 19 Lafayette have catapulted them to No. 15 in RPI rankings and into the Big Ten Tournament picture.

Penn State’s momentum is timely, flipping its record to the win column after a three-game skid as it eyes a handful of Big Ten opponents in the coming weeks.

Conference matchups against Michigan State, Ohio State, Michigan, Indiana, Iowa, and Northwestern will close out the Nittany Lions season through October.

Three of those squads are currently ranked in the NFHCA poll — Indiana (No. 13), Iowa (No. 6), and Northwestern (No. 1) — and the two others — Ohio State and Michigan — sit in the top 30 of RPI rankings.

“We have to get the Big Ten wins, and that is the ultimate focus right now,” Prince said. “We want to win every game … I think that when we’re at our best, we’ve had some really strong quarters against top-five, top-10 teams. We’re competing and sometimes out-scoring our opponents quarter to quarter. But, again, it all comes down to the end of the game and what we’re able to do then.”

Penn State will travel to East Lansing, Michigan, on Friday for a conference match against the Spartans, and to Kent, Ohio, for a Sunday afternoon game against Kent State.