Despite coming up short in the 2025 Big East Field Hockey Championship, the No. 11 UConn field hockey team (11-8) earned an at-large bid to the NCAA tournament and will take on No.7 Wake Forest (15-4) on Friday, Nov. 14, at 2:30 p.m.
UConn has the most losses and lowest winning percentage (.579) of any team in the tournament that did not have to participate in a play-in round.
To overcome their underdog status, the Huskies will be looking for a rebound performance from senior forward Julia Bressler. The second-team All-Big East selection is tied for the team lead in goals this season but hasn’t found the back of the net since Oct. 26 against Fairfield. Bressler recorded a combined nine shots across UConn’s two Big East tournament games, which represents just over 17% of the shots that she has taken the entire season. One of two team captains, she has taken 29 more shots than anyone else on the UConn roster. Bressler has not recorded an assist this season and is banking on converting a few more of those shots into goals this weekend if she hopes to remain a productive member of the offense.
Bressler went into the Big East tournament in sole possession of the team lead in goals. Freshman attacker Pien Prins made up a two-goal difference in a single game, netting a pair in the Huskies’ semifinal win over Old Dominion. After scoring three goals over UConn’s first two games, the first two coming against New Hampshire, the forward didn’t record a goal or assist over the entire month of September. Prins didn’t find the back of the net again until Oct. 24, where she finally broke through with a score against Old Dominion. Since then, she has scored an additional three times.
Due to streaky seasons from both the former and the latter, the Huskies have yet to see their top two scorers find simultaneous success but could be reliant on that coming to fruition if they hope to play past this weekend.
The Demon Deacons will be looking to make sure that the Huskies can’t get past today and will do so on the backs of a pair of star performers. Mia Schoenbeck won the 2025 ACC Offensive Player of the Year and sophomore back Mia Montag won ACC Defensive Player of the Year. Schoenbeck led the ACC in goals with 23, good for second in the nation. Jennifer Averill was also named ACC Coach of the Year.
Despite the two teams both winning multiple national championships since the turn of the century, the programs have never faced off. UConn went winless over two games against Power Four competition in the regular season, including a loss to ACC semifinalist Duke.
Should UConn upset Wake Forest, they will take on one of two familiar opponents. UNH will face tournament host No. 3 Harvard University today at noon for the second spot in the quarterfinals.
UConn beat UNH all the way back in August in both teams’ first game of the season. The Wildcats squeaked out a win over Vermont in double overtime to win the America East conference championship and earn the conference’s automatic tournament bid. The Huskies took a 4-3 win over the Wildcats thanks to Prins’ two goal performance.
The Wildcats’ leading scorer is America East 2025 Offensive Player of the Year Nicole Poulakis. The senior midfielder led the conference in both goals and points and was tied with Schoenback for the second most goals in the nation. Forwards Kathelijne Knuttel and Tasmine Cookman also made the conference first-team.
Despite the offensive fire power possessed by UNH, it’s Harvard who comes into round one as the favorite. The Crimson already have plenty of hardware for 2025 after sweeping the Ivy-League major postseason awards.
Junior forward Sage Piekarski won Co-Offensive Player of the Year (sharing the title with Princeton’s Beth Yeager) and led the team in goals. Senior defender Bronte-May Brough won Defensive Player of the Year after helping freshman goalie Linde Burger on her way to earning Rookie of the Year. Head coach Tjerk van Herwaarden and company took home Coaching Staff of the Year.
Harvard went undefeated in the regular season before suffering its first loss in the Ivy League championship game against No. 2 Princeton. The Huskies lost to the Crimson in mid-September, 2-0. UConn is 1-3 against Ivy League opponents this season.
All three games this weekend will take place at Berylson Family Field Hockey Field at Harvard in Cambridge, Mass. The quarterfinals will take place Sunday, No. 16, at 1 p.m. Each game will stream live on ESPN+.