Saint Joseph's field hockey head coach Sam Brown has announced the schedule for the team's 2026 season, his first at the helm of the program.
 
The slate features five 2025 conference champions and seven games against schools that earned NCAA Tournament berths a season ago, including a pair of teams that reached Final Four, and seven teams ranked in the final NFHCA Coaches Poll of last season.
 
The Hawks will kick off the campaign with a pair of exhibition games on August 21 and 23 at Monmouth and at home against Delaware, respectively.  The season gets underway in earnest on August 28 with a matchup against reigning America East champion New Hampshire before the Hawks host UConn on August 30.  UNH and UConn will meet in a neutral-site matchup at Ellen Ryan Field on August 29.
 
After hosting Big East champion Liberty on September 4, the Hawks head across town for their fourth consecutive game against a 2025 NCAA Tournament team in Drexel on September 6.  The Hawks faced off with the Dragons in the Opening Round of last season's tournament, avenging a regular-season defeat with a 2-0 victory over the CAA champs in Chapel Hill, North Carolina.
 
Saint Joseph's continues a five-game road swing with a game at Lehigh on September 11 before visiting Maryland two days later.  A trip to Saint Louis opens conference play on September 18 before a matchup at Louisville on September 20 closes out the road trip.
 
An Atlantic 10 title game rematch with Richmond at Ellen Ryan Field on September 25 precedes a two-game trip to the state of North Carolina the following week as the Hawks visit Davidson on October 2 and Duke on October 4.
 
Defending ACC champion and 2025 national semifinalist North Carolina visits Hawk Hill on October 9 before the Hawks head back across town to take on Penn two days later.  Lock Haven then visits Ellen Ryan Field on October 16 before local rival Villanova does the same on October 18.
 
A trip to VCU awaits on October 23 before the last two national runners-up meet when Saint Joseph's visits Princeton on October 25.  A game at Ellen Ryan Field against La Salle on October 30 then closes out the regular season.
 
All told, the Hawks will take on a combined four teams from the powerhouse Atlantic Coast and Big Ten Conferences as well as three from the Big East and two from the Ivy in addition to the always hotly-contested Atlantic 10 slate.
 
"We are excited about the strength of our non-conference schedule and the opportunities it provides our team," Brown said.  "Our philosophy is to challenge ourselves against some of the best programs in the country and consistently compete at the highest level possible.  Those experiences prepare us for conference play, test our growth throughout the season, and help us continue building a championship-caliber program."
 
The 2026 Atlantic 10 Championship is set for November 5 and 7 before NCAA Tournament play kicks off on November 11.  The Final Four and national championship games will be held at Louisville's Trager Stadium on November 20 and 22.