Soccer Star Kaitlyn MacBean ’20 is playing for Big Ten Glory

Alumni Office (A): Can you introduce yourself, your grad year from Breck, and where you are now?

Kaitlyn Macbean ’20 (K): I'm Kaitlyn MacBean. I graduated from Breck in 2020, and I'm currently playing soccer at Penn State. I'm going into my fifth year.

A: As you start your final season at Penn State, what are you looking forward to achieving this season?

K: As a whole team, we have really big goals for this season. We had a really good finish last year — making it to the Elite Eight. That was big and something we hadn't done in years. Building off last year’s momentum, we are trying to get even further this year. In addition, getting a few Big Ten Championship rings on the way would be my personal hopes for the season.

A: Can you tell us about one formational thing you've learned about yourself in the past year?

K: I have one thing for college and then one I would say for the past year. I was injured my first two years here, so I think the biggest formational thing I've learned while at Penn State is that soccer isn't the only thing that defines me. That was something that I struggled with in high school because soccer was everything I did, but it was taken away when I tore my ACL. As I worked on coming back from a torn ACL, I was able to find different sides of myself that I didn't really know about. 

In the past year, I focused a lot on my confidence on the field. Last spring I read a book with our assistant coach called The Confident Mind. I'm thinking about going into something in the medical field, so having a confident mind is something I can also take with me outside of soccer. 

A: After you graduate from Penn State, what are some goals that you have for yourself?

K: Right now my plan is to enter the National Women’s Soccer League (NWSL) draft, which is the professional league in the U.S. The draft is in January. If I get drafted, then I'll play in the NWSL for hopefully a few years. My degree at Penn State is in Biobehavioral Health with a pre-med intent. I've been taking all the medical classes, so following my professional soccer career ideally I'd go to med school, but I think it just depends on how long I end up playing for. I'm also considering going into medical sales.

A: If you could meet any two footballers from any time period, who would they be? And why would you choose them?

K: That's a good question. I would say Mia Hamm because she was a player that I really looked up to growing up. And then I feel like I have to say Lionel Messi. He's the greatest in the world, so it'd be really cool to meet him as well.

A: Do you have a favorite memory from your time as part of Breck Girls Soccer?

K: Yeah, I think both of the memories that come to mind were my senior year. Our first game of the season we played Holy Angels, and we had lost to them both the prior years. We were losing 2-0, and then right at the end we ended up winning 3-2. We got ice cream on the way back — it was great all around. My favorite has to be winning the conference championship, because it had been so long since we had won, and we had to beat Blake twice in the process. We hadn't beaten them in my entire four years there, so it was amazing all around. 

A: If you could get tickets to either the World Cup final, Champions League final, or an Olympic gold medal game, which would you choose?

K: World Cup final. That's the biggest soccer tournament in the world. I’d have to go.

A: You're coaching a local youth soccer club, the Celtics. What are some of your highlights from coaching?

K: Honestly, to see them dream big. The girls come to all the Penn State games, and they're like our super fans., It’s great to hear them talk about it. When they see us working with them and how that translates onto the big field, I think it gives them the courage to actually have those dreams, which is so cool, especially at that age. I've stayed with mostly the same team. They're 10 to 11 right now, so I started when they were seven or eight. It's been amazing to see them grow.

A: What was your favorite Breck class, and why?

K: I'm a science major, so I took AP Chem at Breck with Dr. Trussell. I loved that class. It ended up getting cut short because of COVID, but I really enjoyed experimenting. I loved that class because of everything hands-on that we got to do. Dr. Trussell is really educated, and obviously he knows so much about chemistry.

 

A: Do you have any other faculty members or coaches throughout your time at Breck that really made an impact on your life?

K: I was really close with Mr. Slack, Mr. Ruderman, and Jeremy Driver, who was my soccer coach. They always supported me in everything that I wanted to do, and when I had those big dreams, they were always behind me. I would also go into JTT, the trainer, all the time. He probably was so sick of me, but he always made sure that I was ready. Shout-out to him. 

A: When is your first game this season?

K: Our home opener is August 15. We're playing Texas Tech. Our schedule was actually just released a few weeks ago. We have a pretty hard schedule coming up. Something called RPI is what gets you into the NCAA tournament, and our coaches do a good job of scouting that to make sure we have the best odds and are the most prepared for when we make it to the NCAA tournament. This year is cool because we have UCLA, USC, Oregon, and Washington joining. We don't play Oregon or Washington, but we'll make a trip to the West Coast for USC and UCLA this fall, which is exciting because that's really new.

A: Best of luck this season, and as you approach the draft keep us in the loop of what's happening!

Since the interview, Kaitlyn has led the Nittany Lions Women’s Soccer Team to a 6-1-1 record, including an impressive streak of nine goals in eight games and an Offensive Player of the Week award to open the season. You can follow Kaitlyn and the Nittany Lions here.