MacBean’s Dominance Rewarded with B1G, National Weekly Accolades – Penn State

ROSEMONT, Ill. – Following her first career hat trick, as well as a week of performances that saw her score all five Nittany Lion goals in a two-match span, Penn State women’s soccer redshirt senior forward Kaitlyn MacBean was named both the TopDrawerSoccer National Player of the Week and Big Ten Offensive Player of the week following announcements from both organizations Tuesday.

Through her first five matches of the 2024 campaign, MacBean has broken out as a star on the national stage. The Excelsior, Minnesota, native leads NCAA Division I in multiple statistical categories, including total goals with eight on the year, total points with 16, goals per match with 1.60, and match-winning goals with three. MacBean leads the Big Ten Conference in five categories, including each of the previous four in addition to a conference-high 2.80 shots on goal per match. Her individual dominance has coincided with Penn State’s electrifying resurgence on the offensive end of the pitch, with the Nittany Lions boasting the best statistical offense in B1G women’s soccer, as well as a top 20 unit nationally.

MacBean continued to etch her name in the Nittany Lion history books following the Blue & White’s 3-1 victory over border rival West Virginia on Thursday, August 29, scoring the 25th hat trick in Penn State program history. Her offensive outburst against the Mountaineers marked the first hat trick at Penn State since Payton Linnehan dropped a trio of goals against Central Connecticut State in the first round of the 2023 NCAA Tournament a year ago. MacBean’s three-goal outing surpassed her previous career-high mark in single-match scoring, which included a brace in the 2023 NCAA Tournament Round of 16 matchup against Saint Louis.

In Sunday’s regular season rematch with the Billikens, MacBean logged her seventh and eighth goals of the year respectively, closing the book on her five-goal week following PSU’s result in the Gateway City. MacBean needs just two more goals to match and three to surpass the best statistical season of her Nittany Lion journey, booking eight scores through five matches compared to 10 goals across 23 appearances in 2023.

With her scores against the Billikens on Sunday, MacBean ensured that she would take sole ownership of the No. 3 spot in the Nittany Lion record book for consecutive matches with a goal, finding the back of the net in each of her last eight appearances. MacBean is just the second woman in Penn State history to…