LONG BEACH, Calif. – The Penn State women’s soccer program garnered a wide array of national attention from TopDrawerSoccer.com in its preseason releases, with the Nittany Lions landing the No. 6 overall team ranking while securing one Best XI Team selection and a pair of preseason top-100 players in the organization’s releases Tuesday.
Penn State picked up the No. 6 national ranking according to TopDrawerSoccer’s preseason release, the highest rated program in the Big Ten Conference and the highest ranked team in the nation outside of the Atlantic Coast Conference. The Nittany Lions are one of eight Big Ten programs in the national preseason top 25, with PSU joining UCLA (No. 8), Ohio State (No. 9), Michigan State (No. 11), Wisconsin (No. 13), Minnesota (No. 14), Iowa (No. 17) and USC (No. 21). In total PSU, will challenge a trio of teams who are ranked in the national preseason top 25 by the organization, including Duke (No. 5), Ohio State and Wisconsin.
On an individual basis, graduate forward Kaitlyn MacBean secured a pair of preseason accolades, earning an appearance on the TopDrawerSoccer Preseason Best XI Second Team, the only forward from the Big Ten Conference recognized by the TDS Best XI teams. MacBean also secured the second-highest ranking of any B1G athlete in the organization’s Preseason Top 100 Player Rankings, landing the No. 18 position nationally. On the back line, redshirt junior defender Kayleigh Herr picked up the No. 80 individual ranking to round out PSU’s list of preseason accolades from TopDrawerSoccer.
MacBean, a native of Excelsior, Minnesota, published a 2024 season in the Blue & White that was by far her most statistically significant since joining the Penn State program as a true freshman in 2020. Her single-season career-best 34-point outburst a year ago marked the highest scoring individual season by a Nittany Lion since Maya Hayes turned in an astounding 70-point campaign in 2013. MacBean also managed to muster the third-longest goal scoring streak in Penn State history in a span from the 2023 and 2024 seasons. The veteran attacking player started all 25 fixtures for PSU in the team’s run to the NCAA Tournament National Quarterfinals last season, helping anchor the Nittany Lions with the third-most points in the B1G and 15th-most nationally while scoring 16 goals and adding two assists. MacBean was the highest-ranked forward in the league according to TDS and picked up the second-highest overall ranking in the Big Ten behind Ohio State midfielder Amanda Schlueter.
Herr, a native of Cary, North Carolina, made an instant impact on the Nittany Lion back line as an everyday starter in her first season in Happy Valley in 2024. She shattered career highs in multiple statistics, highlighted by a career-best 25 appearances paired with 25 starts in her inaugural season with the Blue & White. Herr finished second on the Penn State roster and was one of just three PSU student-athletes to surpass the 2,000-minute threshold, with the then-redshirt sophomore tallying 2,076 minutes of action on the pitch. She logged one assist and point on the offensive end of the pitch, adding five total shots with three on-target attempts. Overall, Herr helped power the Nittany Lion defense to 11 shutouts in the 2024 season with a 0.88 goals-against average, one of the strongest marks in the nation.
Last season, the Nittany Lions advanced to the National Quarterfinals for the second year in a row, extended the nation’s longest streak of consecutive Sweet 16 appearances to eight-straight, secured the program’s 30th consecutive NCAA Tournament bid and booked the program’s 31st consecutive season with at least 10 victories, the second-longest stretch of that nature in women’s college soccer. The Blue & White return six starters from last year’s Elite Eight run, including goalkeeper Mackenzie Gress, defenders Herr and Bella Ayscue, midfielder Molly Martin, and forwards MacBean and Amelia White. Penn State additionally boasts the nation’s fifth-ranked recruiting class and strongest signing group in the Big Ten Conference per TopDrawerSoccer’s July release. With MacBean and Herr leading the charge, the United Soccer Coaches 11th-ranked Nittany Lions will open their 2025 season in two days’ time, with a 7 p.m. (ET) kickoff scheduled against the fourth-ranked Duke Blue Devils on Thursday, August 14, from Koskinen Stadium in Durham, North Carolina.
FOLLOW THE NITTANY LIONS
Visit GoPSUSports.com for more information on Penn State women’s soccer. Fans can keep up to date with the Nittany Lion women’s soccer team on X and Instagram @PennStateWSOC, in addition to the team’s Facebook page at /PSUWomensSoccer.
The 2025 Penn State women's soccer season is presented by Highmark.