TRUE TEAM PLAYER
BLOOMSBURG — Bloomsburg field hockey coach Chuck Baker saw the potential Aydan McFarland had offensively and had her switch positions from center-mid to left-forward.
The swap worked out perfectly for the Panthers, as McFarland scored a District 4 best 20 goals and helped lead the team to the Class A state semifinals.
For her efforts this season, McFarland has been named Press Enterprise’s high school field hockey MVP.
“I put her in a position where she can contribute more on scoring,” Baker said. “She really wanted to stay in her normal position, but being a team player, she took over the position and created a lot of scoring opportunities.”
The results showed. McFarland scored six more goals this year compared to last season.
“They always called (left-forward) the garbage collector because when you cross the ball, you collect the ball and it creates scoring opportunities,” McFarland said.
Despite the Panthers only losing one player to graduation from 2019, McFarland says she and the team never really felt pressured to do well. She credits the Panthers’ strong bonds and experience for that.
“We’re very close as a team. We know each other very well,” she said. “I like to think if I were playing with my eyes closed, I would still know where to hit the ball and know where my teammates are.”
The team overcame high expectations amid a pandemic by getting the program’s first-ever state playoff win, a 2-1 victory over Northwestern Lehigh.
“I don’t think there really was all that much pressure because we wanted to win,” McFarland said. “I didn’t feel pressured to win districts, despite us being there and losing there before. It was more of the fact that I wanted to win — the team wanted to win.”
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