Westfield senior forwards Catie Bean, right, and Chandler Pedolzky (9) embrace in a celebratory hug after Pedolzky scored a goal against Agawam during a regular season high school girls soccer game at Bullens Field. (THE WESTFIELD NEWS FILE PHOTO/MARC ST.ONGE)
WESTFIELD – One year ago, Westfield forward Catie Bean stepped in front of a pass near her team’s own 30-yard line, kicked the ball upfield along the right sideline, collected it, dribbled toward the end line, all while shielding a defender behind her, and angled a low kick into the opposite corner of the net late in the West Division 1 girls soccer championship at Central High School’s Berte Field to net No. 2 Westfield a 1-0 finals win over top-seeded Minnechaug.
“Scoring that goal at Western Mass and seeing Chandler (Pedolzky) running at me at full speed, I realized I just scored – I was like ‘oh my God’ – and then I got tackled by everyone,” said Bean, reminiscing about that historic moment in Bombers soccer history.
It was the first girls soccer team at Westfield High School to win a Division 1 title.
“Just knowing that we made that mark for the school and to have our friends at that game was just an amazing feeling,” said Bean, a senior. “That week was insane.”
Westfield first knocked off one of their rivals, West Springfield, in the Western Mass semifinals. After upending the Minnechaug Falcons in the title game, the Bombers defeated Algonquin in the state semis before finishing as runners-up.
This past season, Westfield won a league title for the fourth consecutive season as COVID-19 could not even throw them off course. Although the Bombers looked nearly unstoppable – they suffered just one loss during an eight-game season – the coronavirus wiped out a postseason tournament and the Whip City’s chances for a repeat.
Catie Bean (2) steps into a kick for the Bombers during the 2019 Western Massachusetts Division 1 girls soccer championship game. (THE WESTFIELD NEWS FILE PHOTO/Dave Hosmer)
“It was nice to be on top (again),” Bean said, “but it stinks that it was our senior year and we didn’t get to play in the playoffs. I know we would have gone to the states again. We were hoping to bring home a state title, but we have to be positive. It was a nice way to end everything.”
It may be the end to Bean’s run as a Bomber, but her journey is far from over. The team’s star forward recently signed a national letter of intent to play for Bryant University this fall.
Bean was joined by two of her best friends, twin sisters Chandler and Emma Pedolzky, who also inked scholarships to continue their soccer careers. Emma also signed to Bryant, while Chandler is headed to UMass.
“It was kind of surreal,” Bean said of signing day. “I was next to two of my best friends that I have been with forever. It didn’t feel real until that moment that I was going to play college soccer with one of my best friends.”
Bean began her soccer career around the age of eight, playing alongside the Pedolzky sisters on the local youth soccer circuit.
During her freshman season at Westfield High, Bean suffered a broken collarbone. She attempted to play through a quad injury her sophomore year.
Westfield High School senior Catie Bean signs her national letter of intent to play Division 1 women’s soccer for Bryant University this fall. (RYAN DUNPHY PHOTO)
While those injuries slowed her progress as an underclassmen, it definitely did not derail her career. In 2019, Bean and Chandler Pedolzky formed a dynamic duo that no one in Western Mass could stop.
“With Chandler, she’s probably one of the only players I do not have to say a word to and know what she is going to do, and she knows what I am going to do,” Bean said. “I think us just being up top together, people relied and trusted us to get the job done. Our bond … made a big difference on our offensive side.”
While the two dynamic forwards garnered nearly all of the headlines for their scoring prowess, there was a secret to their success – Emma Pedolzky.
“(Emma) is one of the most hardworking people I have ever worked with,” Bean said. “She is all over the field on offense and defense. She was definitely the playmaker on our team. She doesn’t get enough credit because we wouldn’t have gotten as far as we did the last four years without her.”
Bean has shown she is more than willing to share the spotlight with her best friends and teammates. She is ready to do whatever it takes again to be a productive student-athlete in college.
“It is going to be more intense. I’m going to be playing with some of the best players that I have every played with,” Bean said. “I just want to improve as a player and get ready to play at the next level.”
