SOUTH ABINGTON TWP. — Abington Heights senior Pat Beatty received a pleasant surprise after wrapping up his high school career: a berth on the Pennsylvania Soccer Coaches Association All-State team.
“I was shocked because I didn’t even have the most goals on my team,” Beatty said.
Beatty, who played primarily as a defender at Abington Heights, made a bigger impact as a scorer this season, finishing the Lackawanna League season with eight goals and six assists.
“He’s an incredibly versatile player regardless of what position he’s playing,” Abington Heights head coach Frank Dyska said. “He understands his role and knows to play effectively. He switched between forward and defense throughout the year, sometimes even within the same game if we felt we needed help in an area.”
Beatty welcomed the chance to play forward and have more of an impact on the offensive side of the ball this past season.
“I’ve always played defense, with other teams, throughout my whole life, so I liked having the opportunity,” he said.
Beatty credits former Comets head coach Steve Klingman and Dyska for helping him develop into an all-state caliber player.
“(Coach Klingman) has been around the game for a long time,” Beatty said. “I’d always try to follow any kind of tips he’d give me. He helped me out a lot with the technical aspect of the sport. (Coach Dyska) really helped me improve my attitude and become more of a team player.”
Dyska was impressed with Beatty’s ability to command the team on the pitch and assist with in-game changes.
“Throughout the course of the year, he developed into more of a field general and really helped with the tactical organization of the team,” Dyska said. “During halftime, he would help communicate which adjustments should be made based on the play in the first half.”
Some of Beatty’s favorite memories from his career as a Comet include participating in preseason tournaments against challenging teams and the annual games against division foe Wallenpaupack.
Beatty’s all-state selection marked the second consecutive year a member of the Comets received the recognition. Colin Klingman was named to the team as a midfielder last season.
