Season-ending knee injury sidelines Alabama recruit Fiona Mahan as Avonworth chases 4th straight WPIAL title

By: Chris Harlan
Friday, September 13, 2024 | 3:25 PM

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Fiona Mahan continues to guide Avonworth on its quest for a fourth straight WPIAL girls soccer title, but the senior has taken on a new role after a season-ending knee injury.

Mahan, an Alabama recruit and one of the WPIAL’s top talents, will have surgery in a couple of weeks to repair an ACL she tore Sept. 1, said her father J.C. Mahan, who coaches Avonworth.

But one game after her injury, she was back on the sideline and still helping the team to win.

“I tear up a little bit talking about it,” J.C. Mahan said. “To peer down the bench and see her down there, and she’s cheering on everybody who is on the field.”

The Antelopes are using more freshmen and sophomores than usual, so there is a larger rotation of players. Fiona Mahan might not be on the field with them nowadays, but she’s still finding ways to help.

“When players come off, she puts her arm around them and gives them little tricks and tips on what she sees,” J.C. Mahan said. “That’s makes me a proud coach and a really proud dad.”

Fiona Mahan earned a long list of individual accolades as a junior when she led Avonworth to its third straight WPIAL 2A title and a runner-up finish in the PIAA. The midfielder was as an all-WPIAL and all-state player, but also earned all-America honors from United Soccer Coaches.

She had 27 goals last year, and entered this season with career totals of 67 coals and 51 assists.

“It’s just her calmness, her vision,” Mahan said. “She sees everything. It’s so fun to watch how smooth she is.”

Avonworth (3-3-1) is ranked second in WPIAL 2A this season and Fiona Mahan’s injury doesn’t mean the season is sunk by any means. Her father said the team has had a motto of resilience that predated her injury: “So what, now what?” The lesson is that it’s about how you respond.

“We’re going for four,” said J.C. Mahan, adding that the mission hasn’t changed. “She was a big part of (the first three) on the field. Now she’s helping from the bench.”

Fiona Mahan was injured in the team’s fourth game of the season, a home match against South Fayette. It happened when she was tracking back on defense and stepped to block a shot.

A multi-sport athlete, the 5-foot-10 Mahan also played forward on an Avonworth basketball team that went 24-3 as the WPIAL runner-up last winter.

Surgery is scheduled for Sept. 25, giving her the recovery time needed to likely be ready for soccer season at Alabama next fall. Mahan said his daughter talked since the injury with Alabama’s coach, who said the program was fully behind her in recovery.

“He said one of the reasons they recruited her was she had a good attitude and was a hard worker,” J.C. Mahan said. “He said, ‘We know you’re going to come back strong and be the player we know.’”

Chris Harlan is a TribLive reporter covering sports. He joined the Trib in 2009 after seven years as a reporter at the Beaver County Times. He can be reached at charlan@triblive.com.

Tags: Avonworth