McVey family has split soccer personality
3 brothers pursue soccer passions at 3 different schools
By Matt Le Cren
Soccer parents Stephanie and Jeff McVey know exactly what they have to do after work most days.
The Aurora residents have spent this fall watching their sons T.J., Jake and Luke play high school soccer, which makes them no different from other prep parents.
There is one thing, though, that makes than unlike possibly any other parents anywhere: their sons play at three different schools.
The eldest, T.J., is a star senior forward for second-seeded Benet, which will play top-seed Morton in the Class 3A Morton Sectional championship game Friday night. Jake and Luke are sophomore twins who play for Aurora Central and Metea Valley, respectively.
Stephanie McVey is a preschool teacher in East Aurora. Upon leaving work most days, she heads to a soccer game, though to where and to watch whom varies.
“We were all over the place during the season,” Stephanie said. “I think we’ve hit maybe 75 games so far.
“Between Jeff and I we tried to go to all of them, whether there’s one parent there or both parents. Every once in a while, there will be a game where there’s no parent, but we tried to make sure one parent is at the majority of the games.
“We have 5-6 games per week. We both leave work and try to divide and conquer or go to the same game.”
Stephanie and Jeff, a small business owner, elected to empower their boys with the freedom to chart their own academic and athletic pursuits. All three eventually chose soccer as their main sport but their paths diverged when it came to picking a school.
“They’re very different students, so we let them choose what high school would be best for them,” Stephanie said. “Jake wanted to go to a smaller school, so he chose Aurora Central. Luke wanted to go with all of his friends to Metea Valley.”
Their choices are reflective of their respective personalities. Despite being only 26 months apart, the brothers have unique personalities.
T.J. is serious and driven. For him, Benet offered a blend of academic rigor and a strong soccer tradition that included two state championships before he enrolled in 2018.
T.J. made the varsity as a freshman and helped the Redwings advance to a Class 3A sectional final for the first time. As a sophomore, he was the leading scorer on Benet’s Class AA state championship team.
After spending last year in Spain, T.J. returned to Benet for his senior season. He again leads the Redwings in scoring with 20 goals. He scored on a penalty kick in the second half and then converted his team’s final penalty in the shootout in Benet’ssectional semifinal win over Lyons on Tuesday.
“He’s just a total goal scorer,” Benet coach Sean Wesley said. “I don’t think it’s even teachable.
“He’s been like that since the day I met him. He was a kid who took a penalty kick in the 3A playoffs as a freshman and buried it.
“He’s just cold-blooded. He sees it; he wants it. He thinks it’s going in every time it eaves his foot.”
It doesn’t, of course, but T.J. converts at a higher rate than most players. He recorded a hat trick in Benet’s 3-0 regional final win over Young, which would be a singular career highlight for most players.
It was old hat for McVey, who also scored three in a 4-0 win over Fenton in a Class AA regional final in 2019.
“I knew he would be on his game,” Benet junior midfielder Nico Picha said after the Young game. “He always shows up in big games and scores those important goals for us.
“We knew that he would get one. He always comes into every game with confidence. I always expect him to score, because we hold him to a high standard.”
T.J. holds himself to a high standard. Losses eat him up, while wins only temporarily quench his thirst for success.
The Redwings chanted T.J.’s name in the on-field celebration after the Young match, but the senior was typically terse in a postgame interview.
“It’s good,” he said. “We get a win, I score three goals, it’s obviously a great feeling.”
It’s a great feeling for Stephanie, too, because she knows her oldst son will be in a good mood.
“T.J. just wants to score goals,” Stephanie said. “He’s really mad if he doesn’t.
“It’s a bad night at our house if he has a game and doesn’t score.”
Fortunately, that doesn’t happen often. And T.J.’s brothers add a different vibe to the family dynamic.
Luke is a midfielder, while Jake plays midfield and defender. They aren’t as single-minded as T.J.
“They’re much more laid back,” Stephanie said. “They love soccer; they’re competitive, but it doesn’t ruin their whole night if their team loses. They’re going to be OK.
“They’re more in it for the social/emotional aspect of it, being with teammates. To them, that’s just as important, which is great.”
In their youth, though, all three brothers shared some traits. They were impatient, energetic and driving their parents up the wall.
Faced with a trio of exuberant toddlers, Stephanie and Jeff introduced them to a variety of sports at a young age. The first was T-ball.
“They were all super active,” Stephanie said. “No one wanted to wait their turn, ever, so we tried T-ball and it was a disaster. No one wanted to wait their turn.
“T.J. started soccer when he was 5, and he loved it. He could just run and run and run. So, of course, Luke and Jake wanted to try. They all three fell in love with it, because you can run around in soccer even when you don’t have the ball. You can be active.”
The McVeys played many sports growing up, including basketball and swimming. They skied. But soccer stuck.
“They all kind of gravitated naturally toward soccer,” Stephanie said. “They all played together in the back yard, which usually led to fights and tears sometimes, but in a fun way.
“It became the family sport.”
All three started playing club with Team Chicago. When it came to high school, their soccer addresses changed. The twins didn’t originally intend to attend different high schools, but both are happy with their choices.
“At first, with all the COVID, I did not like the online stuff, and Aurora Central was actually in school full-time,” said Jake, who played for the varsity squad this fall after missing his freshman season due to injury. “I liked that, and I also liked the size a lot more.
“It’s not too big. It’s a small school, and I know just about everyone around there.”
Luke picked Metea Valley, because he didn’t know everyone. He played on the JV team this season before being called up to varsity for the playoffs, where the Mustangs lost to Oswego East 5-1 in a regional final.
“I like it, because it’s way more organized and more people are playing,” Luke said. “I wanted to be at a bigger school where there would be more competition.”
Both of the twins have enjoyed their high school soccer experience to date. Jake said it has inspired him to keep playing and trying to get better. Neither has decided if they will play in college, but both feel that attending separate schools has been beneficial to their development.
“It was definitely different at first,” Jake said. “It was kind of weird not seeing him in the hallways, but I don’t mind.
“I’m glad to be independent. I like it at there, and he likes it at Metea Valley. So, me and him are both happy.”
As is T.J., who has demonstrated he is definitely not afraid to go his own way in pursuit of his goals. He spent his junior year in Spain, attending a boarding school in Madrid and training with Getafe, a First Division La Liga team.
“I got homesick at times, but I was playing a lot of soccer, so on the soccer side it was good,” T.J. said. “I just improved a lot physically, technically and tactically -- just all-around got better.”
The boarding school had students from all over the world. The teachers spoke English, but the soccer coaches spoke only Spanish.
“If you didn’t learn very quickly, you were not going to get any playing time,” Stephanie said. “He became pretty fluent.”
At one point, T.J. didn’t know whether he would continue studying and playing in Spain and pursue an eventual professional career in Europe, or return home to attend college.
“I thought he would stay there, but it wasn’t what he was expecting because of the COVID restrictions,” Stephanie said. “He didn’t get to do the things I think he thought he was going to get to do.
“Spain kept changing regulations. We didn’t know what this year was going to look like. So, he’s enjoying his senior year at Benet.”
T.J. has a scholarship offer from St. Thomas, a Minnesota school that recently made the jump from Division III to Division I. Other Division I schools like Loyola and Marquette are interested but are waiting to see how many of their seniors opt to take advantage of the NCAA’s offer of a fifth year of eligibility because of the pandemic before offering a slot.
When he doesn’t have a game or practice, T.J. has attended as many of his brothers’ games as he can. The twins do the same and the whole family expects to be at Benet’s game Friday.
“Obviously, it’s great,” T.J. said. “We all played together growing up in the back yard.
“Now, watching each other’s games, it’s fun.”
He is proud of his younger brothers. He’s glad that they followed him into soccer.
“It’s great that they want to play soccer,” T.J. said. “They love it just as much as I do.
“They love it for themselves, not just for me. They work, too, and they played well this season. They’re looking forward to next season, too.”
T.J. will be away at college next fall, so probably won’t be able to attend any of Jake or Luke’s games. It will be an adjustment, but the brothers accept that.
Stephanie said she is trying to enjoy this season as much as possible, knowing that this is the last school year all three boys will be home together.
“It’s been super busy, a little stressful, but fun because I feel like in a couple years there won’t be anybody here for me to go watch,” Stephanie said. “It might be inconvenient for us, but it’s better for them to be able to make their own path.
“We don’t want one to feel like they have to go to one school just because the other went there or do something just because the other one went there. We want them to be able to be their own people.
“That part has been great for them.”
3 brothers pursue soccer passions at 3 different schools
By Matt Le Cren
Soccer parents Stephanie and Jeff McVey know exactly what they have to do after work most days.
The Aurora residents have spent this fall watching their sons T.J., Jake and Luke play high school soccer, which makes them no different from other prep parents.
There is one thing, though, that makes than unlike possibly any other parents anywhere: their sons play at three different schools.
The eldest, T.J., is a star senior forward for second-seeded Benet, which will play top-seed Morton in the Class 3A Morton Sectional championship game Friday night. Jake and Luke are sophomore twins who play for Aurora Central and Metea Valley, respectively.
Stephanie McVey is a preschool teacher in East Aurora. Upon leaving work most days, she heads to a soccer game, though to where and to watch whom varies.
“We were all over the place during the season,” Stephanie said. “I think we’ve hit maybe 75 games so far.
“Between Jeff and I we tried to go to all of them, whether there’s one parent there or both parents. Every once in a while, there will be a game where there’s no parent, but we tried to make sure one parent is at the majority of the games.
“We have 5-6 games per week. We both leave work and try to divide and conquer or go to the same game.”
Stephanie and Jeff, a small business owner, elected to empower their boys with the freedom to chart their own academic and athletic pursuits. All three eventually chose soccer as their main sport but their paths diverged when it came to picking a school.
“They’re very different students, so we let them choose what high school would be best for them,” Stephanie said. “Jake wanted to go to a smaller school, so he chose Aurora Central. Luke wanted to go with all of his friends to Metea Valley.”
Their choices are reflective of their respective personalities. Despite being only 26 months apart, the brothers have unique personalities.
T.J. is serious and driven. For him, Benet offered a blend of academic rigor and a strong soccer tradition that included two state championships before he enrolled in 2018.
T.J. made the varsity as a freshman and helped the Redwings advance to a Class 3A sectional final for the first time. As a sophomore, he was the leading scorer on Benet’s Class AA state championship team.
After spending last year in Spain, T.J. returned to Benet for his senior season. He again leads the Redwings in scoring with 20 goals. He scored on a penalty kick in the second half and then converted his team’s final penalty in the shootout in Benet’ssectional semifinal win over Lyons on Tuesday.
“He’s just a total goal scorer,” Benet coach Sean Wesley said. “I don’t think it’s even teachable.
“He’s been like that since the day I met him. He was a kid who took a penalty kick in the 3A playoffs as a freshman and buried it.
“He’s just cold-blooded. He sees it; he wants it. He thinks it’s going in every time it eaves his foot.”
It doesn’t, of course, but T.J. converts at a higher rate than most players. He recorded a hat trick in Benet’s 3-0 regional final win over Young, which would be a singular career highlight for most players.
It was old hat for McVey, who also scored three in a 4-0 win over Fenton in a Class AA regional final in 2019.
“I knew he would be on his game,” Benet junior midfielder Nico Picha said after the Young game. “He always shows up in big games and scores those important goals for us.
“We knew that he would get one. He always comes into every game with confidence. I always expect him to score, because we hold him to a high standard.”
T.J. holds himself to a high standard. Losses eat him up, while wins only temporarily quench his thirst for success.
The Redwings chanted T.J.’s name in the on-field celebration after the Young match, but the senior was typically terse in a postgame interview.
“It’s good,” he said. “We get a win, I score three goals, it’s obviously a great feeling.”
It’s a great feeling for Stephanie, too, because she knows her oldst son will be in a good mood.
“T.J. just wants to score goals,” Stephanie said. “He’s really mad if he doesn’t.
“It’s a bad night at our house if he has a game and doesn’t score.”
Fortunately, that doesn’t happen often. And T.J.’s brothers add a different vibe to the family dynamic.
Luke is a midfielder, while Jake plays midfield and defender. They aren’t as single-minded as T.J.
“They’re much more laid back,” Stephanie said. “They love soccer; they’re competitive, but it doesn’t ruin their whole night if their team loses. They’re going to be OK.
“They’re more in it for the social/emotional aspect of it, being with teammates. To them, that’s just as important, which is great.”
In their youth, though, all three brothers shared some traits. They were impatient, energetic and driving their parents up the wall.
Faced with a trio of exuberant toddlers, Stephanie and Jeff introduced them to a variety of sports at a young age. The first was T-ball.
“They were all super active,” Stephanie said. “No one wanted to wait their turn, ever, so we tried T-ball and it was a disaster. No one wanted to wait their turn.
“T.J. started soccer when he was 5, and he loved it. He could just run and run and run. So, of course, Luke and Jake wanted to try. They all three fell in love with it, because you can run around in soccer even when you don’t have the ball. You can be active.”
The McVeys played many sports growing up, including basketball and swimming. They skied. But soccer stuck.
“They all kind of gravitated naturally toward soccer,” Stephanie said. “They all played together in the back yard, which usually led to fights and tears sometimes, but in a fun way.
“It became the family sport.”
All three started playing club with Team Chicago. When it came to high school, their soccer addresses changed. The twins didn’t originally intend to attend different high schools, but both are happy with their choices.
“At first, with all the COVID, I did not like the online stuff, and Aurora Central was actually in school full-time,” said Jake, who played for the varsity squad this fall after missing his freshman season due to injury. “I liked that, and I also liked the size a lot more.
“It’s not too big. It’s a small school, and I know just about everyone around there.”
Luke picked Metea Valley, because he didn’t know everyone. He played on the JV team this season before being called up to varsity for the playoffs, where the Mustangs lost to Oswego East 5-1 in a regional final.
“I like it, because it’s way more organized and more people are playing,” Luke said. “I wanted to be at a bigger school where there would be more competition.”
Both of the twins have enjoyed their high school soccer experience to date. Jake said it has inspired him to keep playing and trying to get better. Neither has decided if they will play in college, but both feel that attending separate schools has been beneficial to their development.
“It was definitely different at first,” Jake said. “It was kind of weird not seeing him in the hallways, but I don’t mind.
“I’m glad to be independent. I like it at there, and he likes it at Metea Valley. So, me and him are both happy.”
As is T.J., who has demonstrated he is definitely not afraid to go his own way in pursuit of his goals. He spent his junior year in Spain, attending a boarding school in Madrid and training with Getafe, a First Division La Liga team.
“I got homesick at times, but I was playing a lot of soccer, so on the soccer side it was good,” T.J. said. “I just improved a lot physically, technically and tactically -- just all-around got better.”
The boarding school had students from all over the world. The teachers spoke English, but the soccer coaches spoke only Spanish.
“If you didn’t learn very quickly, you were not going to get any playing time,” Stephanie said. “He became pretty fluent.”
At one point, T.J. didn’t know whether he would continue studying and playing in Spain and pursue an eventual professional career in Europe, or return home to attend college.
“I thought he would stay there, but it wasn’t what he was expecting because of the COVID restrictions,” Stephanie said. “He didn’t get to do the things I think he thought he was going to get to do.
“Spain kept changing regulations. We didn’t know what this year was going to look like. So, he’s enjoying his senior year at Benet.”
T.J. has a scholarship offer from St. Thomas, a Minnesota school that recently made the jump from Division III to Division I. Other Division I schools like Loyola and Marquette are interested but are waiting to see how many of their seniors opt to take advantage of the NCAA’s offer of a fifth year of eligibility because of the pandemic before offering a slot.
When he doesn’t have a game or practice, T.J. has attended as many of his brothers’ games as he can. The twins do the same and the whole family expects to be at Benet’s game Friday.
“Obviously, it’s great,” T.J. said. “We all played together growing up in the back yard.
“Now, watching each other’s games, it’s fun.”
He is proud of his younger brothers. He’s glad that they followed him into soccer.
“It’s great that they want to play soccer,” T.J. said. “They love it just as much as I do.
“They love it for themselves, not just for me. They work, too, and they played well this season. They’re looking forward to next season, too.”
T.J. will be away at college next fall, so probably won’t be able to attend any of Jake or Luke’s games. It will be an adjustment, but the brothers accept that.
Stephanie said she is trying to enjoy this season as much as possible, knowing that this is the last school year all three boys will be home together.
“It’s been super busy, a little stressful, but fun because I feel like in a couple years there won’t be anybody here for me to go watch,” Stephanie said. “It might be inconvenient for us, but it’s better for them to be able to make their own path.
“We don’t want one to feel like they have to go to one school just because the other went there or do something just because the other one went there. We want them to be able to be their own people.
“That part has been great for them.”