McCracken climbs the ladder
to make impact at Naperville Central
By Matt Le Cren
A small minority of high school soccer players burst onto the varsity scene as freshmen, becoming stars from the very beginning.
But the vast majority appear in the usual way – rising through the ranks to earn a varsity spot as a junior or senior.
Naperville Central senior Morgan McCracken was part of the latter group, only she didn’t get her chance until the eighth game of her junior season, when she was elevated from the reserve team following a 5-2 varsity loss to Waubonsie Valley early last April.
By the end of the season, McCracken was starting at center back for the Redhawks, who upset Neuqua Valley 1-0 to win a surprise regional championship.
“This is a kid who worked her way through the program, played freshman soccer as a freshman and played well,” Naperville Central coach Ed Watson said. “(As a) sophomore, she was on our varsity reserve team.
“After tryouts her junior year, there still wasn’t a place for her at that point on the varsity team, so she was asked to go back and play on the varsity reserve as a junior, which is a tough pill to swallow. Normally you would like to think that as a junior you make the jump, but there just wasn’t a spot for her.
“What happens a lot in female sports is, an injury takes place. You look down to your lower levels for somebody ready to jump up and play some minutes.”
McCracken was that somebody. She made her debut on the opening day of the Plainfield Classic and showed well in a 3-1 win over the Plainfield North JV team.
“We had just come off a tough game against Waubonsie, so we brought both teams and dressed everybody,” Watson recalled. “Morgan got a lot of playing time in that game and played very well and looked the part.
“So when the time came to continue playing in the tournament, we continued to dress her and she started playing a holding midfielder for us. She looked good there, gave us positive minutes and then had an opportunity to play in the back.”
Competition for spots is so fierce at Naperville-area schools that making the varsity cut is a big accomplishment, often the result of a decade of playing the sport at the youth and club level. Nothing can be taken for granted.
“We talk to the kids all the time about every chance you have is a varsity tryout, whether you get called over to fill out an 11-on-11 game with the varsity when you’re practicing or in (McCracken’s) case getting called up to play in that tournament,” Watson said. “Malia Velker also got her opportunity there and both were starting for us at the end of the year.”
Velker, a junior defender, recently became the Redhawks’ latest Division I recruit when she committed to Purdue Fort Wayne. She and McCracken were in line to be starters before the start of this season was postponed because of the coronavirus pandemic.
McCracken began playing soccer at age 5 and started playing club with the Naperville Soccer Association two years later. She switched to Galaxy in eighth grade. Her promotion proved to her that patience and determination are important virtues.
“Watson really tells us that you have to wait your turn, so I knew that coming in my freshman year I was going to be on the freshman team,” McCracken said. “I was OK with that, because I could prove myself there and get the playing time I wanted and have a good freshman year.
“Then my sophomore year I worked hard, and I was on our second team, which is the varsity reserves, and I knew that I had to work hard to stay there. I had to wait my turn to get my shot on varsity even though I knew there were freshmen that just went straight to varsity.
“I think that as I moved up and got new opportunities, the whole waiting-you-turn thing made more sense, because you just don’t get the opportunity right away. You have to prove yourself and over time you will become the best player you can be, and you’ll get put where you should be.”
McCracken soon proved to Watson that the backline is where she should be
“She did a nice job for us last year,” Watson said. “We play such a tough schedule and you need to have girls that are able to step in and play at a high level, and no matter where we put her she did the job.”
Toughness and physical abilities are necessary attributes for a defender, but McCracken brought something else.
“Morgan just plays,” Watson said. “There is such a calm about her, and she’s playing those positions where that is a really good asset to have.
“When you’re playing center back, you’re that last layer, that last line of defense, and she just keeps everything very settled.”
How does McCracken stay so calm, especially during fraught moments in front of her own goal? A short memory helps.
“That’s a really important thing, because if you get caught up in something you messed up earlier, then you’re going to bring that back to the current moment and you can make the same mistake over and over again,” McCracken said.
“But if you take what you learn from it and apply it to the next situation, you’ll probably have a better outcome, which is what I’ve found.”
Ergo, a sense of calm prevails.
“I think that is one of my better strengths because I have learned that staying calm really allows me to become a better defender,” McCracken said. “I’ve been able to do better against certain teams, because I stay calm and I understand what they’re doing, and then I can solve whatever problem easier.
“I also try to calm my teammates as well because if they’re not calm, then it’s going to affect the whole team. So, if you stay calm and composed it’s much better for our game.”
Never was that more evident than in last year’s playoffs. The Redhawks knocked off Plainfield East 4-1 and a superior Neuqua Valley squad 1-0 in the regionals and then held Waubonsie Valley’s powerful offense to only one goal in the sectional semifinals before losing on penalty kicks. Naperville Central allowed only 12 goals in 14 games after McCracken joined the team.
“Let’s face it, Neuqua was better than we were last year,” Watson said. “They threw everything at us, and we withstood it.
“We were able to do that in large part because of kids doing whatever they needed to do to defend. That’s Morgan’s specialty.”
McCracken was looking forward to one final hurrah this spring, but it might not happen. Still, she is not giving up hope.
“It’s definitely been difficult. We do our group chat every so often, and we all send inspirational messages or check up on each other that we’re still staying active and still staying positive,” McCracken said. “We’re hoping for a season, which would be really nice.
“We did a Zoom call with our team and our coaches, and we did our Big Sister/Little Sister program which we usually do. So that was fun to stay connected and get excited about something and hope that we still do have a season.”
Regardless of what happens, McCracken will attend Ohio State and major in biochemistry on a pre-med track.
She hopes to play on Buckeyes club team, but she will be there mainly for academics. She has been one of Watson’s calculus students the past two years.
“I think the most important part is just working hard throughout high school,” McCracken said. “I’ve always been a good student, but it’s only been because I’ve worked hard, doing my schoolwork and staying academically challenged. That’s what has pushed me to go to Ohio State.”
to make impact at Naperville Central
By Matt Le Cren
A small minority of high school soccer players burst onto the varsity scene as freshmen, becoming stars from the very beginning.
But the vast majority appear in the usual way – rising through the ranks to earn a varsity spot as a junior or senior.
Naperville Central senior Morgan McCracken was part of the latter group, only she didn’t get her chance until the eighth game of her junior season, when she was elevated from the reserve team following a 5-2 varsity loss to Waubonsie Valley early last April.
By the end of the season, McCracken was starting at center back for the Redhawks, who upset Neuqua Valley 1-0 to win a surprise regional championship.
“This is a kid who worked her way through the program, played freshman soccer as a freshman and played well,” Naperville Central coach Ed Watson said. “(As a) sophomore, she was on our varsity reserve team.
“After tryouts her junior year, there still wasn’t a place for her at that point on the varsity team, so she was asked to go back and play on the varsity reserve as a junior, which is a tough pill to swallow. Normally you would like to think that as a junior you make the jump, but there just wasn’t a spot for her.
“What happens a lot in female sports is, an injury takes place. You look down to your lower levels for somebody ready to jump up and play some minutes.”
McCracken was that somebody. She made her debut on the opening day of the Plainfield Classic and showed well in a 3-1 win over the Plainfield North JV team.
“We had just come off a tough game against Waubonsie, so we brought both teams and dressed everybody,” Watson recalled. “Morgan got a lot of playing time in that game and played very well and looked the part.
“So when the time came to continue playing in the tournament, we continued to dress her and she started playing a holding midfielder for us. She looked good there, gave us positive minutes and then had an opportunity to play in the back.”
Competition for spots is so fierce at Naperville-area schools that making the varsity cut is a big accomplishment, often the result of a decade of playing the sport at the youth and club level. Nothing can be taken for granted.
“We talk to the kids all the time about every chance you have is a varsity tryout, whether you get called over to fill out an 11-on-11 game with the varsity when you’re practicing or in (McCracken’s) case getting called up to play in that tournament,” Watson said. “Malia Velker also got her opportunity there and both were starting for us at the end of the year.”
Velker, a junior defender, recently became the Redhawks’ latest Division I recruit when she committed to Purdue Fort Wayne. She and McCracken were in line to be starters before the start of this season was postponed because of the coronavirus pandemic.
McCracken began playing soccer at age 5 and started playing club with the Naperville Soccer Association two years later. She switched to Galaxy in eighth grade. Her promotion proved to her that patience and determination are important virtues.
“Watson really tells us that you have to wait your turn, so I knew that coming in my freshman year I was going to be on the freshman team,” McCracken said. “I was OK with that, because I could prove myself there and get the playing time I wanted and have a good freshman year.
“Then my sophomore year I worked hard, and I was on our second team, which is the varsity reserves, and I knew that I had to work hard to stay there. I had to wait my turn to get my shot on varsity even though I knew there were freshmen that just went straight to varsity.
“I think that as I moved up and got new opportunities, the whole waiting-you-turn thing made more sense, because you just don’t get the opportunity right away. You have to prove yourself and over time you will become the best player you can be, and you’ll get put where you should be.”
McCracken soon proved to Watson that the backline is where she should be
“She did a nice job for us last year,” Watson said. “We play such a tough schedule and you need to have girls that are able to step in and play at a high level, and no matter where we put her she did the job.”
Toughness and physical abilities are necessary attributes for a defender, but McCracken brought something else.
“Morgan just plays,” Watson said. “There is such a calm about her, and she’s playing those positions where that is a really good asset to have.
“When you’re playing center back, you’re that last layer, that last line of defense, and she just keeps everything very settled.”
How does McCracken stay so calm, especially during fraught moments in front of her own goal? A short memory helps.
“That’s a really important thing, because if you get caught up in something you messed up earlier, then you’re going to bring that back to the current moment and you can make the same mistake over and over again,” McCracken said.
“But if you take what you learn from it and apply it to the next situation, you’ll probably have a better outcome, which is what I’ve found.”
Ergo, a sense of calm prevails.
“I think that is one of my better strengths because I have learned that staying calm really allows me to become a better defender,” McCracken said. “I’ve been able to do better against certain teams, because I stay calm and I understand what they’re doing, and then I can solve whatever problem easier.
“I also try to calm my teammates as well because if they’re not calm, then it’s going to affect the whole team. So, if you stay calm and composed it’s much better for our game.”
Never was that more evident than in last year’s playoffs. The Redhawks knocked off Plainfield East 4-1 and a superior Neuqua Valley squad 1-0 in the regionals and then held Waubonsie Valley’s powerful offense to only one goal in the sectional semifinals before losing on penalty kicks. Naperville Central allowed only 12 goals in 14 games after McCracken joined the team.
“Let’s face it, Neuqua was better than we were last year,” Watson said. “They threw everything at us, and we withstood it.
“We were able to do that in large part because of kids doing whatever they needed to do to defend. That’s Morgan’s specialty.”
McCracken was looking forward to one final hurrah this spring, but it might not happen. Still, she is not giving up hope.
“It’s definitely been difficult. We do our group chat every so often, and we all send inspirational messages or check up on each other that we’re still staying active and still staying positive,” McCracken said. “We’re hoping for a season, which would be really nice.
“We did a Zoom call with our team and our coaches, and we did our Big Sister/Little Sister program which we usually do. So that was fun to stay connected and get excited about something and hope that we still do have a season.”
Regardless of what happens, McCracken will attend Ohio State and major in biochemistry on a pre-med track.
She hopes to play on Buckeyes club team, but she will be there mainly for academics. She has been one of Watson’s calculus students the past two years.
“I think the most important part is just working hard throughout high school,” McCracken said. “I’ve always been a good student, but it’s only been because I’ve worked hard, doing my schoolwork and staying academically challenged. That’s what has pushed me to go to Ohio State.”