Maggie Cutty wanted to be strictly a soccer player and nothing else.
Whether she knew it or not.
“It was the first sport I was ever put into and I never really played another sport,” the Nottingham High senior said. “I was talking to my mom about it, I said ‘Why didn’t you let me play any other sports?’ She said ‘I offered it to you and you only wanted to play soccer!’
“So it’s the only sport I ever play except for track. I’ve been doing that since my freshman year.”
But track is mostly a way to keep her in shape for soccer, which has been her go-to since age 5. She has risen ever since and, as a center midfielder, will be key to any success the Northstars have this year.
Playing one of the most important positions on the field, the senior will be asked to defend, distribute and score, depending on who the opponent is. She has mainly been a creator on offense in high school, but she led the ’Stars in goals last season.
“In the middle of the field with what we’re trying to do offensively, we really need her,” said interim coach Eric Struble, who’s taking the reins while Jess Ricci is on maternity leave. “She’s not afraid to take on different roles depending on who we’re playing and how we’re doing. At times we’ve looked at her at center back, we’ve put her up top when we think we need something offensively.
“She’s just one of the best midfielder’s in the county. I really believe that. She sees the field very well.”
While Cutty may not be a scorer at heart, she can score.
“She can shoot it anywhere outside of the 18,” Struble continued. “That was our big thing last year. We struggled to get in the box. She took it upon herself at times to score from far out.
“In an ideal setting she’s a playmaker and someone that sets her teammates up. But we didn’t have the talent at striker last year so she did what she could.”
During Cutty’s first two seasons, she had ideal scorers to feed. Brooklyn Samonski scored 23 goals during Cutty’s freshman year, and her sister Bridget collected 19 when Maggie was a sophomore. During those seasons, Maggie had a goal and five assists, and six goals and 14 assists, with most of those setups going to her sister.
Last year, with Bridget having graduated and playing at The College of New Jersey, Maggie had to turn into a scorer on a team that lacked offensive punch and led the Northstars in both goals (7) and assists (5).
She admitted to missing her big sis.
“It was really tough because I never played high school without her,” Cutty said. “I had a lot of my best friends still on the team but it was quite a big change for me.”
Struble felt that it wasn’t just the loss of Bridget that stymied his prized midfielder.
“She had a little down year last year and I attribute that to us not being as deep,” he said. “We not only lost Bridget, but a couple other three-year varsity starters. So last year was a little tough. I expect her to bounce back this year and really lead us. She’s as talented as anyone in the CVC.”
It didn’t help that Kyra Bethea, who scored seven goals as a freshman in 2024, missed last season with an injury. Bethea is back this year, which should help immensely.
“She’s looking really good this summer,” Cutty said. “She’s been working really hard and I’m excited to see how I can play her some balls through and she can get some goals at that forward position.”
Struble is looking forward to seeing the tandem reconnect.
“Kyra and Bridget had such good chemistry when Krya was a freshman,” the coach said. “Those two worked so well together. I’m really hoping Maggie and Kyra will find that same connection. That won us a few games that year.”
Cutty began soccer in the Hamilton Recreation League before moving to the Hibernians for travel ball. That team eventually switched to Match Fit, and when Match Fit left Mercer County, Cutty moved to NLSA.
“Wen I was little, of course I always wanted to score the goals,” she said. “But midfield has always been my position.”
For Match Fit, Cutty was a center defensive midfielder, and she moved to attacking center mid with NLSA. She works hard on defending with Nottingham “because most of the teams we’re playing, we’re getting pushed back a lot.” But Struble is still counting on her to be an integral part of the offense.
One of Cutty’s key attributes is seeing the entire field, which is a must for any midfield maestro.
“I don’t know if I always had that, but it’s definitely developed as I’ve gotten older,” she said. “That’s one of the main things people tell me. One of the complements I get is ‘You see the field so well.’ I haven’t worked on it too much per say, it’s just always been developing.”
That’s not to say she doesn’t work on other things. This summer, Cutty did individual training, working on her shot. She would bring a rebounder tool out to the soccer field, fire shots into it and then shoot the rebounds into the goal.
“There are some teams we can hurt with me scoring, but there’s some teams we need to hang back and I need to play more of that defensive role; and if I have to play balls through to other people I can do that,” Cutty said. “But I’ve been working really hard on shooting a lot. There are time I’ll need to get up there and make more of an impact and score those goals.”
Cutty does more than just fire shots. She is a multidimensional scorer who possesses great footwork.
“She can get by defenders one-on-one all day,” Struble said. “She’s just one of those kids who’s working on her game every single day.”
That hard work translates to the classroom as well. Cutty has a 4.0 grade point average, is a member of the National Honor Society and Yearbook Club, and serves as senior class secretary. She’s also in the HOSA (Health Occupation Students of America) Club, which will help prepare her for a career in physical therapy.
“Students do different presentations on different health occupations and it’s for people to kind of see what occupation to go into if they want to be in the health care area,” Cutty said. “We do different experiments too. I love that club!”
It sounds like good prep work for when she goes to Arcadia University next year for soccer and physical therapy. Cutty first discovered the school when her brother went there for a visit and immediately fell in love with the campus.
In looking for a major, she took a career exploration course as a sophomore so she could have something in mind when soccer recruiting started. Health sciences looked appealing, and during her search for a good program, Arcadia came up on the radar.
“They’re one of the best schools in the country for that,” she said. “The beautiful campus was just a bonus. When Bridget played there with TCNJ I went to the game and I loved the players. The coaches were super nice. I was going back and forth with them and I was offered a spot. It was the best thing; they were my number one for a while.”
And while she is excited for her future, Cutty wants her final season with Nottingham to be successful. The Northstars were 4-14-1 last year, and Struble said the goal is to double that victory output.
“Jocelyn Castaldo has been playing wing and this is her fourth year as a starter,” the coach said. “She has a ton of talent. Victoria Smolka is a center back; she ended up coming up a lot of times for corner kicks. With Kyra back, those are our big three and if Maggie is able to set those girls up that’s a good start. We have a few freshmen coming in that look like they’ll be pretty good.
“We struggled to score goals last year. We just didn’t put it together. But we have some girls that have grown, and we have Maggie, who’s a great leader. She was out all summer working the girls out at captain’s practices. She’s not someone who shies away from hard work. I think Arcadia saw that in her.”
From what Cutty saw in the summer practices, she has an optimistic outlook.
“Last year, I think we just didn’t really mesh well together,” she said. “But we have done that in the summer. Everybody was working so well together, it’s just nice to see. We have a couple new freshmen coming in that know how to play and I think they’re gonna make an impact and help us this season.”
But don’t be surprised if the biggest impact of all is made by Cutty.
