Mackenzie Magley, a four-year standout on the Central Cambria High School girls soccer team, will further her education and soccer career at Juniata College.
Magley, a forward who scored over 50 career high school goals, was a two-time Altoona Mirror First Team Girls Soccer all-star and a two-time Laurel Highlands Athletic Conference all-star.
Magley, who is aspiring to become a physician, will enroll in Juniata's pre-med program. Her father, Scott, a physician who graduated from Juniata College and played football there, had a big influence in his daughter's college choice.
"They're known for their pre-med program, and my dad got me looking at it,'' Mackenzie Magley said of Juniata. "Their pre-med program is well-known for getting students into medical school.''
Magley also had positive feelings about joining Juniata's soccer program.
"I didn't want to give up soccer quite yet,'' said Magley, who missed all but five soccer games in her sophomore year at Central Cambria after blowing out the anterior cruciate ligament in one of her knees. "I wanted to still continue playing soccer, and I think that playing soccer at Juniata will help me to delegate my time better.''
Central Cambria girls soccer coach Adam Stephan doesn't think that Magley will have any difficulty balancing her academic workload with the demands of playing soccer at Juniata.
"She was one of the hardest-working girls on our team, and I think she'll make a great addition to the Juniata program,'' Stephan said. "She battled through a lot of injuries - she blew out her ACL her sophomore year, and injured her other ACL at the end of her junior year and missed a few games then - but to put up [the goal-scoring] numbers she did shows the work ethic that she has.''
Magley, a three-sport [soccer, basketball, softball] participant at Central Cambria, is looking forward to the road ahead.
"I'm really excited to attend Juniata because of its academic program, and because I'll get the opportunity to play soccer there,'' Magley said. "I think that will be a great experience.''
