Turf crunches under electric blue cleats as a white No. 14 jersey enters the field. She approaches the ball, bringing forth a wave of rowdy shouts. Only the red and blue letters of Chaparral Stadium emblazoned on the ground separate the single girl standing on the field and a playoff win.
Only one penalty kick left.
The ball slams against the net and more white jerseys crowd the field, words lost in the commotion of tears and screams of senior Reagan McKinley’s “happiest day of [her] life.”
For McKinley, “soccer has been part of [her] identity since [she] could walk.” Starting from peewee soccer leagues, she now resides as a captain of the girls soccer team. In late July, she announced her commitment to continue playing soccer at Palm Beach Atlantic University.
“My whole life has had soccer,” McKinley said. “The thought of not playing it genuinely baffles me in a way. Quitting has never been a thought that’s popped into my mind. I can’t tell you when in my life I wasn’t playing soccer.”
McKinley began the sport at three years old when she joined the Neighborhood Sports soccer league with her neighbor, whose dad became their first coach. In elementary school, she switched to a small club called Dundee, then moved to FC Westlake, where she played from fifth to eighth grade. McKinley finally settled at Lonestar SC her freshman year, where she still plays today.
“I tried other sports, like gymnastics, and hated it,” McKinley said. “I wanted to quit immediately. I played basketball, and it was fun, but I just wasn’t a basketball player. I was always a soccer player, and that was what I was known for. It was a constant for me because that was what I loved to do.”
As a four-year member of the varsity team, McKinley plays outside back and center back. Her freshman year, she was a bubble player, rotating between junior varsity and varsity games, and she became a varsity starter her sophomore year.
“Reagan consistently leads by example,” girls soccer coach Caitlin Sawyer said. “She shows up prepared, works hard every day and holds herself to a high standard without needing attention or praise. She earns respect naturally because her teammates see her effort, her accountability and the way she puts the team first in both practice and games.”
Prior to games, McKinley routinely watches an Arsenal or Chelsea soccer game and finds a player to study. She makes note of something the player does in the match that she aims to replicate in her own game.
“There’s just so many things I love about this sport, [one of them being] my mom,” McKinley said. “She’s not in the soccer world, so she doesn’t really understand what she’s watching, but she’s still super supportive of it. Coming from an out-of-perspective view, she’s just there to watch me, and I think just her willingness to sacrifice all that for me and stay with me through it all has been really influential. It makes me want to be better for her and my family.”
With her older brother playing lacrosse, traveling for a sport wasn’t new for the family. According to McKinley, it was never a question of whether her mom was going to drive her to Dallas or fly with her to out-of-state tournaments.
“The time driving carpools and traveling to all her tournaments is absolutely priceless,” Reagan’s mom Rachel McKinley said. “The hardest part for me as a mom are the times I miss out on watching her play. Watching her navigate a recovery without knowing what would come next was definitely challenging. I think that was a time when I recognized the level of her resilience and determination.”
Reagan faced a recovery period after breaking her collarbone during a game in her junior year. Despite the pain stopping after two weeks, Reagan was banned from playing because of medical reasons for four months.
“That was really hard for me because I felt fine, but I wasn’t cleared, and so I just had to watch,” Reagan said. “I remember when I first came back injured, one of my friends told me how she always thought I was unbreakable, and it was really hard for me to hear that. I wanted to play so badly that it resparked my love for soccer, because you don’t realize what you have until it’s gone.”
However, the injury also seemed like a “reward,” as it allowed her time away from the sport. At the time, Reagan experienced struggles with her club coach, and she later admitted that time away from playing was beneficial to her in some way.
“My club coach was just very aggressive, and there wasn’t a single practice where he didn’t cuss us out or tell us how much we sucked, and I would go home crying every day,” Reagan said. “It got to a point where if I didn’t have a good game, then I just felt like a horrible human, and there was nothing I could do. After I broke my collarbone, I realized I’m not just a soccer player, and there’s more to me, so I think that was kind of a good separation from soccer for a little bit. When I came back, he got fired, so in a way, it was a good thing.”
Reagan came straight back to her old schedule as soon as she was allowed, even playing in a scrimmage the day she was cleared. After watching her brother and his friends continue to play sports in college, she decided to follow the course as well. She chose to commit to Palm Beach Atlantic University because it was a smaller school where she could play more and spend less time on the bench.
“There were so many emotions when she made this decision,” Rachel said. “I am so proud of her for choosing a college that would allow her to pursue her dreams of playing soccer, attend nursing school and serve on mission trips. However, she is going to college in Palm Beach, Florida, and that is really far away.”
Despite being a person who switched their dream job weekly, nursing always came back to Reagan’s top choice. She chose to pursue it for the high pressure and intense work that often comes with the job.
“They’re very different things, soccer and nursing, but there’s certain elements that are the same that I think is the stuff I really like,” Reagan said. “There’s never a dull moment in both, I’m sure. I feel like there was something somewhere in me that knew [nursing] was what I wanted to do, even when I wasn’t fully sure of it.”
Before leaving for college, Reagan will continue to play for both the school and club team, as well as a summer league for Lonestar. Coming off of a tournament win, Reagan and the two other captains, Maddie Hodges and Ella Shahinian, led the varsity team to a 2-0 victory against Stony Point on Jan. 13, their first game of the regular season.
“I feel like this is the one year where I just feel great and extremely confident in everyone,” Reagan said. “Performing this well this early on is pretty rare. Preseason is just about learning to play as a team, and the fact that we’re not just playing, but winning, says a lot. I’m convinced that we’re going to end the season with a ring.”
Despite club practices in Round Rock three times a week, morning practices with the school team and taking two AP classes, Reagan makes time to spend with the team. They hold traditions of team dinners prior to home games, as well as running a victory lap around the school after a win.
“It’s bittersweet that this is my last high school season, but I know it’s going to be the best,” Reagan said. “For anyone wanting to make varsity in the future, you have to dedicate the work to yourself. Not just for soccer, but for anything, you have to look in the mirror and ask yourself what difference you want to see and what you can do to make that happen. If you don’t make an effort to change something, nothing will.”
