By Al Muskewitz
Maggie Wakefield can’t tell you how many times she’s heard this since she made her choice to play college soccer.
Oh, you’re a Rhodes scholar.
“Everyone kind of jokes about it,” the senior Donoho goalkeeper said Tuesday. “My mom and her alumni friends are like, Oh, we’re all Rhodes scholars, so I’m now part of that club, I guess.”
To be that kind of Rhodes Scholar, one has to travel to Oxford – not that Oxford, the one across the pond. In this case, Wakefield is staying a little closer to home, going to Memphis to play at a Division III school that fits her passions academically as well as athletically.
Wakefield officially signed with Rhodes College Tuesday morning, hours before the Lady Falcons’ season opener at Childersburg, and picked this day because it was one all the coaches she’s had on every level and every sport could attend and be recognized.
Her road to Rhodes was “quite interesting.” Initially, she wasn’t keen on it; it was her mom’s school and she wanted to plot her own path. She looked at Washington & Lee, but there wasn’t an opportunity, and also Ithaca College, but when she returned to Rhodes for her official visit something “just clicked.”
Wakefield has been keeper from way back. Matthew Wright, her rec league coach, put her in goal at a young age because she had the makeup to succeed. She has been her team’s last line of defense ever since.
“She was just very gritty and fearless,” Wright said. “We had to have a goalkeeper and it helps to have one with those traits. She’s always been fearless; that’s why she is where is.”
Last year she posted 17 shutouts in 23 games – T-5 on the state’s single-season list – and recorded an incredible 37 saves in the Lady Falcons’ 3-1 loss to Trinity Presbyterian in the state championship game. It was their only loss of the season.
“When I say 37 saves, I don’t mean she stopped the ball 37 times; I mean, she had 37 legitimate, dive, unbelievable, incredible saves,” Lady Falcons head coach Jay Jenkins said. “If she’s not in our goal last year in the final game, we get mercy-ruled. She makes that kind of a difference on the team. And we were good, but she made us great.
“It takes a special dedication to be able to do it at this next level and she’s got that ‘it’ factor. She’s a gamer, too. She’s one of those kids who may not show up in a drill scenario or a goal keeper camp … but you put her in a game and you know you’ve got something special.”
Wakefield’s senior season got off to a rousing start as the Lady Falcons crushed Childersburg 11-1. Wakefield was already out of the goal when Childersburg scored on a penalty kick and she even picked up an assist playing in the field. Kathleen Seals and Erin Turley both had three goals and two assists.
“I laughed with her after the game,” Jenkins said. “How many players do you know that sign a college scholarship to play as a goal keeper that end up with an assist from the field on the same night? The kid is a unicorn.”
The Donoho boys won their game 10-0.
