Maggie Starker finishes Whitefish Bay soccer career on high note
WHITEFISH BAY, Wis. (BVM) — It had barely been a day since Maggie Starker had finished her high school season and she was already reminiscing, watching the state championship game she had played in just the day before.
“I already watched the whole game again just to watch it,” Starker said. “It’s different to see it from an outside perspective so I did that all morning, it’s kind of crazy.”
However, this game film showed no critiques as it was as close to a perfect game as you can get, especially in a state championship game. Whitefish Bay beat Notre Dame 7-0 in the WIAA Division 2 state championship. Starker had one goal herself and assisted on three others. With that last win, the Blue Dukes finished their season 20-0.
“It was a statement that we deserved to win state and we’ve deserved to for the last four years,” Starker said. “It just hasn’t happened for us and this year we had to make it happen.”
For the 12 seniors on the team, many of whom have been on varsity since freshman year like Starker, this was the culmination of four years of hard work. As freshmen they lost to the eventual state champions in the sectional finals, then sophomore year they made it all the way to the state championship before losing in penalty kicks to Muskego.
“It’s like the worst feeling,” Starker said of losing in the finals.
That loss was the motivation Whitefish Bay needed to to make it back to the championship, but it was postponed due to COVID. This season they were ready to finally add the ninth state championship for Whitefish Bay.
“We seniors have never won a state championship so I think it was our turn to step up and get it done,” Starker said.
That was Starker’s main goal heading into the season.
“Coming into the season gold ball was No. 1 and getting player of the year was No. 2,” Starker said.
She accomplished her second goal before her first goal, being named 2020-21 Gatorade Wisconsin Girls Soccer Player of the Year in mid-June. However, those weren’t the only goals she accomplished. In fact, the other one she accomplished has been one she’s been working on a lot longer than the first two.
As a child she would go to her older sister Abby’s soccer games and tournaments, which is where she started to fall in love with the game. Then as she went to every game her sister played for Whitefish Bay and saw her sister earn a scholarship to Washington University in St. Louis, she decided she wanted to go down the same path.
“It looked like the coolest experience to go play college soccer,” Starker said. “I think that’s what motivated me to keep going and working harder, doing the extra things so I could play collegiate soccer too.”
She pushed herself and from an early age showed a talent for scoring goals. The process of finding that talent was simply helped by the team she played on.
“I have a twin brother and my parents refused to take us to two different practices so we were on the same team so I played on the boys team till I was like 13,” Starker said.
Not wanting to play defense, she used her speed and talents at the forward position, getting really good at scoring goals and helping others score as well. By the time she entered this season, she was one of the best in the state on a Blue Dukes team that is ranked No. 9 in the nation with over 64 goals and 56 assists during her high school career.
This level of talent caught the attention of many colleges, but in the end, she chose to stay close to home and commit to Marquette University. With that done, she had accomplished another goal.
“I would say this spring season it all came together,” Starker said.
Even with some rust that needed to be shaken off after their year-long hiatus, Starker and Whitefish Bay looked good from the very beginning of the season, but that wasn’t good enough.
“I think it took at least three or four games for all of us to get on the same page and play with each other,” Starker said. “It wasn’t perfect from the beginning and we really struggled in the beginning even though we got results it wasn’t where we wanted to be.”
By the postseason, the Blue Dukes were ready. but with each game having the potential to be their last, there were nerves the team had to get over in particular in the state semifinal game.
“Coming into the Brookfield Central game, the first 15-20 minutes being scoreless, not many opportunities,” Starker said. “Everyone not playing their best, everyone’s touches were off, my touches were off, our passes were off, I think we just needed to take over the game.”
Starker did just that, scoring two goals before halftime, and as they entered the second half of play, that was all the confidence they needed to finish off Central and move on to the state championship.
It was a fitting way to end a high school career, and even though she accomplished all her goals, she is already training for college soccer and the new ones she will set for herself at Marquette.
