“Soccer is a different experience for me, it’s different than basketball.”
For some high school athletes, the drive to be successful in one varsity sport is tough. The road to be successful in multiple sports can be even tougher to balance with a slew of other priorities in their lives.
Cinnaminson High School rising junior Maddie Ogden is a two-sport varsity athlete for the Pirates, excelling in basketball and soccer.
On the pitch, Ogden is the starting goalkeeper for the Pirates, who finished 19–3–2 a season ago.
Ogden had 16 shutouts, a school record, and was an all-conference selection in the Burlington County Liberty Division.
The Pirates lifted the Liberty Division crown, and finished as the fourth-best team in South Jersey.
Ogden was also recognized as an All South Jersey goalkeeper and as an All NJ State Coaches selection in the sectional round of the playoffs.
“Soccer is a different experience for me,” Ogden said. “I have the chance to help control our backline, which is different than basketball.”
Ogden reminisces when she was younger about how she was intrigued with the position of goalie.
“I always thought it was fun to dive for the ball and make saves,” Ogden said. “I had to wait until I was older, though, because my Dad didn’t want me in net as a younger girl.”
Paired with the busy preseason schedule at CHS, Ogden still puts in a lot of extra work on her own.
She goes out with her dad and brother and has shooting practice, and a number of different situations.
“My dad uses a shooting machine to help me with my saving ability,” Ogden said. “Also, my brother will shoot free kicks on me, and we usually close with some punting drills.”
Ogden, also a 5-foot-11 forward on the Cinnaminson girls basketball team, chipped in 190 points a season ago as the team finished 22–7 as Freedom Division champions. The 16-year-old focuses on basketball for most of the summer and winter, and saves time for soccer in spring and fall. Ogden is also a member of the South Jersey Elite Barons club team in the offseason.
“Over the summer, I stayed in shape with a basketball team in Ocean City,” Ogden said. “We weight trained two days a week, while conditioning and practicing also throughout the week.”
Ogden comes from a sports-driven family who has seen multiple members excel in collegiate sports. Her father, Greg, was head coach of the Rutgers-Camden men’s soccer team from 2000–2005, posting a 68–39–14 record, while her aunt Cory was a three-sport athlete at Cinnaminson High School, and later went to The College of New Jersey.
“I look up to my aunt Cory a lot, she was a really good player,” Ogden said. “She is always supporting me at my games, and we play a lot of the same sports, so she always offers tips and advice.”
Ogden, who holds a 3.69 GPA at CHS, is looking to continue playing following graduation in 2019. While she hasn’t yet made a verbal commitment to a college, she is keeping all her options open for the future.
For more information regarding Ogden or CHS Sports, check out http://chs.cinnaminson.com/apps/pages/index.jsp?uREC_ID=336422&type=d.
