Soccer
Favorite athlete: Neymar Jr.
Favorite team: New York Giants
Favorite memory competing in sports: First varsity game
Most embarrassing/funniest thing that has happened while competing in sports: One of my teammates had to come out of the game because he had to use the bathroom so badly.
Music on mobile device: Travis Scott
Future plans: ROTC in college
Words to live by: “If not me, then who?”
One goal before turning 30: Travel
One thing people don’t know about me: I’m a huge poker fan.
By Mary Jane Souder
Alan Nicholl has his own idea for all but guaranteed success on the soccer pitch.
“Give me 11 Dan Maggios and I’ll give you a team that never loses,” the Council Rock South soccer coach said.
Nicholl had just one Maggio this fall, and the senior midfielder earned team MVP honors.
“His movement, ball control, focus and dedication to improving his game was one of the best I’ve ever seen,” the Golden Hawks’ coach said. “His growth over the past few years has been amazing.
“He was an undersized ninth grader but had an advanced skillset, and I knew he would be a serious contributor as he matured.”
A varsity starter since his sophomore year, Maggio entered his senior season as the team’s most experienced offensive player.
“I remember during preseason being blown away by how much he had grown,” Nicholl said. “While I have always been impressed with his speed, it was how lean, strong and confident he was that turned my head.
“I knew he would be a serious force for even the best defenders in our league, which says a lot, so we built our offense around him.”
Beyond his obvious skillset, Maggio’s commitment to the team was underscored this past fall when his grandfather, George Akelsen, who had struggled with health issues, passed away.
“I offered him some time off to be with his family and grieve as needed,” Nicholl said. “In typical Dan fashion, he opted to do his healing on the field. He didn’t miss any time with the team as soccer provided the comfort he needed.
“It’s a great example of Dan’s commitment to his team, the game and the impact it’s had in his life. He is a serious competitor, and I was genuinely inspired by the overall commitment he made on a daily basis.”
For Maggio, who was very close to his grandfather, taking time away from his team was never a consideration.
“For me at least, taking off wouldn’t help at all,” he said. “Playing just helped me forget. It’s where I’m most comfortable.
“I think he’d want me to play. My grandma was at the game I played right after he passed away.”
This year’s season wasn’t as successful as Maggio and his teammates had hoped but included a tie with SOL National Conference champion Council Rock North as well as wins over perennial conference powers Neshaminy, Pennsbury and Abington.
“Obviously, as a senior class, we wanted to do well, make playoffs and all of that,” Maggio said. “We haven’t had success most of our high school careers – we haven’t made playoffs since I’ve been in high school.
“We just took a game-at-a-time mentality. We tried to do the best we could each game. As the playoffs came around, we were right on the border, but we lost a couple of games right at the end of the season and didn’t make playoffs. It was tough to swallow.”
It didn’t help that the Golden Hawks as well as the other conference squads lost important district playoff points when Harry S. Truman was forced to forfeit games because of an illegal player.
“That hurt us, and I wonder what would have happened if that hadn’t happened,” Maggio said. “After we beat Abington, we were looking good in the playoff standings, and we were on a win streak too. We were riding the hot hand.
“The Truman thing happened, we lost our next game, and it went downhill from there.”
Despite the disappointing ending, Maggio has fond memories of his final high school season.
“The seniors are all my good friends,” he said. “Everyone on the team just jelled good. There wasn’t any controversy, no one didn’t like each other. It was a fun season.”
*****
Maggio got his start playing soccer as a four-year-old in a community rec league when his family lived in New Jersey. He also played baseball and basketball.
“Soccer is in my family,” he said. “My dad (Vincent Maggio) played at Trenton State, and all my cousins play soccer.
“I just fell in love with it as a kid, and it stayed with me all of my life.”
When he was seven and his family moved to Pennsylvania, he began playing travel soccer with Council Rock United Soccer Association, eventually moving to FC Bucks, an elite club team with CRUSA.
“I always liked soccer,” Maggio said. “There was never a time I didn’t want to play.”
Maggio dropped baseball in middle school but still plays in-house basketball and – along with a friend – coaches a sixth grade basketball team with CRBA.
This past fall, Maggio – although not a captain – was both a leader and role model for Rock South’s soccer team.
“One of the parts of Dan’s game that has always impressed me is how he gets better as the game wears on,” Nicholl said. “He was consistently the most industrious engine on the field, and as a result, he rarely came out of the game.
“He was the team MVP on account of how much we relied on his offensive prowess. I fear to think of how we’d have fared without him.
The outside midfielder’s ability to penetrate on the dribble led to a team-high eight assists. It could have been 20, according to Nicholl, if the team had a “genuine goal scorer.”
“I see myself as a distributor more than a goal scorer,” Maggio said. “Since I was playing outside midfield, I saw that I had a chance to utilize my passing ability because usually the strikers are the goal scorers. It became easy for me to break down defenders and distribute for an easy goal.”
Soccer will be part of Maggio’s future although he has not made a final college choice with Scranton, DeSales, Montclair State and Eastern all under consideration. The one criteria that is non-negotiable is that the school must have an ROTC program.
“My junior year of high school I decided I wanted to do that,” said Maggio, whose grandfather was in the Coast Guard. “Besides that, my family doesn’t have a history of being in the military. It’s just something I’m passionate about and really want to do.”
In a senior season that saw the Golden Hawks come up just short of a district berth, Maggio helped ensure that the team competed against even the toughest opponents.
“Our competitiveness cannot be argued, and at the end of the day, it’s a reputation that I’m very proud of with our program,” Nicholl said. “Dan Maggio exemplified that legacy, and I’m immensely proud of his contributions.
“I seriously hope our younger players took notice of what a leader is and the effort and dedication it takes to have success – and that is Dan Maggio to a tee. I have no doubt any coach in the state would consider themselves lucky to have him in their respective programs. He’s a great kid.”
