Episcopal Academy’s Natalie Magnotta, a dual-sport athlete, caps final season on the hardwood

It wasn’t an agonizing decision to make. Natalie Magnotta wasn’t missing her final season of high school basketball.

The Episcopal Academy senior’s athletic future is in soccer. She’s extending her career at Penn State next season. Magnotta could have easily decided not to play basketball this season, but the game has served as a stress-free outlet, she said, away from the pitch.

“It’s always been nice having a second sport you just love playing,” Magnotta said. “Playing with a small team, all coming from a small area, we just pick each other up.

“I just love the sport, I wouldn’t want to stop playing before it was truly my last season.”

As a captain for EA’s soccer team, Magnotta was named the Inter-Ac’s MVP as a centerback — not exactly a common occurrence.

“I’ve always been a defender,” Magnotta said. “I like being able to see the whole field in front of me and facilitating for my teammates, plus I always like the feeling of being able to make a big tackle and stopping a goal from being scored.”

The Churchwomen won the PAISAA title, went 11-0-1 in Inter-Ac action, and conceded just 10 goals all season.

Magnotta, who was named all-state by the Pennsylvania Soccer Coaches Association, was selected to the East roster for the annual high school soccer All-American game.

“I started off pretty scared, just a little bit, but as soon as I got into the game, I just felt comfortable playing soccer and playing with all those girls,” Magnotta said of competing with the nation’s top high school seniors. “I feel like I’m one to always rise to the level. I play better against better competition.”

EA girls’ basketball coach Chuck Simmonds couldn’t blame Magnotta when she had to miss an early-season game to travel to South Carolina for that All-American game, but he much prefers when No. 22 is on the court.

“We always play better when she’s out there,” Simmonds said. “Even when she was a freshman, she could defend the other team’s best player. She can handle pressure in the backcourt, knock down a shot, she’s good in transition, so there’s a lot of things she just does naturally.

“It was never a conversation we had to have, so I never brought up if she wasn’t [playing],” Simmonds added. “She got voted a captain, and early on, we were having discussions about this season. I’ve known her since she was young, it’s fun getting to coach them in high school after I’ve taught them, and she’s just someone who has helped our program.”

There did come a time, however, when Magnotta had to choose which sport she was going to put first. Until seventh grade, Magnotta balanced club soccer with Penn Fusion Soccer Academy, a West Chester-based organization that competes on the elite ECNL circuit, and travel basketball with the AAU’s Comets.

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“I felt like I was a little bit better at [soccer], and I think you’d pick the thing you’re better at,” Magnotta said. “But it was still a really hard decision. I played soccer for longer, and I felt like I had more of a future on the soccer side. I can’t pick a specific thing, I think I just gravitated more to soccer.

“Basketball, I think I knew I’d enjoy it more as a second sport. I would put a lot of pressure on myself on the basketball court, and it’s a really tough sport if you’re always in your head about it. I was always able to let that go a little more with soccer on the competitive side, so for basketball when I’m able to not be in my head as much, I play better.”

Magnotta is from a family of Penn State fans. She grew up going to Beaver Stadium on Saturdays, so an opportunity to play for the Nittany Lions was too good to pass on.

“Going to a White Out game when you’re 6 years old gives you a pretty good vision of the school,” Magnotta said, laughing.

Penn State soccer coach Erica Dambach is a bit of a local legend. At Lower Moreland, she competed on the boys’ team since there wasn’t a girls’ soccer program at the time. She went on to play for William & Mary and has ben the head coach at Penn State since 2007. Twenty-three of her former Nittany Lions have been drafted to the NWSL since the league’s inception in 2012.

“When I had my visit there, I had a meeting with just her,” Magnotta said. “It felt like we connected and as she was saying everything about the school and the team, it was hard to not want to go there.

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Dambach (née Walsh) also played basketball in high school. Her name hangs on a banner in Lower Moreland’s gym as part of the school’s 1,000-point club, a special footnote on a resumé that features Big Ten championships, a national title, two College Cups, and Olympic and World Cup appearances as an assistant coach for the US Women’s National Team.

EA (5-6 in league) is out of the mix for an Inter-Ac basketball title, so Magnotta has been soaking in the time she has left with her teammates as their regular season comes to a close on Friday against the Agnes Irwin School. She has a brief break from training, but soon enough, it’ll be back to club soccer and then her collegiate career will begin late this summer.

“I’ll try to find other ways to play,” Magnotta said of basketball. “It may be hard with my soccer schedule. I’m definitely going to miss it. I think you don’t realize it until you’re actually done playing how much the sport had an impact on you.”

This story was produced as part of a partnership between The Inquirer and City of Basketball Love, a nonprofit news organization that covers high school and college basketball in the Philadelphia area while also helping mentor the next generation of sportswriters. This collaboration will help boost coverage of the city’s vibrant amateur basketball scene, from the high school ranks up through the Big 5 and beyond.