Despite mainly being a center defensive midfielder, Morgan Cutts ’18 can also fire a lethal shot.
A four-year member of Andover Boys Soccer, Co-Captain Morgan Cutts ’18 has the led team this year with a great deal of knowledge of the game, according to his teammates. Introduced to the game by his father who played throughout high school and college, Cutts began playing soccer in third grade. He became more serious about the game in fifth grade and joined a club team that year. In eighth grade, Cutts decided to focus solely on soccer, dropping all of the other sports he played.
Cutts credits his annual summer visits to Poland with helping him to develop a love for the game.
“My mom being Polish, my family spent every summer in Poland where soccer is the biggest sport. The passion for the game there definitely rubbed off on me as well. Basically, all I did with the kids in her hometown was hang out at the field and play pick-up,” said Cutts.
Cutts is normally a center defender, but his versatility has recently allowed him to be instrumental in other positions such as striker, according to Owen Glover ’19 and Kion Young ’20.
“He has the best mixture of physicality and speed. As a center back, he outruns basically all the forwards he faces and then muscles them off of the ball. He also has a great touch and has been playing striker for the past couple of games. We can pin the ball to him up there, he’ll take a nice touch and then place the ball off to a midfielder or a wing,” said Glover.
“For the first few games, he played as a center back, but recently he switched over to striker. I think skill-wise, he is one of the best on the team. He has really good fundamentals such as passing, and he has a great touch, which is crucial for whatever position he will play. At center back he played very well, but he has also been doing well as a striker,” said Young.
While Cutts is a crucial member of the team for his versatility, strength in the backfield, and speed up top, he is also known by his fellow teammates for his easy-going and positive attitude.
Henry Rogers ’19 said, “He’s been on the team for four years, so I think that his experience with how the game is played and the intensity really lets him give a lot of advice to younger players and new players to the team. In terms of leadership, he is very positive in the way that he gives criticism. He leads in a positive way that benefits the team. He is one of the prominent members on our team, so he really leads by example.”
“Especially after tough practice or when people are feeling down because of mistakes, he is always the one that is encouraging us to move on and learn from our mistakes. He is very positive and is always trying to help the team out morally,” said Young.
Cutts’ calm and collected approach balanced with the energetic attitude of fellow Co-Captain Will Raphael ’18 creates a strong team environment, according to Rogers.
“He and Will together are a great pair; they have very different personalities that complement each other well in the way that they lead. Morgan is well respected on the team as a soccer player and as a person. He is a really nice guy who knows what Andover soccer is all about and cares a lot about the team,” said Rogers.
According to Cutts, he is taking the season game by game, but hopes that the team can make a run into the playoffs.
“We really have a great core of players, and I would say that, even if Andover soccer has had some special individual players, out of my four years on the team, this year’s group is probably the most talented across the board, so I’d love to see us go far. At the end of the day though you can’t look too far ahead, so right now I’m just focusing on our next game,” said Cutts.
