Olathe East to Orlando Pride: High School soccer coaches ready to cheer on former player

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (KCTV) - On Saturday night, the National Women’s Soccer League Championship game kicks off. It is a big moment for the two teams, especially for one Kansas City metro native: Orlando Pride Midfielder, #2 Haley McCutcheon.

McCutcheon, known as Haley Hanson in high school, played for the Olathe East Hawks.

Terry Hair coached at Olathe East High School for about 30 years and spent 10 years at Olathe North before that. He was the head women’s soccer coach while McCutcheon played for the team.

“You have special athletes much like Haley that you can tell,” said Hair. “She just has a contagious smile and she loves playing and is quite a young athlete.”

Now, Keeley O’Grady is the head coach at Olathe East. He’s been there for 20 years and was the assistant varsity coach when McCutcheon was in school.

“She was ahead of her years she was very mature, positive just a worker,” said O’Grady. “She was a great teammate. Always fun to be around, pushing people.”

Both coaches said it is amazing to see how far she has come in her sports career.

“Her sophomore year, she was a part of the undefeated Olathe East 21-0 state champion and she was named Gatorade player of the year her senior year,” said Hair. “Her drive is amazing,” he added.

“She is like a general- she was putting people in position, she was moving constantly communicating the difference maker,” said O’Grady.

They said it is rare for an athlete to go on to play professionally.

McCutcheon played for the University of Nebraska-Lincoln before getting drafted.

“She is living her dream and all of us are ing her. It is great for women’s sports to see the huge gains that they have made in professional soccer, playing at the only women’s soccer stadium here in Kansas City. Kudos to her to have continued her dream and preserved through all of these challenges,” said Hair.

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The strides in women’s sports continue to inspire young girls—many of whom get to be in the stands on Saturday night.

“We had a bunch of girls in our advisory yesterday that said they were going to go watch the game and I was going ‘Oh who are you going to cheer for?’ [They said] ‘Ah, we’re kind of mad at Orlando they beat the Current,’” O’Grady said. “I was like, ‘Well there is a connection there.’ And they are like ‘Really?’ I said ‘Yeah, go down the hall and you’ll see Haley Hanson’s picture—the Gatorade player of the year’ and they were like ‘No way.’”

”You know that is an accomplishment—' like that is everybody’s dream to, you know, get to that level,” O’Grady added.

As McCutcheon takes the field Saturday night, it is an exciting moment for her former coaches to see her play on the world stage.

“One of those rare things you get to do, like you are going to play in a place that you grew up in front of people who know you? That is pretty special,” said O’Grady.

All that focus she had in high school and other championship games has helped lead her to this moment.

“She wasn’t about herself at all and I just really enjoyed having the opportunity to be a small part of her chosen career,” said Hair.

Both are extremely proud of her and her accomplishments in her professional soccer career.

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