"Looking back at where I was after my first two years, I did not expect things to change so much. I was frustrated and disappointed, but after I changed my mindset, I was able to make an impact on the team and I am very grateful with how things turned out."
 
Morgan McGarry
Sport: Soccer
Major: Accounting
Hometown: Danville, Calif.
 
Morgan McGarry lived out her dream of playing major college soccer, but her journey to success was certainly not an easy one.
 
Her college career got off to a rocky start as she was forced to redshirt her freshman year in 2015 due to injury and struggled to earn quality playing time during her redshirt freshman year, playing in just four games in 2016.
 
"I didn't even know how to get onto the field," McGarry said. "I called my dad after my freshman year and was questioning everything, even whether or not I should keep playing college soccer, but he wanted me to give it another chance. I didn't play much my redshirt freshman year and I thought about all my options again, but then I said that I need to keep pushing because I had worked so long to become a Division I soccer player and I didn't want to give up on it yet. After winter break of my redshirt freshman season, I said to myself I had to work even harder in the weight room and on the field to make an impact on the team."
 
And did she ever make an impact. In 2017, McGarry and head coach Tony Amato agreed it was in her best interest to change positions and switch to outside back, which turned out to be the best decision of her career.
 
After starting every match during the 2017 season while playing nearly 1,900 minutes, she was named 2017 All-Pac-12 Second Team one season after she questioned her ability to be a collegiate soccer player.
 
McGarry showed incredible determination, which is one of the core values of the Wildcat Way stated in the Arizona Athletics Strategic Plan. She showed commitment to our tradition of being a champion in competition, the classroom and our community.
 
"Being named All-Pac-12 reinforced that I did the right thing," McGarry said. "It was also rewarding that other people noticed what I had done on the field. Everything I had done was to help the team, but having that accolade was rewarding."
 
She helped lead the Wildcats back to the NCAA Tournament after missing out during the 2016 season as Arizona won 11 matches, including seven Pac-12 matches which is still the school record for most conference wins in a season.
 
McGarry would go on to be a regular starter throughout the rest of her career at Arizona and was a key factor in Arizona making the NCAA Tournament three-straight seasons for the first time in program history from 2017 to 2019.


 
If you were to tell Morgan after her freshman season that she would finish her career as an All-Pac-12 player and would be one of Arizona's best players in a three-year stretch where the Wildcats made the NCAA Tournament three years in a row, she would think you're crazy.
 
"Looking back at where I was after my first two years, I did not expect things to change so much," McGarry said. "I was frustrated and disappointed, but after I changed my mindset, I was able to make an impact on the team and I am very grateful with how things turned out."
 
Not only was McGarry working incredibly hard to make an impact on the pitch, she was working just as hard in the classroom to prepare her for life after soccer. Her work in the classroom was rewarded as she was named honorable mention Pac-12 All-Academic in 2017 and 2018 and was named to the Pac-12 Fall Honor Roll in 2019.
 
Next week, she will graduate with a master's degree in Accounting from Eller College of Management, one of the top business schools in the world.
 
After graduation, McGarry will take some time to study for the CPA (Certified Public Accountant) Exam and will start a full-time job as an assurance associate for a PwC, a major accounting firm.