Peters Township junior commits to Ohio State
McCullough to play soccer for the Buckeyes
Something about soccer appealed to Taylor McCullough. What exactly, she is uncertain.
“Something always draws me to soccer. I just don’t know what it is,” she said.
Although she comes from an athletic family that is partial to basketball and American football, McCullough knows for sure she likes soccer better than hoops, and, although it was a difficult decision for her, she is well aware that sport has carved her path to college.
“I do like soccer better. I realized this could be my sport,” she added. “It’s not important now to figure out why.
“Soccer is my No. 1 sport and definitely it’s hard to choose between the two.”
Recently, however, McCullough did. The Peters Township High School junior picked Ohio State University to continue her athletic career on the pitch.
McCullough entertained soccer offers from the major conferences such as the SEC, ACC and Big 10 with her final choices narrowed to Pitt, LSU and Virginia Tech before her OSU commitment. She also had multiple offers to play basketball at the next level. Kent State, where her parents competed, offered her a full ride after a visit.
“My process definitely was not easy,” she said. “When I was little, I remember my parents telling me that I would find my fit and you will know, but I did not believe them.
“I already knew I liked the coaches because I went to a camp there but once I was on campus for a visit I really liked it. I knew it was my home. I could see myself here.
“The coaches were great. The team was super together. It’s a great culture and I wanted something with a big football program, great soccer and education.”
McCullough plans to major in business at a university that is highly recognized nationally for the Fisher College of Business as well as its college of engineering, agricultural and veterinary sciences not to mention its health sciences and medicine.
Athletically, the Buckeyes have won a total of 32 NCAA team national championships across all sports, including nine for football, the most recent in 2024.
Additionally, the women’s soccer program has been to the NCAA tournament 19 times, including six times this decade. Currently, the Buckeyes are ranked No. 5 nationally.
McCullough anticipates starting for the Buckeyes as a freshman in the fall of 2028. Noting she was the first recruit and scholarship offer for that class by OSU, McCullough said starting immediately was “doable.”
“They told me it was possible but it’s going to take a lot of work. My goals are to be the best version of myself and win a national championship, but that’s anybody’s goal. I just want to help my team anyway that I can.”
At Peters Township, McCullough has helped her teams succeed.
As a ninth grader, she helped the Lady Indians win a WPIAL title in soccer as well as district crown in basketball. Peters Township beat Seneca Valley in a shootout for the Class 4A soccer championship. In the winter of 2025, the Indians upset South Fayette, 40-36, for the Class 5A basketball title.
McCullough is hoping to add more banners to Peters Township’s collection. This fall, she’s a scoring leader for the Indians, who are off to 6-0-1 start and have outscored the opposition, 14-2.
“The goal is to win the WPIAL, especially for the seniors because I am so close to them and half of them are on my club team. I’m doing as much as I can and anything I can to help us win. We have a lot of talent and we’re also trying to win states. That’s hard but doable. But it would be cool to play in the finals again.”
While she is a striker on the soccer team, McCullough is the starting point guard on the basketball team, which is looking to improve upon last year’s 16-12 record that included a playoff appearance.
“We’d like to win another WPIAL but my goal is to make the team as good as possible by distributing the ball to the right people and to score as much as I can. Passing and driving to the hole and defense are my biggest strengths. So I hope to help the team whatever way I can.”
For McCullough the two sports incorporate her strengths, which also include quickness.
“They correlate to each other well,” she said. “I like the pace of basketball. Soccer is not slower, but there’s a lot of standing until you need that burst of speed. There are a lot of movements that are similar, too, like sliding in defensively in the paint for basketball and in soccer or as forwards running through the back line.”
The backyard was where McCullough first honed her skills. At around age 4, she started emulating her family members.
McCullough’s father, Gary, and brothers, Nick and Brendan, both played basketball for Peters Township but pursued football in college. Gary played defensive back at Kent State while the McCullough brothers are both contributors on the Carnegie Mellon football team. McCullough’s mother, Dawn, earned All-America acclaim playing basketball at Kent State and became the program’s most accomplished player, amassing 1,600 points, 450 assists and 300 steals. She played professionally and overseas.
“I played basketball when I was younger because my family was so into it,” she explained.
While McCullough evolved into an AAU standout, playing two seasons for SLAM, she made soccer her own.
She began her career playing club soccer with Century United. By seventh grade, she was attracting attention from college programs at Kentucky, Virginia Tech and North Carolina thanks to exposure created by performing at showcases as well as for the Riverhounds. Last summer, she played for the Pittsburgh Riveters SC, which is an American pre-professional soccer team based in Pittsburgh.
In between, she suffered a setback. She tore her meniscus, the rubbery cartilage in the knee that acts as a shock absorber and stabilizer between the thigh bone (femur) and shin bone (tibia). After surgery to repair the damage, she missed six to seven months of action before returning to her spot as a midfielder for the Riverhounds and striker for the Peters Township soccer squad.
The injury served as a turning point for McCullough.
“It was an eye-opener,” she said. “I realized not to take anything for granted because what you have can get taken away in an instant.”
So McCullough focuses on the present. However, she does dream about the future. Beyond high school and Ohio State, she hopes to emulate her sports idol, Trinity Rodman. The American plays professional soccer for the Washington Spirit National Women’s Soccer League and the United States national team.
“I would like to play professional soccer. Definitely try at least to go pro,” she added. “Honestly that requires working every day, training a lot and putting in the effort to get better and paying attention to all the little details.”
Taylor McCullough Bio
Who is she: Peters Township High School junior who verbally committed to play soccer at Ohio State University.
Parents: Gary and Dawn
Siblings: Nick and Brendan
Age: 17
Birthday: Sept. 22
Sports: Soccer and basketball
GPA: 4.0
Honors: All-Section, All-WPIAL
Clubs: Student Council
College choice: Ohio State
Major: Business/pre-law
Athlete: Trinity Rodman, an American professional soccer player for the Washington Spirit
Food: Pasta or Steak
Restaurant: Arlecchino Ristorante in McMurray for Italian or Capital Grill for steak.
Book: The Summer I Turned Pretty
Movie: Spiderman or Michael
Color: Pink or blue
Music: Drake or Bruno Mars
Dream Vacation: Hawaii or the Turks and Caicos Islands
Highlight: Winning WPIAL titles in soccer and basketball
Life lesson sports has taught you: Don’t take anything for granted because what you have can be taken away in a second
Person with whom you would like to have dinner and why: Elon Musk just because he’s a trillionaire.