In the 2024 high school soccer season, nobody was better at keeping the ball out of the net than South Kortright’s Addy Eckert and nobody was better at putting it in the net than Franklin’s Shannon Kingsbury.
The two standouts are the Daily Star’s 2024 Girls Soccer Players of the Year. It’s the second year in a row Kingsbury has been honored and the first time for Eckert. Both players were First Team All-State selections in Class D.
Eckert helped lead the Rams to the Delaware League title and Section IV Class D championship while Kingsbury added to her already lengthy list of accomplishments by becoming the Purple Devils’ career scoring leader.
South Kortright entered the 2024 season with modest expectations. The Rams were one of the younger teams in the area with Eckert being the only senior on the roster. But despite the relative lack of experience, after the first week of practice Eckert saw the team’s potential.
“There was definitely more pressure to fill the other roles that were missing,” she said. “But we had a lot of younger girls that stepped up and they helped out this year.”
SK coach Josh Burroughs helped guide his team to a 15-3 record and a sectional title, earning Daily Star Girls Coach of the Year honors. But entering the year he was keeping his expectations realistic.
“We figured we’d be competitive and have a shot at the league title,” he said. “Anything after that… you look to be competitive in the sectional tournament and go as far as you can.”
As the lone senior and a second-year captain, Eckert was the unquestioned on-field leader for South Kortright. But playing keeper was relatively new for her as she was an outfield player until making the position switch in her sophomore year.
With more experience as a goalie, Eckert said her confidence in her game grew as well.
“I felt like I really took a big role in the defense,” she said. “I really had to talk a lot more and tell them what we needed.”
“It’s been a pleasure to watch her whole career develop,” Burroughs said. “Just to see the progression, the understanding of the angles, the leadership and this year she brought something else. You could see it the first week of practice: she was locked in, determined and just led by example.”
The Rams defeated Charlotte Valley 3-2 in the Delaware League title game and began their sectional playoff run by defeating the Wildcats again 1-0 in the Class D Quarterfinals.
It was the first of three consecutive 1-0 victories, the last of which ended with Jaylee Kelly’s overtime winner against Schenevus in the championship game.
“It was amazing,” Eckert said. “I never really thought that we could’ve gone that far and win it.”
It goes without saying that three straight shutouts in the playoffs require some excellent defense and Burroughs noted how important Eckert’s play in each game was.
“If she didn’t make some of the saves that she made or had the impact that she brought, it’s a 1-1 game or we’re losing some of those games 2-1,” he said. “She did a lot of the things that you don’t see in the newspaper from an impact standpoint.”
The relationship between Eckert and Burroughs isn’t limited to one sport as the two are currently in the midst of a strong start to the girls basketball season; the Rams stood at 8-1 entering Friday’s game against Walton/Downsville. In fact, Eckert recently scored her 1,000th varsity point in a 53-31 win over Laurens/Milford on Dec. 19.
Eckert had high praise for how Burroughs gets the best out of his players.
“He’s a great coach,” she said. “He always pushes us to do our best and he always has really high goals and expectations for us. I really think that’s what motivates us on the field.”
Burroughs, meanwhile, expressed his pride at how Eckert has grown not only as a player, but as a pillar in the South Kortright community.
“A lot of younger athletes look up to her,” he said. “She’s a huge role model.”
Franklin entered the 2024 season needing to replace several key pieces from a team that made it to the sectional final the year before.
Despite those losses, Kingsbury was intent on maintaining the team culture and holding everybody to a high standard.
“Obviously we lost some great players but we also knew that we had some younger ones coming up that could fill those roles,” she said.
Coach Gerald Laing knew that even more responsibility was going to be placed on his standout sophomore. But he also knew that she would be up to the task.
“I knew we were losing a lot to graduation from last year, some really talented players,” Laing said. “There was going to be more responsibility put on her and with that more pressure… I thought she did a great job all year.”
With a different lineup, Kingsbury was asked to operate more in the midfield than as a pure forward. Both she and Laing saw it as an opportunity to open things up for Franklin’s other players.
“It was more working off of me instead of expecting me to do everything,” Kingsbury said. We worked off of each other very well this year.”
“It provided more space on the wings because teams had to collapse a little more centrally to deal with Shannon,” Laing said. “The team tends to look for her when they need to get themselves out of trouble.”
While best known for her goal-scoring prowess, Laing was quick to point out the other strengths of Kingsbury’s game.
“She might not be the tallest girl on the field, but she wins a heck of a lot of balls out of the air,” he said. “Those one-on-one duels in the air, she wins a lot of those.”
He also complimented her lethal direct kicks, including a game-winner against Windham-Ashland-Jewett in the sectional playoffs that came from 30 yards away.
While Kingsbury took on more responsibilities this year, she still had plenty of time to put the ball in the back of the net. She finished the year with 43 goals, 11 of which were game-winners, and six assists to increase her varsity totals to 149 goals and 31 assists.
When Kingsbury scored her 115th goal in a 9-0 win over Gilbertsville-Mount Upton on Sept. 6 — the fourth of five goals in that game alone — she broke the program record held by Patty Uzenski for almost 40 years.
“It was really special, especially to have that team around me,” Kingsbury said of the milestone.
The numbers are incredible for any player but even more so when you consider that Kingsbury still has two more varsity seasons ahead of her. Her long track record of success at such a young age is something that Laing thinks gets overlooked on occasion.
“We’re quick to remind other people and we’re quick to remind Shannon, ‘This was your fourth year of varsity soccer, so your grade and your age says you’re a sophomore, but you’ve probably played more varsity games than a lot of players that you go against. As far as being a player on the field, you’re an upperclassmen,’” he said.
Franklin’s season came to an end in the sectional semifinals in a penalty shootout loss to Schenevus after a 1-1 draw. Despite the disappointment, Kingsbury was proud of how this year’s team came together and is excited to see what they can do next year.
“It was great to be a part of the team culture that this group created,” she said.
Players of the Year: Addy Eckert, South Kortright, senior; Shannon Kingsbury, Franklin, sophomore
Coach of the Year: Josh Burroughs, South Kortright, 15-3
2024 GIRLS SOCCER ALL-STARS
All-State Selections
Class C: Lizzie Craft, Unatego (First Team); Danica Park, Bainbridge-Guilford (Fourth Team)
Class D: Addy Eckert, South Kortright (First Team); Shannon Kingsbury, Franklin (First Team); Hannah Wist, Edmeston/Morris (First Team); Natalie Amadon, Charlotte Valley (Second Team); Issy Seamon, Richfield Springs (Third Team)
Center State Conference: Annelise Jensen, Cooperstown; Mia Kaltenbach; Cooperstown; Brenna Seamon, Cooperstown
Delaware League: Natalie Amadon, Charlotte Valley; Jordan Odell, Charlotte Valley; Lizet Molina Rodriguez, Hunter-Tannersville; Livy Grieco, Margaretville; Carlee Dropp, South Kortright; Addy Eckert, South Kortright; Madysen Reeves, South Kortright; McKenna Hoyt, Stamford/Jefferson; Zeta Pitti, Windham-Ashland-Jewett; Hannah Tuttle, Windham-Ashland-Jewett
Midstate Athletic Conference: Jayslin Henderson, Bainbridge-Guilford; Danica Park, Bainbridge-Guilford; Leah Dennis, Delhi; Jayne Fleury, Oxford; Emily Holbert, Oxford; Kayla Knapp, Oxford; Taegan Manwarren, Oxford; Nayla Miley, Sidney; Zoe Sullivan, Sidney; Shelby Rose, Unadilla Valley; Lilyanna Barnes, Unatego; Madisyn Birdsall, Unatego; Dixie Boglioli, Unatego; Lizzie Craft, Unatego; Avery James, Unatego
Southern Tier Athletic Conference: Jordan Bellinger, Oneonta; Lillie Palmateer, Oneonta; Selene Wellman, Oneonta; Thalia Wellman, Oneonta
Tri-Valley League: Ava Jump, CV-S/SS; Mackenzie McGovern, CV-S/SS; Kenna Buriello, Edmeston/Morris; Molly Rifanburg, Edmeston/Morris; Abby White, Edmeston/Morris; Hannah Wist, Edmeston/Morris; Irene Cox, Franklin; Shannon Kingsbury, Franklin; Libby Cox, Laurens; Kara Mertz, Milford; Gabby Seamon, Richfield Springs; Issy Seamon, Richfield Springs; Sam Barrett, Schenevus; Cady Ritton, Schenevus