Ava Donnelly has one of the more refreshing takes one could find in the modern-day youth soccer player.
In an era where players are terrified not to play year-round travel or club ball in their preferred sport for fear they will not be recruited by a college, the Lawrence High senior has bucked that myth.
Donnelly grew up playing travel for the Lawrence Hamnetts, NLSA and PDA North before giving it up her freshman year. She wanted to be part of the Cardinals swimming and track and field teams in the winter and spring.
And yet, she was still recruited and will play for Arcadia next fall. But first, she will be a major contributor on the Cardinals’ pitch this autumn.
“A lot of people have that stigma that you have to play club soccer to go to college,” Donnelly said. “Luckily, my recruitment journey was very easy. It wasn’t that much of a drawback as I thought it would be.
“My coaches at Arcadia were open and they understood my reason behind it. I was a three-sport athlete and it would be difficult to play club. It’s a different way of approaching college soccer, I guess.”
Entering high school, Donnelly’s original plan was to do college track as a distance runner. Ironically, by giving up travel, it increased her desire to play soccer in college since she realized how much she missed it by not playing year-round. It got her anxious to play when autumn came, but she was not about to give up her other teams.
“Ava absolutely loves high school sports,” Cardinals soccer/swim coach Emily Palombo said. “Her freshman year she was an incredible miler. For track she’s gone to nationals (as a sophomore). She swam for me and was successful.”
And she loved every minute of it.
“There’s just something about the community of it,” Donnelly said. “You grew up with everyone you’re playing with, you’re playing for your school, for your town and there’s something about it. It’s kind of homey.
“Plus I’m not traveling crazy distances to go play in a tournament in Colorado like when I’m 12 years old. There’s no sense in doing that. If I can play and have fun with my friends I might as well do it while I’m in high school.”
That last sentence should be on a T-shirt. It makes so much sense.
Unfortunately for Donnelly, she had to forfeit swimming and track last year due to an early-season soccer injury. The midfielder traced it back to a Sept. 22 win over Hightstown when she actually scored three goals.
“Nothing in particular happened but I started feeling a little nagging pain after that,” recalled Donnelly. “It wasn’t too bad, so I kept playing through it. And later in the season it got worse and worse. Originally, I thought it was like a pulled groin because it was all in that area.”
It was worse.
The “pull” turned out to be a broken pelvis, where one of the ring of bones was split in half. Swimming and track were definitely ruled out, and there was some uncertainty if Donnelly could even play soccer this year.
“It’s such an uncommon spot to fracture and they originally thought I’d be down a year and they would consider surgery if it was still bothering me,” she said. “They didn’t have much research done on it because it was so uncommon. So that put a damper on things wondering when I would be back.”
Forced to rest for five months, Donnelly underwent bone stimulator treatment during that time, which allowed her to ease into physical therapy. It proved effective, and the doctor gave her clearance to start playing again in midsummer.
“It’s feeling good,” Donnelly said in late July. “Obviously there’s some stuff lingering since I hadn’t played in so long. I have to get my muscles built back up but the bone itself hasn’t had any issues because it’s completely healed.”
It’s a welcome change from last season, when she battled through the year with increasing pain and still led the Cardinals in goals (12) and assists (7) while helping them to the NJSIAA Central Jersey Group III championship game.
“It was definitely painful but I got it wrapped,” Donnelly said. “It compressed the bone a little bit, so that helped both mentally and physically. But it did hurt. Toward the end of the season and post-season everyone has something nagging going on so I thought that was just a typical end-of-season injury. I didn’t think much of it. I definitely didn’t think it was a broken bone.”
The fact she played through it was no surprise to her coach.
“She’s a tough cookie,” Palombo said. “You hate hearing something like what happened to her, but she is so tough. She’ll just go out and do everything we need her to do.”
And everything is pretty much what Donnelly does.
The midfielder earned a starting berth as a freshman when Palombo was impressed by her technical talent.
“She had the ability to take people on and see the field, she had great vision,” the coach said. “She stepped out there and really never came off the field. Maybe just a quick break because she runs herself ragged.”
Donnelly had a modest two goals and two assists in ninth grade, and blossomed with 11 goals and seven assists as a sophomore. Her natural gifts have allowed her to attack from several different areas.
“What makes Ava so valuable is she can play pretty much anywhere on the field in the offensive half; and if I asked her to play defense she probably would,” Palombo said. “Last year when we were struggling to score I moved her up to forward (in the Hightstown game) and she had a hat trick. I just left her up there because she’s fast, she has the ability to take people on and she can finish.
“We were able to play quite a different formation with her having the ability to play forward. But she’s a great center-mid, where we’ll need her this year. Her ability to adapt to whatever we need has helped us be successful.”
Donnelly’s role will change slightly this year. Rather than strictly making runs and receiving passes, she will also need to create opportunities for teammates. Being a strong tactical player, it’s a responsibility that should come naturally.
“I always played wing growing up and played striker in my later years of playing club,” Donnelly said. “I enjoyed it a lot, it gave me a lot of opportunities, I would just get fed the ball. It was super nice to have that attacking mind all the time, but I do love facilitating play in the midfield. There’s pros and cons to both but I’m happy to play either position. I’ll play anywhere attacking, it’s what I love to do.”
Despite key personnel losses from a 14-8 team, Donnelly is excited about the Cardinals’ potential this season thanks to her senior classmates. It starts with midfielder Emma Skinner, who was second on the team with 11 goals and third in assists with four.
“They are very good friends off the field and they’ve played with each other for a while,” Palombo said. “Ava makes more of the runs where Emma can set her up. Both are very dangerous with long-range shots. They complement each other in that they know where each other is gonna be. Ava’s a little more offensive and Emma’s a little more defensive.”
Donnelly added that, “she’s been one of the strongest defenders on the team the past three years and she has natural goal scorer instincts as a defender.”
Other players cited were senior defender Ayden Anderson, senior midfielder Slavina Dusichka, senior goalie Vlada Kachurak, sophomore forward Sophia Eisle and senior goalie Alexa Audet, who missed all last year with an injury.
“Ayden brings a lot of energy to the field that will fill some gaps,” Donnelly said. “She’s a powerhouse on the back line and shuts down some of the most dangerous attackers in the CVC. Vlada is one of the top goalkeepers in the CVC.
“Slavi constantly works super hard in the midfield. She’s a tireless player and can interrupt any opportunity the other team gets. Sophie had some crucial goals on PKs last year and Lex is an incredible athlete. I truly think we stand a good chance to do well this year.”
Palombo likes the fact that her returning regulars played in numerous pressure games last season, and feels that “they’re going to have to adapt, we’re gonna be a different team but I think they can gel the way we need them to.”
While Donnelly is excited for another athletic season, she will also continue her prowess off the field. The honors student has a 4.07 weighted GPA (3.83 unweighted) while taking several AP classes. She is a member of the school’s DECA Club, Morgan’s Message Club and Hope Squad. The latter two deal with awareness and support for mental health and suicide prevention.
Out of school, the aqua girl lifeguards at Ben Franklin Swim Club, various apartment pools for a company and at the high school during summer camps.
She will major in biology at Arcadia with plans on earning her doctorate in physical therapy.
“It would be cool to have my own physical therapy office,” she said. “But I enjoy the interactive idea of physical therapy. I don’t want to sit at a desk all day. I want to be able to talk to people and help people out.”
And for one more season, she will be counted on to help Lawrence soccer rack up the victories.
