Science Hill Soccer Sending Burleson to ETSU, Cevallos to North Greenville
by STEVE WILMOTH
TriCitiesSports.com
November 9, 2022
JOHNSON CITY, Tenn. – Science Hill Lady Hilltopper soccer star Megan Burleson’s official recruiting trip to her school of choice was one of the shortest a prized recruit can make.
The Johnson City native will stay local and join the hometown ETSU Buccaneers.
“It’s great that it’s close to home and the campus is beautiful,” said Burleson. “Getting to play with all these players at ETSU is going to be amazing because I know most of them.”
Not many however, as they say, are from ‘round these parts. The roster features players from Japan, South Africa, Canada, Germany, Northern Ireland and England in addition to local products from Grreeneville, Bristol, and another former Lady ‘Topper, Paige Carlesen, also from Johnson City.
“I think it will be really cool to see how other people play and how they view the game,” noted Burleson.
This past season Burleson, became the Lady ‘Toppers all-time leading scorer with 93 goals, finishing with 32 as a junior and 22 as a senior.
She was also the District 1-AAA Forward of the Year three consecutive seasons and was the District 1-AAA Tournament Most Valuable Player last month.
During her Science Hill career, the Lady Hilltoppers never lost or tied a district regular season or tournament match.
As a result, the likes of Alabama, Old Dominion and American University among others expressed interest before ETSU eventually won out.
Burleson could also play up top with the Buccaneers or even in the midfield.
“We’ve talked about it and I’m not sure yet,” said Burleson. “We’ll see when we get over there, but it really doesn’t matter to me.”
The versatility of Cevallos was also attractive to recruiters, including North Greenville.
“They like my defensive play, but also my playing in the midfield,” noted Cevallos. “I play then ten as well so I’m a pretty versatile player and I think they like that about me.”
Conversely, Cevallos likes everything about North Greenville.
“I love that it’s in the mountains. I love how welcoming the team was when I first met them and I started going to their id camps and practice,” added Cevallos.
“I’m very excited about the coaching staff and the expectations from the school. I love the size of the school. Originally, I thought I wanted a huge school, but it’s about the same as Science Hill, so I think it will be smooth moving from here to North Greenville.”
Cevallos was a district all-tournament selection and second-team all-conference honoree. She has also played with the Seattle ECNL Nationals 2022 team and trained with the semi-pro Ecuadorian side.
Cevallos plans to study health science or sports science as will most of the other signees.
“Most of the team I’m going in with will be studying health science so it will be nice to be on the same page with everyone else both on and off the field.”
