Southern senior Aidan Donnelly reacts to scoring a goal at Freehold Township. (Photo: Tom Smith | tspimages.com)

Shore Sports Insider 2024 Boys Soccer Player of the Year: Aidan Donnelly, Southern

Matt Manley|December 5, 2024|Last Updated December 12, 2024

Thirty-goal seasons are rare in high school soccer, so one could hardly blame Southern Regional striker Aidan Donnelly for celebrating the 30th goal of his senior season by flinging off his No. 10 jersey and posing for the crowd.

That goal, however, was not just the 30th of Donnelly’s season. It was the last of Southern’s season and it clinched the 2024 Rams squad a piece of school and Shore Conference history.

Led by Donnelly’s postseason heroics, Southern shook off a turbulent regular-season to win six straight games in impressive fashion and become an NJSIAA group champion for the first time in program history.

Donnelly was central in leading Southern to its 19-win season and first ever Group IV championship and after leading his team to new heights and leading the Shore Conference in goals, he is the Shore Sports Insider Boys Soccer Player of the Year.

“His footwork is very good, but his power is extraordinary,” Southern coach Guy Lockwood said of Donnelly. “His balance is great, and then his finishing touch is spot-on. He can hit 50, 60 percent of his shots onto frame, in a dangerous spot, where other players are at a lower percentage. He’s just that dangerous.”

Prior to the start of the NJSIAA Tournament, Donnelly was already having an individual year to remember. He scored 21 goals in Southern’s first 17 games, capped by a hat trick in a 4-3 win over Manasquan in the penultimate game of the Rams’ regular season. That left Donnelly with a résumé worthy of an all-division selection and a First-Team All-Ocean-County selection by the Class A South and Ocean County coaches, but it was just the warm-up to a stretch of season that would cement Donnelly’s Southern legacy and that of his team.

With eight senior starters, Southern entered the NJSIAA Tournament with something to prove after finishing fourth place in the Class A South division standings and bowing out of the Shore Conference Tournament in the round of 16 to division rival Central Regional. The tournaments were similarly unkind to the senior class in 2023, when Southern’s season ended in a round of penalty kicks at Washington Township – the eventual sectional champion in the NJSIAA South Jersey Group IV section.

Southern senior Aidan Donnelly settles the ball with Freehold Township senior Bobby Lackard on his back. (Photo: Tom Smith | tspimages.com) - Freehold Township vs Southern-1

Southern senior Aidan Donnelly settles the ball with Freehold Township senior Bobby Lackard on his back. (Photo: Tom Smith | tspimages.com)

The Rams drew the No. 4 seed in South Jersey Group IV in 2024 and began their march toward a championship with a 5-1 win over No. 13 Pennsauken that was resounding, but only somewhat convincing considering the seed disparity. It was the only game during the NJSIAA Tournament in which Donnelly failed to score a goal and he still managed to assist two of the five Southern goals. The two assists accounted for half of his season total.

In the sectional quarterfinal, Southern faced No. 12 Gloucester Tech after the Jaguars upset No. 5 Lenape in round one and erupted for three second-half goals in a 3-1 win, with Donnelly slamming in the second of them. It was another goal-scoring showcase in the postseason against a double-digit seed, but one that sent Southern to the sectional semifinals.

Thanks to Central’s upset of No. 1 Washington Township in the sectional quarterfinals, Southern hosted the Golden Eagles in the South Group IV semifinals and, once again, the Rams overwhelmed the opposition. Donnelly continued to raise his level, this time scoring two goals in a 4-1 win over Central that catapulted Southern to its first NJSIAA sectional final during a full-season NJSIAA Tournament.

Southern again drew home-field advantage with No. 6 Toms River North – another Class A South division rival – reaching the sectional final round for the fifth time in six years. After an own got the scoring started, Donnelly scored to extend the lead to 2-0 and added two more goals in the second half to cap a hat trick and a 6-3 romp that gave the Rams their first ever sectional championship.

In total, Donnelly scored six goals in Southern’s four South Jersey Group IV matches, with an increasing number each game. Goals were harder to come by for Southern in the final two rounds of the state tournament, but not so much for Donnelly. He buried a free kick in the opening minutes of the Group IV semifinal vs. 2023 Group IV champion Princeton and the Southern defense and goalkeeper Ryan Schweigart made it stand up in a 1-0 win.

In the Group IV championship, Southern faced a Scotch Plains-Fanwood side that allowed 10 goals in its first 22 games of the season and only one opposing player – Dickinson’s Tomas Monteiro – scored two goals against the Knights’ defense and that came in a 5-2 Scotch Plains win.

Donnelly once again proved to be different. For the second straight game, he scored an early goal, scoring from close range in the 13th minute to give the Rams a 1-0 lead. Schweigart and the defense once again delivered a stifling performance to keep the Knights off the scoreboard and in the 78th minute, Donnelly delivered the knockout blow. He curled in a left-footed strike from 16 yards away to clinch the state championship, give him 30 goals and stamp his Player-of-the-Year case with an exclamation point.

Donnelly’s two-goal state final was the 10th multi-goal game of his season, which included four hat tricks. Even more impressively, Donnelly’s hat tricks came when the stakes were highest. Two of the hat tricks – against Raritan in the Shore Conference Tournament opening round and against Toms River North – came in tournament settings and two of them – vs. No. 6 Toms River North and against No. 7 Manasquan in the regular season – came against teams that finished ranked in the final Shore Sports Insider Top 10.

The other hat trick came in a 3-1 regular-season win over Shawnee, which lost just twice all season, won the overall Group III championship and finished the year ranked No. 6 in the final NJ.com Top 20 – one spot behind Southern. During the course of the season, Southern defeated three teams – No. 6 Shawnee, No. 7 Scotch Plains-Fanwood and No. 9 Princeton – ranked among the top 10 in the state and Donnelly scored a combined six goals in those matches.

Donnelly is uncertain where exactly his soccer career will continue next season as he weighs his college options, but there is no doubt that he has found a home in Southern Regional athletic lore and the pantheon of all-time postseason performers in Shore Conference and state history.

Matt Manley’s Player of the Year “Ballot”

1. Aidan Donnelly, Sr., Southern

2. Kyle Moore, Sr., Colts Neck

3. Sean Moore, So., Colts Neck

4. Ethan Lustig, Jr., Manalapan

5. Ryan Fernandez, Sr., Ocean

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