Athlete Spotlight: Makenzie Boyd and Ella Shannon, Soccer

Makenzie Boyd (left) and Ella Shannon are club teammates for Baltimore Celtic 2005 and state teammates on the Maryland Olympic Development team, and they have traveled nationally and internationally playing soccer. The pair will square off as rivals beginning next year as Boyd will attend Northeast and Shannon will attend Chesapeake.

Courtesy photo

Posted Tuesday, December 11, 2018 9:45 am

By Colin Murphy

Before they end up as high school rivals, two rising soccer stars are representing Pasadena as teammates on an international level this fall.

Local eighth-grade student-athletes Makenzie Boyd and Ella Shannon are members of the same Olympic Developmental Program (ODP) girls soccer team that traveled to London earlier this year to play against teams from famed clubs Chelsea and Tottenham, among others.

Boyd, 13, attends George Fox Middle School and will move on to Northeast as a freshman in 2019. Shannon, 13, attends Chesapeake Bay Middle School and will move on to Chesapeake High School as a freshman next year.

Friends and teammates for the same Baltimore Celtic 2005 club team, Boyd and Shannon have taken similar routes to soccer success. They both have played soccer since a young age and began playing as teammates three years ago with the Severna Park Mambas before joining forces on their ODP and Celtic teams. Both are multi-sport athletes; Boyd is a competitive swimmer and is on the school dance team at George Fox, while Shannon swims and plays basketball. The two are summer swim teammates for the Chesterfield swim team.

Both Boyd and Shannon are A students at their respective middle schools and members of the National Junior Honor Society. Family members describe both as caring, hardworking individuals who love giving full effort to everything they do and love soccer.

The duo’s Baltimore Celtic team recently traveled to Florida for the Disney Soccer Showcase and went 2-1 overall, posting two shutout wins and falling only to the tournament’s eventual champion, a team from South Carolina.

Boyd and Shannon will continue to play as ODP and Celtic teammates even as they move on to high school and become rivals for their Eagle and Cougar programs.

“I know they will enjoy playing against each other when the two Pasadena schools face off,” said Shannon’s mother, Lora Shannon. “Makenzie and Ella are dear friends and great teammates to one another, and we are excited to watch the girls play in high school.”