Young Lady Admirals look to make big strides under Burkhart in her 3rd season
As Jessica Stephens Burkhart prepares for her third season as Farragut High School girls soccer head coach, she’ll have a young team.
But that doesn’t mean the one-time Lady Admirals star forward (Class of 2006) doesn’t have high expectations.
“We have a very young team,” Burkhart said. “We do have seven seniors, and one of our strengths is going to be that those seniors are going to provide us with strong upper-class leadership, whether it’s on the field or off the field.
“Two or three of them will play a lot, but the rest of them really work hard and they’re great kids,” she added.
Expectations are lofty for the Lady Admirals, who went 7-5-2 overall and reached the District 4-AAA Tournament semifinals before losing to Kingston Pike rival and eventual state runner-up Bearden after finishing fourth in the league’s regular-season standings.
In addition to its returning upperclassmen, Farragut has a talented group of freshmen.
“This team has really gelled and they’ve really connected and they’ve hit the ground running,” Burkhart said. “We have a big freshmen class and these returners have been a really enjoyable group to coach.
“One of our strengths is our work rate, and these girls are really holding each other accountable,” she added. “I’m proud of the culture that we’ve built and established.”
Burkhart has lauded her team’s effort during the preseason.
“Farragut has a reputation for being a white-collar town,” she said. “But this team is really more of a blue-collar team, and we know that we’re going to need to give 110 percent effort every night if we’re going to be successful.”
Top returners for the Lady Admirals include: Rowan Unger (a senior who can play forward, midfielder and defender. She has been an All-Sistrict 4-AAA honoree and an All-Region 2-AAA performer over the last two seasons and was an All-State standout as a sophomore); Kennedy Wade (senior, defender); Ada Becker (junior, defender); Ava Barczak (senior, forward); Leana Maier (sophomore, midfielder) and Ava Upshaw (sophomore forward).
Top newcomers looking to make an early impact are freshmen Meghan Shimeall (midfielder) and Emery Wylie (goalkeeper).
The Lady Admirals will open their 2025 campaign in Maryville against Heritage Tuesday, Aug. 19. Kickoff is slated for 6 p.m.
Tough district slate
Lofty goals, however, are nothing new for the Lady Admirals, and Burkhart is hoping her side has the right ingredients to go a bit further in the postseason. But she also knows her team will face a tough district slate of matches against the likes of Bearden, Maryville, Hardin Valley Academy, Knoxville West, William Blount and Lenoir City, which returns after a stint in Class AA. The Lady Panthers will replace Heritage, which was moved down due to TSSAA re-alignment and re-classification.
The rest of the league will be looking to dethrone Bearden, which has won multiple consecutive regular-season district and tourney championships in addition to four straight Class AAA state title match appearances (three crowns).
“Until somebody knocks (Bearden and head coach) Ryan (Radcliffe) off, they’re the team to beat,” Burkhart said. “Our district has always been ‘the District of Death,’ but it just got tougher with Lenoir City coming back in.
“Hardin Valley is supposed to be really good because they have a lot of seniors coming back,” the coach added. “West will be good again. Maryville will also be tough because (coach) Steve (Feather) always gets the most out of his teams and William Blount has gotten better.”
