Kevin Ellis (born Kevin Boydston; June 30, 1991) is an American professional

soccer Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 Football player, players who almost exclusively use their feet to propel a Ball (association football), ball around a rectangular f ...

player who plays for the St. Louis Ambush in the

Major Arena Soccer League The Major Arena Soccer League (MASL) is a professional indoor soccer league in North America. The MASL features teams playing coast-to-coast in the United States and Mexico. The league is the highest level of arena soccer in North America. The le ...

Career

Early career

Born in

Kansas City, Missouri Kansas City, Missouri, abbreviated KC or KCMO, is the largest city in the U.S. state of Missouri by List of cities in Missouri, population and area. The city lies within Jackson County, Missouri, Jackson, Clay County, Missouri, Clay, and Pl ...

, as Kevin Boydston, Ellis first started to make a name for himself in the

Sporting Kansas City Sporting Kansas City is an American professional Association football, soccer club based in the Kansas City metropolitan area. The club competes in Major League Soccer (MLS) as a member of the Western Conference (MLS), Western Conference. The ad ...

Juniors with the under-17 side at the SUM Cup in 2007 where he started in every match for the Sporting juniors and scored two goals in two minutes against the

FC Dallas FC Dallas is an American professional Association football, soccer club based in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex. The club competes in Major League Soccer (MLS) as a member of the Western Conference (MLS), Western Conference. The franchise be ...

juniors in the group final. Ellis then went on to attend

Barton Community College Barton Community College, previously Barton County Community College, is a public community college in Great Bend, Kansas. Its service area includes Barton, Ellsworth, Pawnee, Rush and Russell Counties, Stafford County north of US Highway 5 ...

where he played for the school's soccer team from 2009 to 2010. In 2009 Ellis scored 23 goals for Barton Community College while also earning NJCAA Second Team All-American honors. Then in 2010 Ellis was converted into a defender while still scoring 11 goals for the college team that season. After the 2010 season Ellis was named the Kansas Jayhawk Community College Conference Defensive Player of the Year, and he also added All-Region VI First Team, NJCAA All-Tournament Team and NJCAA First Team All-American honors to his personal honors. His 34 goals scored while at Barton Community College remain an all-time school record.

Sporting Kansas City

After the 2010 season, Ellis attended the

invitation-only combine in January 2011, where after the three-day combine he earned a spot with the Sporting Kansas City preseason roster. On February 18, after two weeks of training with the first team in preseason, Ellis was signed by Sporting Kansas City to a homegrown player contract. Ellis was the second homegrown signing by Sporting Kansas City after

goalkeeper In many team sports that involve scoring goal (sport), goals, the goalkeeper (sometimes termed goaltender, netminder, GK, goalie, or keeper) is a designated player charged with directly preventing the opposing team from scoring by blocking or i ...

Jon Kempin, who signed as the first homegrown player in August 2010. Ellis made his first-team debut for Sporting Kansas City on June 28, 2011, two days before his 20th birthday, against the

Chicago Fire Premier Chicago Fire U-23 was an American soccer team based in Chicago, Illinois, United States. Founded in 2001, the team last played in the PDL, the fourth tier of the American Soccer Pyramid. They last played in 2016, choosing to leave the PDL. ...

in the

US Open Cup The Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup, commonly known as the U.S. Open Cup (USOC), is a knockout cup competition in men's soccer in the United States. It is the country's oldest ongoing national soccer competition. The competition was first held duri ...

, in which he came on as a 63rd-minute substitute for

Kei Kamara Kei Ansu Kamara (; born 1 September 1984) is a Sierra Leonean professional footballer who plays as a striker for FC Cincinnati. He is one of 13 players to have scored 100 goals in MLS history, achieving the landmark in 300 appearances. He is ...

. Sporting went on to win the game 3–0. Ellis made his league debut in 2013 before spending several weeks on loan with Orlando City. He scored his first professional goal in a 1–0 victory over

Cruz Azul Club de Futbol Cruz Azul S.A. de C.V., commonly referred to as Cruz Azul, is a professional association football, football club based in Mexico City, Mexico. It competes in Liga MX, the top tier of Mexican football league system, Mexican footba ...

during the

2013–14 CONCACAF Champions League The 2013–14 CONCACAF Champions League was the 6th edition of the CONCACAF Champions League under its current name, and overall the 49th edition of the premier association football, football club competition organized by CONCACAF, the regional g ...

quarterfinals A single-elimination knockout, or sudden-death tournament is a type of elimination tournament where the loser of a match-up is immediately eliminated from the tournament. Each winner will play another in the next round, until the final match-up, w ...

. Ellis was waived during the 2018 preseason. He later signed with the Chicago Fire on the eve of Chicago's season opener. He was waived by the Fire on August 9, 2018.

D.C. United

Ellis signed with

D.C. United D.C. United is an American professional soccer club based in Washington, D.C. The club competes in Major League Soccer (MLS) as a member of the Eastern Conference. Domestically, the club has won four MLS Cups (league championships), four Supp ...

on September 7, 2018. Ellis played his first 90 minutes with DC in a friendly against C.D. Olimpia, contributing an assist to Dane Kelly. He was released by the club at the end of their 2018 season.

Career statistics

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Ellis, Kevin 1991 births Living people American men's soccer players Kansas City Brass players Sporting Kansas City players Orlando City SC (2010–2014) players OKC Energy FC players Sporting Kansas City II players Chicago Fire FC players D.C. United players Men's association football defenders Soccer players from Kansas City, Missouri USL League Two players Major League Soccer players USL Championship players Junior college men's soccer players in the United States Barton Community College alumni Kansas City Comets (2010–) players Homegrown Players (MLS) Major Arena Soccer League players St. Louis Ambush (2013–) players 21st-century American sportsmen