Johnson starts her UP career off right
Former Lincoln star quickly nabs regular role with Pilots
BY STEPHEN ALEXANDER
The Portland Tribune, Nov 12, 2009

If there were any question that Kendall Johnson could contribute to the Portland Pilots right out of high school, it has been answered.
Johnson, who led Lincoln to two Class 6A titles and was the state player of the year in 2008, quickly stepped into a starting role with the No. 2-ranked Pilots. She is a key midfielder/forward as Portland moves into the playoffs.

Portland meets Denver in a first-round game at 7 p.m. Friday at UP. A victory would put the Pilots (18-1-0) into a second-round match, also at home, at noon Sunday against the winner of Friday’s 4 p.m. Washington-Mississippi game.

Johnson hopes to help the Pilots return to the College Cup —the Final Four of NCAA women’s soccer.

“She’s earned her starting spot,” says Garrett Smith, Portland coach.
Adds Smith: “Kendall is a 100-percent complete person. We recruited her for soccer. But she’s a phenomenal student and a good person.”
Johnson spent the summer after high school preparing for the Pilots’ season. She played club soccer for FC Portland Sapphire. Almost every player on the team was going on to play college soccer. It provided Johnson with a good challenge.


Johnson also worked out at Multnomah Athletic Club. She would often go into an empty racquetball court and kick a soccer ball against the walls as she listened to her iPod.

Johnson began school at UP last summer. She took philosophy and a fine arts course.

“I like college a lot better (than high school),” Johnson says. “Going to summer school really helped just to get an idea of what school would be like before having to start playing soccer.”

When the season began, Johnson was acclimated. And she got into the Pilots’ first game against Oregon with about 20 minutes left. “I was running all over the place. I was definitely pretty nervous,” she says.
In the 86th minute, Johnson got a loose ball. She kicked a left-footed shot from the left side of the field. The shot bounced off a defender and went into the net.

“Right when I scored, I was so surprised,” Johnson says. “It was really exciting.”

After the goal, Johnson sprinted all the way to midfield to start playing again. Her teammates and coaches have teased her since —because the players were hoping the goal would give them a moment’s break to catch their breath.

Since that game, Johnson has scored another goal and had three assists. She has started 13 of the Pilots’ 18 games this season.
With her success and the success of Lincoln soccer, Johnson has become a bit of an Oregon media darling. While she has earned a reputation for being very quiet and shy, she also is articulate and usually smiling.

“Once I get to know people, I’m a lot more open,” she says.
Johnson is friends with everyone on her soccer team and with many of the players on the UP men’s soccer team.

Johnson and teammate Keelin Winters have an ongoing prank war.

“I probably shouldn’t say this, because she’s probably going to get me back,” Johnson says, laughing.

The war started when Winters poured ice water over Johnson’s head during a summer-league game.

“I told her I was going to get her back,” Johnson says.
Johnson found a small suitcase lock. She attached the lock to the bottom shoelaces of all Winters’ cleats, so Winters would have to undo all the laces to remove the lock.

“Kendall is very witty and fun to be around,” says teammate Molly Klier, a freshman defender from Folsom, Calif. “But at the same time, I feel like I can go to her with a problem and she’ll help me.”
Johnson is neither quiet nor shy when talking about the Pilots’ success so far this season, and about her hopes for the next few weeks.

When asked if her goal is for the Pilots to make the College Cup, Johnson looks shocked.

“Just to make it?” she asks. “Our goal is to win it.”

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