Ahna Johnson ’09 is putting the student back into student-athlete.
While many college athletes have received criticism recently for being remiss in their studies, Johnson is hard at work on the field and in the classroom.
She is a double-major in both physics and business, planning to work on alternative energy projects after graduation.
“I just decided to major in physics last spring, so now I’m catching up, taking six classes and a lab,” she said.
Juggling classes and a social life is difficult enough, but Johnson finds the time for practices, work out sessions and games as well.
“There is a time-management issue,” she said, adding that she is able to find time for everything despite the strain.
On the field, Johnson works just as hard. She can often be found throwing her body into the fray, leaping up to win every header.
However, Johnson’s efforts have not gone unnoticed. She was named to the All-MAAC Rookie Team her first season, while scoring a team-best five goals. She moved up to the All-MAAC First Team last year and finished third on the team in points. She was also named to the All-MAAC Academic Team, one of 11 Stags named to the team, which requires a 3.2 cumulative GPA.
This season, Johnson is fourth on the team with nine points, comprising of four goals and one assist. She plays all over the field and is seemingly in every head ball.
Johnson began playing soccer early, following in her brother’s footsteps.
“When I was four or five, my older brother played and I wanted to do everything that he did,” she said.
When her talents became apparent, she chose Fairfield partly due to the small campus and the proximity to her home, but she mainly wanted the opportunity to play Division I soccer.
Now, she is becoming a leader as the junior class begins to step up in preparation for the departure of the senior class after this season.
“Kids are thinking about it more,” said Johnson. “There is more talk and more leadership qualities.”
After being rained out on Saturday, the Stags played Iona, which boasted only a 2-13 record coming into the game, including 0-4 in the MAAC.
However, the Stags could not break through and the Gaels scored first, the ball barely escaping the reach of goalie Brett Maron ’08, who made 10 saves in the game.
Iona out shot Fairfield 19-17 for the game, with Alex Caram ’08 scoring the equalizer, assisted by Casey Frobey ’10 and Janna Breitenwischer ’08.
“I think we have work to do,” said Johnson. “We are disappointed in the results [against Marist, a 2-1 OT loss, and Iona, a 1-1 tie]. I feel that we can play better. But we still have a chance at the regular season MAAC title.”
She said she wants the Stags to get back to the level they played against Niagara when they won 6-0 in early October.
Fairfield came close on Monday, defeating non-conference Holy Cross 4-1 on the strength of three Nicole Cavallaro ’11 goals.
Cavallaro recorded the first hat trick of her career, scoring her first goal only 4:25 into the game on a pass from Caram. Her second and third goals were breakaways, as she was fed by Maron and then Caram.
Cavallaro leads the Stags in points on the season, with 23, and is fourth in the nation, with .73 assists per game.
Frobey also scored off an assist from Breitenwischer in the win.
Breitenwischer now has seven assists this year, tied for 11th in the program’s single-season record list. She is also one shy of moving into the top 10 list for career assists with 12.
Frobey now leads the team with eight goals and is ranked ninth all-time in her career with 20 goals as a sophomore.
Fairfield is currently 8-6-2 and 3-1-1 in the MAAC, good for fourth place behind Marist, Niagara and Loyola.
The Stags will continue their season with two MAAC games on the road this weekend against Manhattan and St. Peter’s. They will then return home to finish out their season against Loyola, the preseason MAAC favorite, and Rider.
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