Originally from Edmond, Oklahoma, forward Addy Johnson has already made significant strides in the freshman season of her collegiate soccer career.
This past October, she was named the American Athletic Conference Freshman of the Week for her efforts in UTSA’s 3-0 win over Temple University. With her first collegiate season under her belt, Johnson has led the Roadrunners in points this season and has become the team’s top goal scorer with nine goals.
“Playing college sports, especially at a Division I level, you don’t know how hard it’s going to be until you actually experience it,” Johnson said. “Once you step on that field for the first time in a collegiate game, it’s still a whole different game. It’s really cool, but it’s definitely just a big learning lesson. Our coaches do a great job of helping us get through it because the season is super short and quick. But a lot happens in a small period of time, so it’s mentally and physically challenging. Having the love and support from your teammates and coaches — I think that’s what got me through my freshman year — having coaches and teammates to lean on.”
Reflective of her freshman season, as a high school student, Johnson was named Edmond Memorial High School’s Top Goal Scorer of the 2021-2022 season. She was also named Offensive Player of the Year in 2021 and played in the Kansas vs Oklahoma All-Star game. On top of that, Johnson was a multi-sport athlete, playing basketball alongside soccer throughout high school and earning 6A All-State Tournament Team, All-Conference second team and Super 5 honorable mention from The Oklahoman her senior year.
“My parents helped me out, driving me from one thing to another,” Johnson said. “I would have maybe three to four practices a day doing club basketball, club soccer, school basketball and school soccer. I think it made me able to manage time a lot better now in college.”
Johnson began playing soccer at three years old, but it has been a lifelong goal of hers to play collegiate sports. Devoting a large amount of her time to various sports throughout her life from basketball to track, softball and soccer, Johnson’s toughest decision was deciding what sport she wanted to play in college.
“I think it was a really hard decision to make because I didn’t want to make the wrong decision,” Johnson said. “I didn’t know that I wanted to play college soccer until my junior year [of high school]. I didn’t know if I wanted to play basketball or soccer. Sometimes it was a struggle because I never knew what I wanted to do when it came to the recruiting process. I was a little behind because I was recruiting for both so it was hard to choose, but I knew ever since I was little that I wanted to play some sort of sport in college.”
Now that she is a student-athlete in college, Johnson’s relationship with her upperclassmen teammates has proved to be beneficial in her development as a player and for the overall chemistry of the team.
“No one’s going to be able to replace that group of seniors,” Johnson said. “I know for me, I relied on a lot of them. Jordan Walker, she was another forward with me, and when she knew I was getting in my head or made a mistake, she was always right there to back me up. Walker was a huge person for me that I grew really close with. Being able to be friends with those seniors was so helpful for a freshman because they have so much experience and you literally have no experience, so getting to hear their words and having them help you through everything makes such a huge difference. I think that’s what honestly got me through a lot of it and gave me the courage and confidence to do what I can do.”
It is safe to say, not only did Johnson decide on the right sport, but the right school as well. The decision for Johnson to come to UTSA seemed almost magnetic. The family-like atmosphere of the team drew her in and she became a Roadrunner.
“When I came on this visit I literally went home and told my parents the next day I wanted to commit here,” Johnson said. “The hardest part was leaving Oklahoma, but knowing that I had a second family here made it a lot easier to commit.”
In her free time, Johnson enjoys hanging out with her friends and family, going to church with her roommates or even winding down by binge-watching shows on Netflix like “Gilmore Girls,” “Grey’s Anatomy” or “Outer Banks.” Johnson’s goals for the upcoming seasons are to win as many conference championships as possible and to succeed in her academics as well.
