Sept. 9, 2010 SEATTLE - With three full, solid seasons under her belt, Husky soccer senior defender Kendyl Pele is hungry for more this year. She wants the Dawgs to be more competitive with the top ranked teams. A national championship is the goal, and nothing less will be good enough. "We want it all," says Pele. "We want a Pac-10 championship; we want an NCAA championship. We want to go all the way." In the previous two seasons, the Huskies have qualified for the NCAA tournament, and won their first round match before bowing out to host schools Texas A&M and Portland in 2008 and 2009 respectively. This year, the Huskies return a total of eight players that started at least 10 games last year, giving Pele reason to believe that this year's group could be much better. She expects the team to take a big jump, based on what she's seen in the offseason. "We're just better. I mean this last preseason--going into my fourth year--I essentially feel like we're a lot better," she said. "We're fitter, the pace of the game is faster, the touches are better, and we're clicking better. I just feel that we're a much stronger team than we were last year, the year before that, and the year before that." Since Pele arrived in 2007, she has unquestionably done her part in contributing to the team's success. She earned a starting spot in defense at the beginning of her freshman season, and never relinquished it. Pele has played and started every game in her three-plus years. Additionally, she has solidified the defense while frustrating opposing forwards. The Dawgs have given up fewer and fewer goals each year since she arrived. In 2007, Washington allowed 1.82 goals a game. That figure dropped to 1.38 for Pele's sophomore season and then again to a flat 1.00 goal average last year. Pele believes the improvement can be attributed to more of a psychological change than anything else. "We just have a different mentality," she says. "I remember coming in my freshman year. For me at least it was just don't screw up, keep my starting spot. But now it's like I want to win games, tying isn't good enough, losing isn't okay. So it's just a different mentality, and I think everyone now is on the same page in that. No matter if you're starting, if you're on the bench, we all want to win. So we're all going to do whatever we can to win." Pele knows that if the team is going to improve to the level they want, she must continue to improve as a player. During the offseason she did anything but relax. She has been working on different aspects of her game to make herself a greater, more imposing force in the back. Her primary concern was ball work. She says, "I always just try to be fit in everything, but just skills and touches and things like that I try to keep up on. So that's what I focus on in the offseason." If all goes according to plan, Pele will anchor a stout back four. She's been the Huskies Defensive MVP three years in a row (and was Rookie of the Year as a freshman). However, awards are at the back of her mind. She is only worried about the things she and her teammates can control. "For me, just as a defender I want to keep the shot count low against us. I want to have low goals; goals are inevitable in soccer but for me I try to go into games with the mentality that if they're going to score, they're going to have to work on it. I don't want to give up any easy goals. So if that's a statistic that's what I really want to achieve." Pele was a soccer player from a very early age. Unlike many kids, Pele didn't divert from fulfilling her earliest dreams. Soccer has always been an important part of her life, and she acknowledges how much the sport means to her. "When I was little my older brother started playing soccer and so that's how I kind of got into it. I did some track in high school but it was mostly just to stay in shape for soccer, so it has always been pretty much everything for me." The decision to take her talents to Montlake was a very natural one. With her father graduating from the UW, she has been a Husky fan her entire life. "I'm from eastern Washington so obviously all of my friends go to Washington State. For some reason I always loved Seattle, I love the city. When I visited here I loved the campus, and I just fell in love with the team and the coaches, with everything. So, it was definitely my number one pick." Entering her fourth and final season, Pele has begun to think about the future somewhat. She is majoring in Political Science, and hopes to incorporate soccer into that after college. Pele can't envision a life without soccer being in it one way or another. "I want to keep playing soccer. If I could use a 5th year of eligibility I would so as long as I stay healthy and have a good year. I don't really know. I just know that I want soccer to keep being a part of my life and I don't want this ride to end yet." She also has coaching aspirations, a profession she has thought about and "dreamed of." But for now, her mind is centered on their senior season, which she hopes to make the best possible. "A Pac-10 championship, the NCAA championship. That," she says "would be amazing."
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