Canadian Alistair Johnston looks to take next soccer step in MLS SuperDraft

Alistair Johnston enters the MLS SuperDraft with a highlight reel to remember.

The 21-year-old from Aurora, Ont., who switched to right back from central midfield at Wake Forest in 2019, scored three glorious goals last season.

There was the header against Dartmouth and an acrobatic half-volley against High Point. But the best came against UC Santa Barbara in the NCAA tournament quarter-final when Johnston, taking the ball near the sideline, dribbled through six defenders  — nutmegging two of them — before poking the ball home.

“He went on a bully-goat run,” Wake Forest coach Bobby Muuss said with a chuckle. “When Ali puts his head down, he’s just as fast with the ball as he is without it.”

The goal came in Johnston’s last game at Spry Stadium, home to Wake Forest soccer.

“That’ll probably go down as arguably my favourite collegiate moment,” said Johnston. “I’ll definitely remember that for a long time. It was a pretty cool way to go out.”

Johnston is taking a Zen-like approach to his next soccer step.

“Even if a team says they love you, if you’re not available to them when they’re picking then it doesn’t really matter … So I’m kind of just taking it in stride. Whatever happens happens. I’m going to be excited wherever I end up going.”

As for position, he says he will play where needed.

Born in Vancouver, Johnston was four when the family moved to Montreal and seven when it settled in Aurora. He was 16 when he made his debut in the Canadian youth program at an under-18 camp in 2015.

Away from the soccer field, he likes to draw — inspired by his late grandmother.

The five-foot-11, 170-pounder spent his first two years of college at St. John’s, where he started all 36 games as a freshman and sophomore with 10 goals and four assists.

He came in off the bench 21 times in his first year at Wake Forest but was a regular starter and captain in 2019.

Muuss (pronounced Muce) says he brought him on board even though he didn’t need a central midfielder at the time. He said he told his staff he wanted the Canadian “because he’s going to add something to our team.”

Muuss did not regret the move.

“He’s a student of the game, he’s a soccer junkie,” he said. “He’s a guy that any coach would love to have in the locker room in terms of what he brings to your team in personality, work rate, professionalism, ambition … What he did really for the long-term culture of this group is something I’ll be indebted to him for life.”

Johnston also played club soccer in the Toronto area at Vaughan SC. Patrice Gheisar, Vaughan SC’s technical director of high performance, has known Johnston since he was eight.

“He’s very mature. He was a man at 16 years old in the way he communicated and talked,” said Gheisar.

Gheisar believes Johnston’s ability to play multiple positions has been both a curse and a blessing.

“The problem with Alistair is he is so good at so many things, you kind of take advantage of him … He’s made the best of everything, as he usually does.”

Johnston said he switched to Wake Forest because he wanted a bigger challenge both in soccer and academically.

“I knew it was going to be a place I was going to go and at the very least I was going to progress as a human being and a soccer player just from the training and being in the classroom,” he said.

Johnston, who graduated in December, was one of 30 finalists for the Senior Class Award in men’s soccer, along with fellow Canadian Dayonn Harris. The award honours Division I seniors in four areas: community, classroom, character and competition.

The 22-year-old Harris, a UConn forward from Milton, Ont., also available in the draft, took part in the MLS College Showcase last month in Raleigh, N.C. Harris, who also played club soccer at Vaughan, switched to UConn after two seasons at Penn State.

“Extremely pacey,” said Gheisar. “Next-level like a pro-level pace.”

Injuries slowed Harris’ start at UConn but he finished with two goals and nine assists as a senior in a rebuilding year for the Huskies.

“Dayonn’s very special in his one-vs-one attacking,” Gheisar said. “Extremely special. He’s not only fast but he’s got the technical ability to break teams down as well.”

Harris says his favourite position is right wing but can also play the left. Both positions allow him to using his crossing abilities.

“But I also like to take guys on as well,” he added.

Ryan Raposo, a 20-year-old from Hamilton who signed a Generation Adidas contract with the league, is the other Canadian expected to draw attention at the draft. A winger who switched to No. 10 at Syracuse last season, Raposo played with Johnston and Harris at Vaughan.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Jan. 8, 2020.

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Neil Davidson, The Canadian Press