DATE: Tuesday, October 28, 1997             TAG: 9710280424
SECTION: SPORTS                  PAGE: C8   EDITION: FINAL 

TYPE: Athlete of the Week 

SOURCE: BY LEE TOLLIVER, STAFF WRITER

DATELINE: VIRGINIA BEACH                    LENGTH:   42 lines

JOHNSON: PLAYING FOR TITLES A NICE HABIT

If it's the end of a regular season, Katie Johnson of Kempsville must be thinking state championships.

And that's not an unreasonable frame of mind for Johnson, a junior who has played in three state title games in the past year - one in field hockey, one in club soccer and one in high school soccer. Her Chiefs won it all in field hockey.

This week is huge if Johnson wants to remain on top in either sport.

The Kempsville field hockey team got itself in an early bind and must now advance through the Beach District tournament if it wants a shot at repeating. And Johnson's Beach FC Riptides club soccer team goes after the U-18 girls State Cup title on Saturday.

Keeping track of what's important in each will be difficult.

``It's going to be tough to concentrate on field hockey this week, because I'm just really excited about the soccer game Saturday,'' said Johnson, a forward in each sport. ``We practice field hockey and then I go to soccer practice.

``Soccer is the most important sport for me, but field hockey is fun and we want to keep our championship.''

A couple of weeks ago, that didn't seem possible. The Chiefs were 2-3 in district play heading into a rematch with unbeaten Cox - the team Kempsville beat in last year's state championship.

But that's when Johnson and her teammates put on their rally caps.

``We realized we were in trouble and that we had to step up if we wanted to win state again,'' said Johnson, who scored the game-winner against the Falcons and added five more goals in the remaining three games as Kempsville closed district play with four straight wins. ``And we want to redeem ourselves for a few of those early losses.''

It sounds like she has the right frame of mind. ILLUSTRATION: Photo

Kempsville's Katie Johnson has a field hockey playoff game and a

U-18 soccer title match on her mind this week.

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