A few years ago, I calculated the odds of a Tucson high school team becoming an undefeated state champion. It was 0.6%.
But what would the odds be of a Tucson team winning back-to-back state championships with twin 26-0 records? Something close to 0.1%, right?
Thatβs what Catalina Foothills girls soccer coach Charlie Kendrick did in 2006 and 2007. The Falcons were so good they built a 72-0-1 streak. Two years later, Kendrick coached Foothills to another undefeated state championship.
Kendrick, who graduated from Palo Verde High School, went on to play for the UA club soccer team for five years before entering the workforce. His first job: an at-risk school counselor in Eloy.
Before Kendrick found his true calling as a soccer coach, he worked in marketing for the Santa Cruz Pecan Co., and as an Orange Grove Middle School teacher.
After Christie Monroe coached the Falcons to the 2003 state championship, she moved to the East Coast to pursue other ventures. The Foothills administration didnβt take long to promote Kendrick to the job; he had been an assistant coach on the schoolβs boys soccer team and had been an assistant coach for the Pima College womenβs team. He was also heavily involved in the Tucson Soccer Academy, now FC Tucson Youth.
It was the definition of βhome run hire.β
In 11 seasons at Catalina Foothills, Kendrick went 246-18-5, which is a 93% winning ratio. He left his post in 2014 with seven state championships and a legacy that will stand for decades.
What makes Kendrickβs undefeated 2007 team stand out is that the day before the state championship game against Cienega High School, he suspended six players for breaking team rules. Four were starters.
Beyond that, starters Alex Baker and Elly Havel were injured in the Class 4A-I championship game, spending considerable time on the bench. Yet Foothills won 1-0 when reserves like Nooria Sufi, Tamra Jones and Kristin Bratton came off the bench with winning performances.
βThis is my proudest moment as a coach,β said Kendrick. βEverybody was gunning for us, so you know it didnβt happen by luck.β
A goal by Sara Walker in the 68th minute was the game-winner.
Sara Walkerβs 68th-minute goal was the only score in Catalina Foothillsβ 1-0 state championship win over Cienega in 2007.
The β07 Falcons didnβt lack talent. Lee Ann Felder had been the Starβs 2006 Southern Arizona Player of the Year, and standout players such as Samantha Monahan, Stephanie McCurry and Alex Balcer were all-city selections. Gabby DβArrigo and Kacy Lebby were strong contributors. Over a three-year period, the Falcons went 76-1-1 and won three state championships.
Kendrickβs teams didnβt lose from Nov. 29, 2004 to Dec. 4, 2007.
Before he stepped away from high school coaching to return to the FC Tucson Youth program, coaching much younger players, Kendrick led Foothills to state championships in 2011, 2012 and 2013. At the time, it was the most state championships (seven) by any Tucson prep soccer coach, boys or girls. It has since been topped by Salpointe Catholicβs boys coach, Wolfgang Weber, who has nine.
Charlie Kendrick, pictured in 2012, won seven state championships before leaving Catalina Foothills in 2014.
Ironically, Kendrick hoped to play for Weber at Salpointe in the early 1990s, but Salpointe didnβt have an orchestra. Kendrick, a cello player, enrolled at Palo Verde, which did.
He made the move pay off. Palo Verde reached the 1991 state championship game before losing to Glendale Cactus High School; the Titans finished 16-3-1. Kendrick became an all-city player at Palo Verde in 1991 and 1992, scoring 33 total goals.
Since Kendrick left Foothills, the Falcons havenβt won another girls state championship.
