COEUR d’ALENE — Although Lake City senior forward Havana Johnson hasn’t finished her high school girls soccer playing career just yet, she’s already among the Timberwolves’ all-time greats.

Johnson has scored 86 goals and has 16 assists in the 17-year-old’s four-year career, going into Thursday’s 5A state tournament at 9 a.m. at Lake City High, against District 5-6 runner-up Highland of Pocatello. Those numbers are behind Timberwolves star and 2002 graduate Kaitlin Mitchell’s career goals. Last season as a junior, she scored 32 goals, which put her second all-time for goals in a season, behind Mitchell’s 44. Johnson has scored 22 goals so far this season.

“It’s been a crazy and exciting time,” Johnson said. “One of the players got hurt, so I got to play more. My junior and senior seasons are my best seasons.”

All of the redhead’s hard work earned the 5-foot-6 striker a majority of a scholarship that’ll pay for her tuition for all four years with McNeese State University. It’s a Division I school located in Lake Charles, in the southwest part of Lousiana, 37 miles from the Texas-Louisiana border. It’s nearly halfway between Houston and Baton Rouge, La. Plus it’s 2,200 miles away from Lake City, or a seven-hour plane ride from Spokane International Airport.

In February, some coaches at McNeese State saw Johnson play at a showcase in Houston, as she played for FC Nova, a traveling club team in Boise. She has flown back and forth to play and the club has played in Portland, Seattle, California, Colorado and even New York and New Jersey, among other places. She was among the top scorers on her club team as well. Johnson played her youth ball — she’s been playing since she was 3 — for the Sting Soccer Club in Coeur d’Alene.

JOHNSON ATTENDED a camp at McNeese State in July and verbally committed to play for the Cowgirls on July 9. Eastern Washington and the University of Montana also expressed interest in her. She was born and raised in Coeur d’Alene and has no family ties or otherwise to Louisiana.

“They contacted me after they saw me play and I visited them on September 23rd to the 25th,” Johnson said of McNeese State. “I saw two games. It was exciting, I’m part of the first recruiting class of their new coach (Drew Fitzgerald). This is his first season, next year will be his second. I love that it was warm and their soccer field is on campus, plus the dorms are right there. I wanted to try something new, I wanted to get out of North Idaho.”

McNeese State is 7-8, 3-5 in the Southland Conference.

Lake City coach Matt Ruchti said Johnson is among the top five scorers in the entire 5A division in Idaho. He said she sets a great example to the younger players and has a great mental approach to the game.

“I have no doubt she’ll go to the next level and play well,” Ruchti said. “Her drive will carry her a long way. I think her skillset is high, it depends on the system. She can be a great outside forward, she can play all over the field. She works hard every day, and that’s a testament to her work ethic. Her ceiling is never set; young players want to follow in her footsteps. We’ll desperately miss her.”

JOHNSON IS also 10th in her senior class, sporting a 4.1 grade-point average. She wants to major in pre-med, with an emphasis in biology, after taking an Advanced Placement biology course.

“I’m doing my senior paper on it,” Johnson said. “The next few months, I’ll probably go from hospital to hospital, observing what they do. I like science. I want to try to become a doctor, probably a surgeon.”

Johnson’s father, Eric Johnson, has been a patrol officer during the past several years for the Coeur d’Alene Police Department. Her mother is Heather Wichman, who’s a manager working for Pioneer Title Co. She has an older sister, Kylie Johnson, who’s a 22-year-old graduate student at the University of Idaho, and a 15-year-old younger brother, Cameron, who’s on the Lake City boys golf team. Kylie was on the T-Wolves’ girls golf team back in 2010.

THE TIMBERWOLVES’ record in Johnson’s four years on the team is 51-14-8. Last season in the state final, Lake City lost on penalty kicks to Centennial, which won its second straight state title. Johnson played with a talent-laden team that included Camryn Wendlandt, who’s now playing for San Diego State.

“Everyone thought we weren’t going to do that well,” Johnson said of the tournament, where they beat Rocky Mountain, 4-3, then beat Mountain View in the semifinals, 2-1. “It was a tough loss last year. Hopefully, we can redeem ourselves. We were a complete team. It’s a sport that without your teammates, you can’t do much.”

Johnson likes playing high school soccer, of course, when she plays against her friends at Coeur d’Alene and in state play, against some of her club teammates.

“It’s a little less stressful and more fun playing high school,” Johnson said. “You play and your friends come out to support you. In club, I played against some of my future college teammates.”