Ben Millar McKendry (born March 25, 1993) is a Canadian professional

soccer Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 players who primarily use their feet to propel the ball around a rectangular field called a pitch. The objective of the game is ...

player who plays as a

midfielder A midfielder is an outfield position in association football. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in that case known as defensive midfielders. As central midfielders often go across boundarie ...

Club career

Early career

McKendry played club soccer for the Vancouver Selects and was also a member of the

Vancouver Whitecaps FC Residency Whitecaps FC Academy is a Canadian soccer team, the academy of professional team Vancouver Whitecaps FC Vancouver Whitecaps Football Club is a Canadian professional soccer team based in Vancouver. They compete in Major League Soccer (MLS) as ...

program before spending his college career at the

University of New Mexico The University of New Mexico (UNM; es, Universidad de Nuevo México) is a public research university in Albuquerque, New Mexico. Founded in 1889, it is the state's flagship academic institution and the largest by enrollment, with over 25,400 ...

. He made a total of 60 appearances for the Lobos and tallied 14 goals and five assists. In 2014, the Lobos went to the College Cup ("Final 4") after McKendry scored the winner against the University of Washington in the "Elite 8". He also played in the

Premier Development League USL League Two (USL2), formerly the Premier Development League (PDL), is a semi-professional developmental association football, soccer league sponsored by United Soccer Leagues in the United States and Canada, forming part of the United Stat ...

for

Vancouver Whitecaps FC U-23 Vancouver Whitecaps FC U-23, formerly known as Whitecaps FC Reserves, was a Canadian soccer team based in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. Although founded in 2005 as part of the development system for the Vancouver Whitecaps USL First Divisi ...

Vancouver Whitecaps FC

On January 26, 2015, McKendry signed a homegrown contract with

Vancouver Whitecaps FC Vancouver Whitecaps Football Club is a Canadian professional soccer team based in Vancouver. They compete in Major League Soccer (MLS) as a member club of the league's Western Conference. The MLS iteration of the club was established on Marc ...

. On March 29, he made his professional debut for

USL The USL Championship (USLC) is a professional men's soccer league in the United States that began its inaugural season in 2011. The USL is sanctioned by the United States Soccer Federation (U.S. Soccer) as a Division II league since 2017, p ...

affiliate club

Whitecaps FC 2 Whitecaps FC 2 is a professional soccer team based in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada that serves as the reserve team of the Vancouver Whitecaps FC of Major League Soccer. History Prior to the MLS Next Pro iteration the team played its h ...

in a 4–0 defeat to

Seattle Sounders FC 2 Tacoma Defiance, formerly Seattle Sounders FC 2, is an American professional soccer team based in Tacoma, Washington, U.S. that competes in the MLS Next Pro, the third tier of the national soccer pyramid, as the reserve team of Seattle Soun ...

. McKendry made his Whitecaps first team debut on June 1, 2016, during the

2016 Canadian Championship The 2016 Canadian Championship (officially the Amway Canadian Championship for sponsorship reasons) was a soccer tournament hosted and organized by the Canadian Soccer Association. It was the ninth edition of the annual Canadian Championship, an ...

. He got his first start in the MLS on March 11, 2017, in 3–2 loss to the

San Jose Earthquakes The San Jose Earthquakes are an American professional soccer team based in San Jose, California. The Earthquakes compete as a member club of the Western Conference of Major League Soccer (MLS). Originally as the San Jose Clash, the franchise ...

. On July 26, 2017, he was loaned to

FC Edmonton FC Edmonton was a Canadian professional soccer club based in Edmonton, Alberta. The club was founded in 2010 and competed in the North American Soccer League (NASL) from 2011 to 2017. The club went on hiatus when NASL ceased competitive operat ...

for the remainder of 2017. At the end of the 2017 season, the Whitecaps announced they would not pick up McKendry's contract, ending his time with the club.

Turun Palloseura (TPS)

On March 19, 2018, McKendry signed with newly promoted Finnish Premier Division (Veikkausliiga) side TPS. McKendry would make 29 appearances for TPS in the 2018 season.

Nyköpings BIS

After TPS was relegated to the

Ykkönen ''Ykkönen'' (Finnish for 'Number One'; sv, Ettan) is the second highest level of the Finnish football league system (after the Veikkausliiga), although it is the highest league managed by the Football Association of Finland. The teams also play ...

, McKendry would sign with

Nyköpings BIS Nyköpings BIS is a Swedish football club located in Nyköping. The club started out as a merger in 1966 between Nyköpings SK and Nyköpings AIK. Since their foundation Nyköpings BIS has participated mainly in the middle divisions of the Swedis ...

Division 1 Norra Ettan Fotboll, or simply Ettan ( en, the one), which also is its common name in everyday speech, is the third level in the Swedish football league system and consists of 32 Swedish Swedish or ' may refer to: Anything from or related to Sweden ...

for the 2019 season.

Atlético Ottawa

On August 10, 2020, McKendry signed with

Canadian Premier League The Canadian Premier League (CPL or CanPL; french: Première ligue canadienne, links=no) is a professional men's Association football, soccer league in Canada. At the top of the Canadian soccer league system, it is the country's primary nationa ...

side

Atlético Ottawa Atlético Ottawa is a Canadian professional Association football, soccer club based in Ottawa, Ontario. The club competes in the Canadian Premier League and plays its home games at TD Place Stadium, TD Place. The team was founded in 2020 by Spa ...

making his debut in the club's inaugural match on August 15 against York9 and later re-signed with them for the 2021 season. He scored his first goal for Ottawa on October 13, 2021, netting the third goal in a 4–3 victory over

. In January 2022 Ottawa announced that McKendry had signed a one-year contract extension.

International career

McKendry was born in Canada, but holds dual-citizenship with New Zealand. McKendry was a member of the Canadian under-20 squad that competed in the 2013 CONCACAF U-20 Championship. In May 2016, McKendry was called to Canada's U23 national team for a pair of friendlies against

Guyana Guyana ( or ), officially the Cooperative Republic of Guyana, is a country on the northern mainland of South America. Guyana is an indigenous word which means "Land of Many Waters". The capital city is Georgetown. Guyana is bordered by the ...

and

Grenada Grenada ( ; Grenadian Creole French: ) is an island country in the West Indies in the Caribbean Sea at the southern end of the Grenadines island chain. Grenada consists of the island of Grenada itself, two smaller islands, Carriacou and Pe ...

. He scored in the match against Grenada. McKendry made his Canada Men's National Team debut in a friendly against Bermuda in January 2017.

Honours

Atlético Ottawa

**Regular Season:

2022 File:2022 collage V1.png, Clockwise, from top left: Road junction at Yamato-Saidaiji Station several hours after the assassination of Shinzo Abe; 2022 Sri Lankan protests, Anti-government protest in Sri Lanka in front of the Presidential Secretari ...

Career statistics

References

External links

*
New Mexico Lobos bio
* * {{DEFAULTSORT:McKendry, Ben 1993 births Living people Canadian people of New Zealand descent Canadian men's soccer players Canada men's international soccer players Canada men's youth international soccer players Canadian expatriate men's soccer players New Mexico Lobos men's soccer players Vancouver Whitecaps FC U-23 players Vancouver Whitecaps FC players Whitecaps FC 2 players FC Edmonton players Nyköpings BIS players Atlético Ottawa players Men's association football midfielders Soccer players from Vancouver Expatriate men's soccer players in the United States Expatriate men's footballers in Finland Expatriate men's footballers in Sweden USL League Two players USL Championship players Major League Soccer players Veikkausliiga players Ettan Fotboll players North American Soccer League (2011–2017) players Canadian Premier League players Homegrown Players (MLS) Canadian expatriate sportspeople in the United States Canadian expatriate sportspeople in Finland Canadian expatriate sportspeople in Sweden