Media Credit: Dan Sem Senior Heather Murray jockeys for the ball during Saturday’s game. The ‘Dogs hope to keep a healthy roster this year because injuries have decimated their roster in recent seasons.

One of the major fears of almost any athlete is suffering an injury, especially one that prematurely ends the athlete's season.

While such injuries can occur relatively often, the women's soccer team seems to be getting more than its share of season-ending injuries.  Over the past several years, senior defender Jennifer Buscher, senior midfielder/defender Molly Adams and sophomore forward/midfielder Stephanie Cepicky have all suffered serious knee injuries. Buscher suffered injuries to both knees in separate incidents.

"It's just a random thing," head coach Mike Cannon said.  "I think I only had maybe one through my first four or five seasons.  It's hard to say why we've had more the last couple years than we did before.  Probably just luck of the draw, or not luck of the draw, I guess."

Cannon said seeing a player get hurt always brings a terrible feeling.  He also said that while he realizes a player's injury may hurt the team, he feels worse for the player.

"You feel bad for the kid," Cannon said.  "All the work they've put in, and you know it's going to take probably a good six to nine months until they're over the whole process."

Buscher was the first of the group to get injured, tearing her left ACL, one of the most important ligaments in the knee, during the last game of the 1999 season.  After spending the offseason getting the knee healthy through rehabilitation, Buscher suffered another injury.  In the first game of the 2000 season, Buscher injured her right knee and was forced to sit out the rest of the season.

Buscher said hurting the left knee never really bothered her because of the timing of the injury.

"I wasn't too upset because I knew I had the whole offseason [to get healthy]," Buscher said.

Cannon said the circumstances surrounding each injury were different. The second injury occurred on a fluke play.

"One was on a tackle, where the other one she was just going to step and just did something odd," Cannon said.

Adams, who sustained her injury before the 2001 season, also was injured on a play that seemed harmless, Cannon said.

"Hers was the same thing [as Buscher's], kind of like the stepping," Cannon said.  "We were playing on a turf surface and she just stepped wrong."

Cepicky was the latest player on the women's roster to have a knee injury, suffering a torn ACL during a September game last season.  Her injury also was somewhat of a fluke, as she was injured after stepping on the ball and having her foot slide on top of the ball.

Cepicky said her first reaction to the injury was almost pure shock.

"My first thoughts were that it was pretty much unreal," Cepicky said.  "I never thought it would happen to me."

Cepicky and Buscher both said one of the toughest things about having such a major injury was the amount of rehab time involved.  Cepicky said that while she suffered the injury in September 2001, she was not cleared to play again until this May.  Buscher said that after her first injury, she had surgery in December 1999 before going through rehabilitation during the following spring with the team's trainer.  Buscher also said that she did not play at all during the following summer on the advice of her doctors.

In addition to the amount of recovery time, another major obstacle for players who are injured is returning to the level of play they were at before the injury.

"It's an adjustment, definitely," Cannon said.  "They might be healthy to play, but it's going to be a little bit longer before they don't think about it and they're kind of back to normal."

Cannon said a major factor in the amount of time it takes a player to return to full strength depends on the timing of the injury.  Cannon noted that while Buscher and Adams had lengthy periods of time between their injuries and their return to game action, Cepicky has had a much shorter time to recover.

"[Buscher] missed an entire season so when she started up she was pretty much ready to go," Cannon said. In regards to Cepicky, Cannon said, "She's playing well, but you can tell she's not quite completely comfortable or 100 percent."

Cepicky agreed that the injury still affects her on the field.

"It's still in the back of my mind a little bit," Cepicky said.  "It's just taken a little while to get back in the flow of things."

Cannon said that he has no doubts that Cepicky will return eventually to her pre-injury form.

"Every day you can tell she's getting more comfortable," Cannon said.

Although freshman defender Jamie Sharp suffered a minor knee injury during this year's preseason, the 2002 team has managed to stay relatively healthy, which is just fine with Cannon.

"This year we've been lucky so far, so I better knock on wood," Cannon said.

Article Tools