While Virginia coach Steve Swanson says he cannot recall an injury-free season during his career, this season the womens' soccer team seems particularly plagued by them.
Soccer, which never fails to pit players against one another in midair head-to-head combat, has a reputation for producing season-ending injuries. On the field, between the slide-tackles, the collisions and the entwining of feet, legs are broken and ligaments are torn.
"It is just the nature of our sport," Swanson said. "Especially at this level, you are always going to have injuries. The longer you're in the game, the more you realize that you just have to deal with them."
This season, the team lost three field players before preseason even began. Two of Virginia's incoming freshman, Megan Ashforth and Kristin Bowers, were forced to medically red-shirt the season because of injuries; Ashforth tore her ACL and Bowers broke not only her tibia but also her fibula bone.
"We have had to do things quite differently because of our small numbers," Swanson said. "Our available field players went down quite a bit. But you just have to adjust and be smart about training so as to prevent further injury."
While their absences certainly altered the team's depth, overall the loss of Ashforth and Bowers was easier on the team than the loss of senior Shannon Foley, a well-established midfielder. Before preseason, a hurt knee landed her on the injured list and ultimately forced her to sit the season out. In the short run, her absence is quite taxing on the team. In the long run, however, next fall she will be able to return to Virginia for a healthy fifth year of soccer.
Indeed, Foley is in the exact position senior forward Kristen Weiss found herself in a year ago. Injured in the 2005 season opener, Weiss red-shirted her true senior year and worked diligently to rehabilitate her knee.
"I think everyone questioned a little whether she would be back out on the field this season," Swanson said. "But Kristen [Weiss] never wavered from what she wanted to do and I think she is doing a marvelous job of giving us minutes and helping us out and giving us that spark."
Besides this being her final year of eligibility, the fact that a torn ACL forced her to miss half of her freshman season and all of her sophomore season makes Weiss appreciate each minute on the field.
"I worked hard this summer to get fit and I am so happy to be healthy again," Weiss said. "Every day I just want to get out there."
Swanson gives much of the credit for recoveries like Weiss' to the team's trainer, William Parente.
"Parente does a tremendous job with our players and our program," Swanson said. "I rely on them and the nice thing about Bill [Parente] is he's a physical therapist. He can develop specific programs to help kids come back from serious injury."
For Swanson, the key is to have recovered players re-enter the game without taking unnecessary risks or exposing themselves to further injury. His main concern is first and foremost the long-term consequences of putting a girl back out on the field before she is physically ready. In that regard, communication among Swanson, Parente and the player is key.
"You don't want to get them back too early," Swanson said. "We have had to hold back kids who maybe thought they were ready because I feel it is always better to be cautious. It's my responsibility as the coach."
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