Kim Sacher left for a snowboarding trip in the spring of her sophomore year in 2007 just like any previous trip she had been on. The co-captain of the women's soccer team surely expected a trip of fun and relaxation while enjoying one of her favorite hobbies: snowboarding. Sacher returned, however, with a partially torn ACL in her left knee that required surgery, months of rehab and forced Sacher to redshirt her junior season.

Now a senior, Sacher said that during the trip she tried skiing for the first time. That decision was the beginning of a serious injury and a long rehabilitation journey back to the field for the Flyer midfielder.

Sacher said the tear happened during her third run down a hill when she tried to turn.

"I thought I was really good but I hadn't exactly learned how to stop yet," Sacher said. "I was going really fast and I tried to go to the side and my knee buckled, my skis kept going, and I fell."

OTHERS IN PAIN

Sacher is not the only member of the women's soccer team to be afflicted by the debilitating injury recently. In the last two years the Flyers have lost senior midfielder Amanda Gallow, redshirt sophomore midfielder Cara Cornacchia and senior goalkeeper Deana Waintraub to ACL or other knee injuries. All three are healthy for this season; however, the Flyers have taken another hit as redshirt sophomore defender Lauren Maybury is out with an ACL tear.



INSIDE THE INJURY

This might seem ridiculous to the outside observer but head coach Mike Tucker said that ACL injuries are commonplace in women's soccer.

"We do a lot of work in the weight room that's meant to strengthen the areas around joints but in some cases [injuries] happen regardless," Tucker said. "There's been a lot of research done on hip angles and all that for women. For younger women there are probably four or five [ACL injuries] to every one that men have."

Tucker said that he has seen "too many" ACL injuries in his career.

"It's devastating whenever it happens," Tucker said. "You almost count on one every year. It's hard because you know when it happens that you can't count on that player for a minimum of six months and in some cases a year."

The injuries are hard for Tucker because of the adjustments they bring.

"You go into seasons and you plan for certain players but if they go out with an ACL or something similar then you have to try and revamp everything that you have done to that point," Tucker said.

Lisa Schulte, a graduate assistant with the sports medicine department, works with the women's soccer team, and knows how limiting an injury to the ACL can be to a player.

"The ACL prevents the knee from moving anteriorally and from shifting," Schulte said. "It has a lot to do with stability when you are cutting, running, and backpedalling."

Schulte added that the rehab is difficult for many reasons.

"During the surgery you lose a lot of muscle and range of motion. You also come out with a lot of swelling," Schulte said. "First you focus on getting back the range of motion and then strengthening and re-building muscle. Finally, you move on to functional activity so that the athlete can return to play-agility, running, jumping, that sort of thing."



SACHER'S RECOVERY

Sacher's rehab was no walk in the park. When the injury occurred she first thought that it was a bone bruise, so she took it easy for a couple weeks thinking her knee would heal.

"After a month, it still wasn't better so we took an MRI and it was partially torn," Sacher said. "That's why I had surgery in the summer rather than immediately because we didn't know it was torn."

Sacher said she went to rehab twice a week over that summer. When she came back for the season it was every day.

"When the girls were practicing, I was doing exercises or going in the training room trying to strengthen it," Sacher said.

With an ACL surgery, the recovery can take a long time and also can be very painful.

"It was really painful. In the first couple weeks after the surgery, you can't bend your knee," Sacher said. "Being able to bend it 90 degrees was a really good day for me. It's continually painful because you're rebuilding muscle but after a couple months it definitely gets better. The first two or three months were the worst."

Sitting out was also difficult for Sacher but she admitted that she is now better for it.

"I wasn't used to watching the games from the sideline," Sacher said. "It helped me grow as a player but I didn't feel like I was a part of the team since I didn't get to practice. It was a learning process."

Sacher has now fully recovered from her injury and with Sacher back and a healthy roster, the Flyers are well on their way to their goal of reaching the NCAA Tournament.