On the Comeback Trail
September 02, 2010 09:44 AM | General
September 2, 2010
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| Dan Hagey |
MORGANTOWN, W.Va. - Any athlete who has had a season shortened by injury knows how devastating it can be, both physically and emotionally.
For the West Virginia University men’s soccer team, injuries have constantly riddled the program since coach Marlon LeBlanc’s arrival in 2006.
“The last few years we had injuries, to the point to where it affected the team and it affected the season,” LeBlanc said. “Knock on wood so far in 2010, we’ve had a healthy squad. When you have a healthy squad you can do more preparation, get more things accomplished and we can build a team that way.”
For senior Dan Hagey and redshirt sophomore Connor Gorman, multiple injuries and surgeries have cost them more than a season during their time in Morgantown.
Hagey is returning to the lineup this season with a healthy lower body for the first time since he played in 20 of the 22 games as a freshman.
“It’s relieving. I haven’t been healthy lower-body wise for two years,” Hagey stated. “It’s nice to know I can finally go 100 percent all season.”
An Ephrata, Pa., native, Hagey played in two games to start the 2008 season before suffering a bout of mononucleosis that forced him to miss the following four games. Just as Hagey was beginning to feel healthy, he was knocked out of the 2008 regular-season finale against Marquette with a sprained MCL after scoring the only goal of his career in the first half.
“Dan Hagey has unfortunately missed about 15 or 20 games and it has been very difficult for him and for us as a team,” LeBlanc commented. “Dan is back and healthy and he is really committed to making sure he has a great senior year.”
Hagey missed the 2008 postseason and worked to rehab for 2009. His body had other plans, however, as Hagey was tackled in an exhibition match against Michigan.
“All spring I was 100 percent, full go, and then five minutes in, it happened again,” Hagey said. “It’s not fun to have to go through the same thing again.”
Hagey once again suffered an MCL sprain and missed the first eight games of the year. He was able to come back and play the final 10 games with a brace.
“It’s hard because you’re always thinking about it and with the brace, people spot it as a weakness and try to exploit it and will go even harder at you,” Hagey explained. “It was a battle to go through it mentally and physically.”
Hagey knew he could not complain too much because his teammate and fellow Pennsylvania, Gorman, missed his first two seasons with two torn ACLs. Hagey was able to look for advice from Gorman during the grueling rehabilitation process.
“You had to keep your head up because he couldn’t play. I still had a chance to play during the season and he kept my spirits up,” Hagey said. “It was like if he was happy, then I had to be. He kept encouraging me during treatment.”
Gorman has yet to step on the field in a regular season game after earning Pennsylvania all-state honors at William Penn Charter. The Philadelphia, Pa., native tore his ACL in the first week of preseason his freshman year when he was a projected starter on the Mountaineer backline.
“It was tough some days. Some days you wake up and say, ‘I don’t want to do rehab again’,” Gorman commented. “There are other days you come in with a positive attitude and you want to get better. For the most part, I was surrounded by people who wanted me to get back on the field.”
Gorman was all set to make a successful comeback and then right before the start of the 2009 preseason, he was at the beach when one of those ‘freak injuries’ occurred.
“I was playing in the ocean with my friends and miss-stepped and caught a wave a weird way,” Gorman said. “My knee just gave out. It’s an unexpected turn of events.”
Immediately, Gorman went through the ‘why me?’ mindset and quickly looked for someone to blame.
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| Connor Gorman |
“I was mad at someone out there for a little bit. I got over it pretty fast,” Gorman said. “You can’t dwell on the past, you have to move forward. I looked at other people it happened to such as Kevin Tangney, who played for Maryland and is in the MLS right now. He had two ACL tears.”
After making the decision to stick with soccer and go through another grueling rehabilitation, Gorman used his teammates, coaches and parents as support on his comeback trail that led all the way to Aug. 25. That day he entered the last preseason game of this season and played in a 3-0 win over Robert Morris. He even registered a shot.
“I was pretty nervous. I waited so long to play and took one shot,” Gorman stated. “I just wanted to let one fly and it felt really good.”
Now as players of the same position, Hagey and Gorman both hope that they can stay on the field instead of the training room.
The first test will come Friday when the team hosts ninth-ranked Monmouth at Dick Dlesk Stadium at 7 p.m. in a big home opener for a Mountaineer program looking to bounce back after a couple of sub-par campaigns.
“Anytime you get a big crowd, it adds fuel to the intimidation factor,” Hagey said. “My freshman year we went into Maryland, who had about 6,000 people that were heckling me the entire time and it is intimidating.”
Hagey is hoping for a similar atmosphere on Friday night against Monmouth.
