As quickly as the soccer season began, the setbacks seem to arise even quicker.  The team only has three upper classmen and their only senior, Krista Lewis, just received the news that she tore her ACL and menicus.

Of course every team struggles with its own setbacks like injuries, but not every team loses their only senior to such an extreme injury.

With Lewis being then only senior, the team will need pull together even more and create the senior leadership on the field she is incapable of providing. 

Lewis tore her ACL in high school, and when she fell to the field, she knew it had happened once again.

“I knew,” said Lewis. “As soon as I did it I could tell it was the same pain I felt when I first tore my knee.”

Despite losing their only senior, head coach Danny Krispinsky knows his team will miss her experience, but feels his team is capable of stepping up and is determined to have a momentous season.

“We are going to miss what she brings as a player,” said Krispinsky. “But the good thing is that we have some players who are ready to step in, but it is hard losing a senior leader like Krista.”

Juniors Sam Birchall and Jess Brown are the only remaining upper classmen on the starting roster, but Lewis said she knows they will rise to the occasion when it comes to leading the team to success.

“Everybody steps up in their own way,” said Lewis. “They are all very mature and they still have Jess and Sam to look up to, so I know they will be okay.”

Even though there are other athletes who can fill the leadership role Krista is no longer able to fill on the field, her teammates are going to miss the drive she brought come game time.

“She is a great leader on and off the field,” said sophomore Maddie Diestel. “It is going to be difficult not having her, but she is tough, I give her props for being the only senior, showing leadership and sticking with it.”

Lewis is the team’s only left-midfield player, so the team will begin making some role changes throughout the start of the season.

“We have people who are capable of filling in the spaces,” said Krispinsky. “We are not putting anybody in an uncomfortable position and we have depth that allows us to put people in position she [Krista] occupied.”

Two more injuries have created a little more stress among the team as well. Both athletes fighting for the goalie position have knee injuries from the past still causing them issues. 

Sophomore Courtney Barker tore her ACL last season and continues her recovery, wearing her knee brace in all practices and games.  Diestel also tore her ACL in high school, and had a minor surgery at the beginning of the summer, only to discover that those repairs did not work exactly as she had planned causing more unsolved complications.

“I started feeling pain two weeks ago when season started,” said Diestel. “We did not know what it was, something seemed to lock up and the doctors think it could have something to do with the screw in my knee from the ACL surgery.”

Barker and Diestel are the only goalkeepers for the team, and keeping them in good health is a priority to ensure the team’s success. Both athletes are currently in the lineup, although Diestel says she is playing through the pain.

“If we keep working through the injury and keep challenging each other, that will make us each better,” said Diestel. “Until we get to the point where both of us can’t play, we are going to keep working hard for the team.”

Diestel said even though they are suffering from injuries, the team has not lost their confidence because they are playing for one another.

“We are playing for everyone who is not on the field with us,” said Diestel.  “We are doing it for Krista.”

The team has had three scrimmages so far this preseason. They visited Slippery Rock on August 22nd, hosted Cedarville on the 25th and scrimmaged Seton Hill on August 29th.

“They were very good preseason games and we were able to take a lot from them and learn from each one,” said Krispinsky. “Against Slippery Rock, we made a lot of mistakes, but we encouraged the girls to make those mistakes and to learn from them. Playing Cedarville, we improved on the mistakes and had our best performance of the preseason.”

The Eagles defeated Seton Hill on Saturday 3-0, although Krispinsky said he knows they have not hit their highest potential yet.

“Against Seton Hill I did not think we had our best performance,” said Krispinsky. “ But if there is a time when you can grind out a three to nothing win without playing your best game, you know you are doing things right.”

They team plays their first season game on Friday September fourth at West Liberty College.