It was supposed to be just another save for Allison O’Brien in an intrasquad scrimmage.
One year ago, O’Brien, then a sophomore goalkeeper, was positioned in front of the net as the Ducks practiced for a match against Stanford, which would be played one week later and without her.
That afternoon on Papé Field, O’Brien was just where she wanted to be: in front of the net. Having played in 13 matches the year before, O’Brien and teammate Anna Poponyak both expected more playing time after senior keeper Louisa Dorsch’s career at Oregon ended.
Maybe it was because O’Brien was one of the few players who’d stayed in town to train after her freshman year. Or maybe it’s when she started thinking about just how far the sport she loved had taken her from her home in Colorado Springs, Colo. Whatever the reason, O’Brien said she felt so good in those moments leading up to a life-altering event.
That’s when the ball shot by a teammate changed everything. It accidentally struck O’Brien and she dropped.
Dazed and in severe pain, O’Brien remained conscious. Her first reaction was that she was choking on her mouthpiece. Teammates, coach Jen Larsen and athletic trainers bolted over when they saw something wasn’t right.
The initial pain she experienced – often referred to as a “stinger” or “burner” in football – was a jolting one, followed by a tingling sensation down her neck and into her arm and fingers.
“A pain went down my neck and my left arm went numb,” O’Brien said. “So I’m laying on the ground with Jen Larsen and a trainer trying to figure out what’s going on. I am just thinking ‘What’s wrong with me.’ I couldn’t move my upper body. I was in shock.”
O’Brien said the freak accident brought about some of the worst agony she’s ever experienced. For four days, she couldn’t even get out of bed, unable to move a left arm that would eventually be immobilized with a sling.
The rubber, yellow ball that slammed into O’Brien that February day had the final say in her perfect storm of an injury. She should know – the scrimmage was filmed.
“Just watching that shot made me sick to my stomach,” O’Brien said.
The ball had to land at just the right place and at just the right time for it to do what it did, which was a lot of damage. The areas where she was hit – the sternum and the left side of her clavicle – were temporarily unprotected by padding when O’Brien tilted her head up to secure the ball.
“I put my stick up and my hand and head followed,” she said.
The shot found a way to wreak havoc on O’Brien’s body. Her collarbone and sternum separated as a result of the exposure that occurred when O’Brien’s chest protector and throat guard pulled away from each other as she adjusted to make the save. Some of her rib heads, attached to the sternum, pulled out of place.
It took weeks to get back, but she would.
O’Brien battled through pain to play again. She said trainers initially had to sit her down at the training table and twist her torso to push rib heads back into place when O’Brien moved the wrong way along her comeback trail.
“I was 100 percent determined to come back,” O’Brien said. “I knew I could work hard and be a part of that team. I think my aspirations were so high and I wanted to play so badly that I rushed myself, which probably hurt me in the long run.”
O’Brien played a backup role to Poponyak in 11 games, allowing 37 goals on 80 shots. She said she still wishes she could have done more, though. That match against the Cardinal – the one she was preparing for – devastated her to watch from the sidelines.
“We lost to Stanford fairly badly in that game,” O’Brien said. “It was hard to travel in the sling. I couldn’t move my left arm and to go ahead and watch the team, I struggled. It would have been helpful to have someone else jump in at goal for Anna because she was just being shot on like crazy.”
Poponyak, then a redshirt freshman, took on the starting role and thrived. She began all 19 games and finished fourth in the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation in saves, making 167 and averaging 8.79 per match. Poponyak said it was tough, however, to see O’Brien’s season unfold the way it did and it was just as hard to hear about her decision not to play this year.
“I am really good friends with Allison O’Brien and I was really sad to see her go,” Poponyak said. “Last year, we just really fed off each other and were very supportive. Although we were competing for a position, it was a really good team connection.”
Poponyak said she felt bad for O’Brien, but she’s felt her share of pain as well. She sustained her second anterior cruciate ligament injury as a Duck when an opponent fell on her earlier this year. She started in the first six games of the season before she sustained the damage to her left knee early in an 11-10 overtime loss to Baltimore, Maryland County. Poponyak said she heard – and felt – a crunch.
“Right when I went down I knew immediately that something was wrong with my knee,” Poponyak said. “I couldn’t get up or anything. We didn’t find out until I got back to Oregon that I tore my ACL plus a lot of other things, but originally I didn’t think it was that bad.”
In the contest, Poponyak came out of the crease, evaded an opponent and was pushed from behind. That player then crashed down upon Poponyak’s leg. Along with the ACL tear, Poponyak damaged muscles in the back of her knee, which now cause an irritating and sharp pain when she walks.
“I definitely think it was a fluke,” Poponyak said. “But if you’re going to play a college sport you’re obviously putting yourself out there to possibly get injured. But the injuries I’ve had are not that common for goalies. Me coming out of the goal and being more active outside of the crease definitely puts me more at risk.”
When O’Brien caught wind of Poponyak’s injury, she immediately called her.
“I felt terrible for her,” O’Brien said. “As soon as they came home, I wanted to talk to her about it. I’m one of her biggest fans and want her to finish out this year successfully … I felt her pain. I know how hard she is going to fight to come back. Whether or not she finishes the rest of the year, I know that her presence is still going to be felt.”
Poponyak, who said she wants to play in at least a few of the three remaining conference matches, also tore her right ACL during her second week in Oregon as a freshman. Poponyak, who is listed as day to day, told herself she wouldn’t play again if she hurt another knee. But now that it’s happened, she’s not ready to give it up.
“When I first found out that I tore it, it was a complete blow because I’ve always said that if it ever happened to me again I don’t know if I could keep playing,” Poponyak said. “Now that it has happened, I’m not ready to throw in the towel yet and still want to keep playing. I’m excited about next year, getting surgery and coming back as quickly as I can for next season and finishing out my senior year.”
Though the sport of women’s lacrosse is not inherently violent and things like ACL injuries occur more often in other lacrosse positions, O’Brien spoke from first-hand experience when she said the game can be rough and very unforgiving to goalkeepers. Her junior year in high school, she was struck by a ball twice in the same spot in a span of 10 minutes and her arm puffed up like a balloon. She found out later that she was suffering from compartment syndrome and had to wear a full arm cast that summer.
“It is a physical game for goalkeepers,” O’Brien said. “The bumps and bruises from the lacrosse ball are the most unbelievable. I will have permanent scars from those balls. It hurts. Especially when you get hit more than once, it’s going to leave a mark. You kind of accept it and comparing bruises on my legs with Anna – you get bragging rights for who has the biggest bruise.”
For now, the Ducks (9-5 overall, 2-0 MPSF) have a healthy and proven goalkeeper who they’ve turned to recently in freshman Sam
Debow, who has started six games and played in 11. This season, Debow has faced more shots than Poponyak (208-142), made more saves (54-38) and clocked more minutes (496:26-349:09). Poponyak holds a 4-3 record and Debow has earned a 5-2 mark in matches.
Fortunately for Oregon, Debow said she has only had a few colds this season. Just like Poponyak, Debow said she was ready to fill in when a teammate got injured.
“I guess I was just like, ‘This is my time to shine. This is my time to step up. Do it for the team and do it for Anna,’” the 19-year-old said.
Larsen said she’s not sure who will start against California-Berkeley and St. Mary’s this weekend, but that Poponyak has become more involved in practice this week.
“Now she’s putting her brace on and getting herself in more live drills, but she didn’t take too many reps today,” Larsen said Tuesday. “The brace adds a lot of stability.”
Some might wonder why O’Brien, 21, and Poponyak, 20, don’t cringe at the mere utterance of the word “lacrosse.” But through it all, Poponyak is still hungry to play and O’Brien is as involved in the game as she possibly can be without actually putting on a mask.
O’Brien, who is a University junior pursing a career in sports broadcasting, has worked on Duck U, O-Zone lacrosse broadcasts as a color analyst, at KWVA as a sports reporter and for a live talk show called “Quack Smack” once a week. She also coaches the Sheldon High School women’s lacrosse team.
The shot that drove her to the ground, O’Brien now believes, might have brought her to this point in her life. The injury was not the only factor in her decision not to play this season, though. O’Brien said that she also wanted to do more with her last few years in Eugene other than just play a role on the team, and that the injury confirmed that.
Poponyak, who’s a redshirt sophomore, said O’Brien is doing things that are benefiting her life now.
“She has a lot of other aspirations and hobbies that she couldn’t do because she was playing lacrosse,” Poponyak said. “So I think her not playing lacrosse has opened her time up to do other things that she was interested in.”
Coach Larsen said that both women have held onto lacrosse because of their passion for it.
“Every player has that,” Larsen said. “Everyone who is injured is driving to come back. Lacrosse is a sport that people are excited about playing and coaching. It became a part of (O’Brien).”
Poponyak, who walked around with a bundle of ice on her knee during a recent practice, said she will always love lacrosse. And the injuries? Well, they’ll just always be a part of the game, she said.
“For my own personal pride it is hard because I’m not as good as I was,” Poponyak said of her injury and absences this season. “But I’m glad I can come back and it’s important for me to still help the team out and hopefully get a couple more wins under our belt.”