While sitting out most of last season with a knee injury, more than one person told Karina LeBlanc she wouldn’t be the same when she returned to the soccer pitch.
They were right. She’s better.
The Canadian international goalie stormed back into the Women’s United Soccer League (WUSL) with the New Jersey Wildcats, allowing just one goal during a season where she backstopped her team to the league championship and earned goaltender of the year honours.
“It was icing on the cake,” she said from New Jersey on Wednesday. “For the days when you’re training and no-one is watching and the days when you’re just about ready to die. You just think, ‘I have to come back, there’s something waiting for me.’ It was about never giving up.”
While playing with the Montreal Xtreme in 2003, the 25-year-old tore her posterior-crucial-ligament in a collision during a scrimmage against the U19 Canadian team. Read the rest of this entry »
