As the NWSL season comes to an end, several Boston Legacy FC players have returned from injury to get some minutes in remaining games. Many players have struggled to remain healthy throughout the inaugural season, and the club currently has three players whose seasons were prematurely ended.
Goalkeeper Casey Murphy is the latest to join the season-ending injury (SEI) list after partially tearing her posterior cruciate ligament (PCL) in her right knee during the Portland Thorns match on October 3. She is expected to make a full recovery by the start of next season, but the club did not provide additional details about the injury.
Chloe Ricketts is also one of the three players unable to finish the season, though the start of her year didn’t go so well either. The 19-year-old was injured all of preseason and was unavailable for the first few games due to an ankle injury. Her first appearance for the club was in early April against the San Diego Wave, but she was back on the injury list less than two months later.
The young midfielder was placed on the 45-day injury list in June after undergoing surgery to repair medial and lateral ligament ruptures in her right ankle. Her recovery ended up being slower than anticipated, leading the team to reevaluate her timeline and ultimately place her on the SEI list to continue rehabilitation.
Ricketts was only able to make six appearances, including one start, and play 98 minutes. The last few games of the season were not worth pushing the player for a possible comeback, according to head coach Filipa PatĂŁo.
“It was better to [not] rush things if we are in the end of the season,” she said. “We preferred to recover [Ricketts] completely to start well the next season.”
Fauzia Najjemba was the first player on the SEI list. The forward sustained a thigh injury in May and was unavailable until the first game back in July, in which she played 13 minutes. Najjemba suffered a right rectus femoris tendon rupture in training days later and was subsequently placed on the SEI list. The Ugandan national played 176 minutes over five matches.
The coach said Najjemba has been getting much better, and the team has even posted pictures of her participating in recent training sessions.
Though focusing on rehabilitation is the responsible decision, a delayed return to the game will understandably take an emotional toll on a player. For the head coach, it’s an easy conversation to have: Would they rather risk getting injured again and be subject to a longer healing process, or completely recover and be ready to go for the next season?
“Of course, you will always have a frustration there, but at the same time, they know that we care about them and we [aren’t putting] anything in front of their health and their capacity to be a football player in the future,” said the coach.
Other players have been fortunate enough to return to the pitch.
Kaká recently made her third appearance of the season, nearly seven months after undergoing ankle surgery. The defender played the full 90 for the Legacy’s opening games before suffering a fibular fracture in her left ankle and rupturing her deltoid ligament in training. She returned to training in August before donning the Legacy jersey at the start of October.
Amanda Gutierres has not been completely kept out of the game, but her time on the field has been far less consistent in this last half of the season.
Patão told The Blazing Musket earlier this month that a minor back injury was limiting the Brazilian’s playing time. Despite being subbed in at the final minutes of several games, she has still been able to make her mark.
“Every athlete goes through [injury,] unfortunately. We never want that to happen, but I was still going to training, [and] I had the whole medical department taking care of that," Gutierres said last week. "Even if it was 10 minutes, we just want to work, to play, to give our best, our maximum, try to make a difference. I was trying to make a difference.”
The striker said she’s grown more comfortable in the past months and is happy with the team’s style of play. In the last six games, Gutierres has doubled the number of goals she’s scored this season. She is now tied with Aïssata Traoré as the team’s leading goalscorer with 10 goals.
LaĂs AraĂşjo’s first season in the NWSL has not gone quite to plan. The 30-year-old was sidelined for nearly half the season due to thigh injuries. She was unavailable for the club’s first five games before making her debut and missed most of the second half of the season.
“It's been a little bit up and down,” Araújo said last week. “The year has been giving a lot of challenges to me; [I’ve] never gone through so many injuries in a season.”
The co-captain returned this month and helped her team earn two wins and one draw.
“Bringing this new energy for the team is also important because it was a moment that the team was still suffering a little bit,” she said. “So it was a good moment, you know, to … feel confident that we're going to finish it strong, and we're going to still keep building the great things that we want to build for the Legacy for next year.”
As the team looks to get the last few points to finish out the season, one of Araújo’s personal goals is remaining healthy not only through the last game, but into the next year as well. BLFC is still developing and improving, and she wants to be able to play a bigger part in the team’s success.
“We're going to keep reaching higher places, and I hope I'm there more often,” Araújo said.
