Soph. rebounds from injury to boost W. Lax

No goals, no ground balls, one turnover.

Not exactly the totals you'd expect from a team's top recruit.

But those are exactly the stats sophomore midfielder Melissa Lehman put up during her freshman year on the Penn women's lacrosse team. After tearing her anterior cruciate ligament in a conference final in high school, Lehman saw action in just one game last year before going through the requisite five- to seven-month rehabilitation period.

After such a long layoff, athletes usually need some time to work out the bugs in their games and get back on track. But Lehman hasn't missed a beat.

Her 19 goals and 18 ground balls are each good for third on the team in her first year back, but perhaps the most impressive thing about her comeback doesn't show up on the stat sheet.

With nothing to do but sit back and watch, Lehman did just that -- she scrutinized the offense's every move and eventually got it down pat.

"She came back from her injury, walked right in and knew where to be at all times and what the point of the play was," coach Karin Brower said. "She doesn't think about X's and O's, she thinks about what the point of the play is and how you need to finish it."

This extra perspective may have helped her in the long run, but Lehman was by no means happy to take the year off.

A three-sport athlete in high school, she was itching to get back on the field.

"I went from playing three seasons in high school a year to not playing for an entire year," Lehman said. "I just couldn't wait to get out there."

As bad as Lehman wanted to get back, it's likely that her coach and teammates were even more eager to get her back in the lineup.

The Quakers' lack of depth at midfield was already a problem, but when Brower's number one incoming player went down, the problem was exacerbated -- Penn didn't have any midfielders available to come off the bench.

"You want your top kid out there," Brower said. "We knew she was ... going to be one of our top midfielders, so we were just ecstatic to have her back."

On this road back, Lehman was hardly alone.

Even though she had just joined the team, her new teammates and coaches got behind her and made the rehab period that much easier for her.

But one teammate stood out.

Then-junior midfielder Emily Cochran had also torn her ACL during her sophomore year and had bounced back. She never hesitated to offer Lehman words of encouragement.

Cochran knows the difficulties of getting used to a full-speed game after a long break and used this knowledge to help Lehman recover and adjust.

"The first couple times you cut for the ball or collide with a defender, you're a little nervous," she said. But Lehman "was not about to let a knee injury keep her off the field."

It was clear from the beginning that Lehman wasn't playing scared, as she averaged 1.8 goals in the first 10 games of the season.

While climbing to the top of the Penn scoring list may be nice, Lehman's will to return stemmed from the desire to be a part of the team dynamic again.

It's been a tough road back for Lehman, but she knows that all the work she put in has been worth it.

"When you're sitting on the sidelines watching all your new teammates play, you just want to get out there and give 100 percent," she said. "That's what really motivates you to do all the rehab on your own, all the extra time you put in. So you can have the satisfaction when its all over."

It may not have been the ideal situation for Lehman and the Quakers, but the wait has been worth it.

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