(May 14, 2009) - Nature has made it such that women generally have less muscle around their knees than men do.  So whenever a female athlete—particularly a soccer player—goes down holding her knee, we all shudder as the worst possible scenario runs through our minds—the dreaded ACL tear!

Yet when it happened to Amy LePeilbet three summers ago at residency camp with the U.S. Women’s National Team, an ACL injury was the farthest thing from her or anyone else’s mind.

“It was just one of those funny things,” she said.  “Nothing was pointing to ACL.  
Everything that went on, nothing pointed to an ACL tear.”

Most ACL injuries involve legs tangling on the ground, but LePeilbet, now a Boston Breakers defender, was climbing for a header when she tore hers.  Most of the time, surgery cannot happen immediately because there is too much swelling.  LePeilbet’s left knee did not swell at all.  In fact such little consideration was given to an ACL injury that the 5’6” central defender was back on the field within days and played three more months before finally being properly diagnosed and then operated on.

“It was interesting,” she recalled.  “I guess my muscles must have compensated for it because I could run fine.  I just had a lot of pain when I would actually strike a ball with my left leg.  When I extended all the way through there was no ACL there to kind of stop my leg.  It would just sort of keep going.”

At the time of her injury, LePeilbet was making headway in becoming a full-fledged member of the National Team.  But the reconstructive surgery cost her all of 2007.  That shattered her World Cup dream.  She spent 2008 with the W-League’s Pali Blues where she worked herself back to form.  But it was not nearly enough to be considered for the Olympic team.  That shattered another dream.

“I didn’t think it was over for me (with the National Team).  It was always my goal to make it back,” LePeilbet said.  “Everyone truly believed the league was coming back so I just kept my fingers crossed and hoped that opportunity would arise for me.”

The opportunity came about sooner than it did for most.  The Breakers made LePeilbet, 27, their first round pick in the General Draft last October, and she has played every minute through six matches as the anchor of the Breakers central defense.  Her performance caught the attention of National Team boss Pia Sundhage, who called her in for next week’s friendlies against Japan which have morphed into a single match against Canada on May 25.

“I’m very excited,” she said.  “I haven’t been in with the National Team in so long.  Having the opportunity to play an international game is exciting.”

The face of the National Team is likely to change quite a bit between now and the next World Cup in 2011, but more immediately, LePeilbet’s center back role is in high demand because Kate Markgraf is on maternity leave.  Her shattered dreams may get sewn back together yet.

With the Breakers, LePeilbet was manning the defense April 25 for a 4-0 shellacking in Chicago.  She was also on the field the last two weeks when the Breakers turned things around by holding the Los Angeles Sol to one goal in 180 minutes while taking four of a possible six points.  

Perhaps more impressively they managed to keep Marta off the scoresheet.

“What a challenge being able to play one of the best players in the world,” LePeilbet said.  “She’s a fantastic player.  As a group we defended her well.  We defended in numbers and we helped each other.”  

That was key in keeping her off the score chart.

“We did our best to keep her back to goal,” LePeilbet said.  “But it’s Marta and at times she’s going to face up and be dribbling at you.  You can only stop her so much.  So we did have times when she was dribbling at us and we definitely pinched and covered and we really helped each other.  We were never there too long by ourselves.  There were two or three of us always ready to tackle.”

Alex Scott who plays right back for the Breakers and is a member of England’s National Team already values all that LePeilbet does on the field.

“I can already go on record and say this is one of the best defenders I have played along side even though we are only (6) games into the league,” Scott wrote in her foxsoccer.com blog.  “She just reads the game so well, (is) hard to beat 1v1 and I think against LA this week, she showed her true class.”

For some players, WPS came along at the perfect time.  That seems to be the case for LePeilbet, who has regained her form just in time to be a contributor on what looks like one of the league’s upper echelon clubs.

Most importantly, her left knee is back to normal.

“I have scar tissue and little things like that,” she said.  “But I feel like myself again so I guess it’s as normal as it’s going to be.”

Dan Lauletta is a freelance writer and can be reached at thirtymtp@aol.com. The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the author's, and not necessarily those of Women’s Professional Soccer or womensprosoccer.com.