Little By Little, Field Hockey's Simon Recovers from Injury
9/21/1999 8:00:00 AM | Field Hockey
Sept. 21, 1999
COLLEGE PARK, Md. - On the stat sheet, the Terrapin field hockey team's 10-1 victory against Towson on Wednesday night may have looked like nothing more than another rout by the fourth-ranked team in the country.
But for redshirt freshman back Kateri Simon, it was much more than that: She finally had a chance to play.
Simon made her first collegiate appearance against Towson on Wednesday after nearly two injury-riddled years. She entered the game with the Terps up 9-1 in the second half, but to her, it did not matter what the score was - she was just happy to be in the game.
"We were up so many goals, but it still felt good to be in there," Simon said. "If you had looked at my face, I was probably gleaming."
What made her debut a memorable one was the fact that it came with her sister on the field and her family in the stands. Simon's sister, Rachel, started at left back for the Tigers.
"Having my family all in the stands because I'm playing against my sister, [meant] a lot more than if I was playing a regular game," Simon said after the game. "It was very exciting."
Simon worked hard to get to that moment. A high school Mideast Region All-American at Fallston High School, the Bel Air native drew attention from the Terps while scoring nine goals and tallying 11 assists during her senior season in 1997. However, she tore the anterior cruciate ligament in her right knee during the regular season finale of her high school career.
It took eight months to rehabilitate the ACL as well as torn cartilage in the knee, bringing her to the 1998 preseason. Recovered but out of playing shape, Simon redshirted last year, with hopes of returning for spring practice.
"I played the spring and started really well," Simon said. "I didn't have to play with a brace on."
However, the first day the Terps came out for spring practice, Simon tore the meniscus inside of her right knee. She again had surgery, and the meniscus was sutured and thought to be fully healed by the start of this preseason.
But as before, Simon tore the same meniscus running sprints two days before the start of preseason practice. She had the cartilage removed from the inside of her knee during her fourth surgery, an arthroscopic procedure performed on August 13.
About a month later, Simon was in the line-up for the first time with the aid of a brace on her right knee.
"I'm wearing a brace because my knee is [still] unstable," she said. "But my knee should be fine and I should have no problems with it as long as I wear the brace."
Simon said she felt uncomfortable on the knee at first, but became used to the brace.
"It weighs me down a little bit and it takes away some of my range of motion," she said. "But I think that the more I train with it and the more I play it will just become second nature.
"It's a part of my leg now."
Teammates have admired Simon's ethic in coming back from such potentially devastating injuries.
"She is out there every day, even after practice, working really hard," junior back Molly Kauffman said. "She's in great spirits and I'm so glad she's back out there."
Sophomore back Kristy Palchinsky agreed.
"She's been working so hard to come back," Palchinsky said. "I feel like it's better for her now because she's a little more involved."
While Simon is listed as a forward-midfielder, coach Missy Meharg said Simon's versatility will allow her to play in the backfield while she continues to work her way back.
"Right now, I think just coming back off the knee and being ready to play she's going to play more in a backfield role," said Meharg. "I'm really psyched for her."
Simon said her only regret about the Towson game was that she did not get to go against her sister.
"We both played left back, so we were on opposite sides of the field," she said. "I never got to play against her, but it was very exciting."
TERP NOTES: The Terps host No. 20 Delaware at 7:30 tonight at Artificial Turf Field. Terp coach Missy Meharg was a two-time all-America in lacrosse at Delaware in the early 1980s.
By John Giese The Diamondback
