Although Florida redshirt freshman McKenzie Barney was forced to sit out last season, she had very little time to rest.
In the third practice of the preseason last spring, Barney went up for a ball along with a handful of other players and didn’t come back up. Somewhere in that hovering mosh pit, Barney suffered a strange tear to her right anterior cruciate ligament.
“They say that less than five percent of ACLs are torn in the air with contact like that,” Barney said before practice Monday, “so it was really unfortunate.”
She didn’t waste any time thinking about how unfortunate the hit was, though. Barney had torn her left ACL in her senior year of high school, and she knew what she had to do to get back on the field.
Only this time, she had torn the ACL in her dominant foot. For a soccer player—and especially for a scorer like Barney—this was worse. Fortunately, she had a trained medical staff ready to get her back on the field in record time.
“My recovery process was Wham-Bam, get it done,” she said. “You have people waiting on you hand and foot here. You are their most prized possession, and they just do everything to make you get back out on that field. Everyone’s constantly asking, ‘How are you?’ and ‘Do you need anything?’ It’s definitely way better in college”
Barney went to surgery less than a week after her tear because her swelling stayed low, then almost immediately started rehabbing with physical therapist Marty Huegel.
Huegel told her: “However hard you want me to push you, I’ll push you that hard.”
For more than five months, Barney nursed her knee back to health for at least an hour every day. When Huegel said jump, Barney said “How high?”
“I stuck through it,” she said. “I didn’t expect it, it was unfortunate, but you have got to get over it.”
Recovering from an ACL tear is a slow and steady process. First, Barney worked on her range of motion by riding the bike rigorously. Next, she built her muscles around that torn ACL—her quad and hamstring. If you can build those muscles up, you come back more quickly because they can support a fragile ACL.
After three months, she started running again and hasn’t stopped since.
“And then, at five months,” she said, “contact.”
While she was rehabbing, her 17-person freshman recruiting class was contributing to a strong season for the Gators, in which the team went undefeated in the SEC.
Florida head coach Becky Burleigh, who has seen many of her players tear their ACs recently, said the most difficult part was not the rehab but the social isolation.
“It’s tough because, at that point, most of their work is with Marty,” she said. “They can sometimes become disconnected with the team.”
“I think it’s especially tough when you’re a freshman coming in, and you don’t get to get out there on the field. But I think that our team does a good job of socially including them, but it’s never easy being hurt.”
Burleigh is happy to have Barney back with the team, but not just for what she can do on the field. Burleigh describes her as an all-around leader. She is a strong voice in the locker room, and a leader by example on the practice field. One of the most physically fit players on the team, Barney pushes her teammates to be better.
Her teammates, after all, are the ones who pushed her to get back on the field. Although every player is competing for playing time, they are always there to support one another.
After she scored her first two goals of the season against Vanderbilt, her team took a little extra time for celebration.
“My teammates make me feel really good about it. That’s what makes all the difference—your teammates congratulating you for getting those goals after a year of sitting on the sidelines but going through grueling therapy.”
She also is a resource for players who suffer similar injuries.
“I just tell them, you’re gonna come back in no time,” Barney said. “With the recovery process being six months, it goes by faster than anything. You have to make the best out of the situation, and learn from it. You get to watch soccer for the first time in a long time.”
Burleigh said that the torn ACL has been a positive experience for almost every player who has had it. From the time girls get serious about soccer, around ages 12 or 13, until they are done with college, the season never stops.
For Barney, it’s never felt better to get back to the grind.
LAST WEEKEND: The Gators had another rough road trip. On a rainy weekend in Mississippi, the team tied Mississippi State in double overtime and lost in double over time to Mississippi.
“It was frustrating and disappointing,” Burleigh said. “It was not up to our standards.”
Although the rain was a factor for a Florida team that likes to play on the ground, Burleigh wouldn’t let her team use it as an excuse.
“It’s the same for both teams,” she said. “I think it probably hurts us a little bit more because of our style of play, but we have got to find a way to win.”
THIS WEEKEND: Florida will host Alabama Friday at 7 p.m. and Auburn at 1 p.m. Sunday in James G. Pressley Stadium.
For the Gators, it’s about getting back to the basics.
“For us, we just have to make sure that we do the fundamentals in terms of how hard we play, how much intensity we have, and how much we get ready for each opponent,” Burleigh said. “I think good things happen when we do those things well.”
SOUTHEASTERN CONFERENCE
EASTERN DIVISION
SEC Pts. Div. ALL Pct.
South Carolina 3-0-1 10.0 2-0-0 11-0-1 .958
Georgia 3-1-0 9.0 2-0-0 10-1-1 .875
Florida 2-1-1 7.0 2-0-0 8-4-1 .654
Tennessee 2-2-0 6.0 1-1-0 6-5-1 .542
Vanderbilt 1-3-0 3.0 1-3-0 7-4-1 .625
Kentucky 0-4-0 0.0 0-4-0 3-6-3 .375
WESTERN DIVISION
SEC Pts. Div. ALL Pct.
Louisiana State 4-0-0 12.0 2-0-0 8-2-2 .750
Auburn 2-2-0 6.0 2-2-0 5-4-3 .542
Mississippi 2-1-0 6.0 1-0-0 8-3-0 .727
Alabama 1-1-1 4.0 1-1-1 5-4-1 .550
Mississippi State 0-2-2 2.0 0-2-0 8-2-2 .750
Arkansas 0-3-1 1.0 0-1-1 6-3-3 .625
SCHEDULE
FRIDAY, OCT. 9
Alabama at Florida, 7 p.m. (SUN)
Auburn at South Carolina, 7 p.m.
Mississippi at Georgia, 7 p.m. (FSS)
Louisiana State at Kentucky, 7 p.m.
Mississippi State at Tennessee, 7 p.m.
Arkansas at Vanderbilt, 8 p.m.
SUNDAY, OCT. 11
Auburn at Florida, 1 p.m. (SUN)
Arkansas at Kentucky, 1 p.m.
Mississippi State at Georgia, 2 p.m. (CSS)
Mississippi at Tennessee, 3 p.m. (ESPNU)
Louisiana State at Vanderbilt, 2 p.m.
Alabama at South Carolina, 3:30 p.m.
FRIDAY, OCT. 16
Florida at Tennessee, 7 p.m. (FSS)
South Carolina at Georgia, 7 p.m.
Mississippi at Louisiana State, 8 p.m.
Kentucky at Alabama, 8 p.m.
Mississippi State at Arkansas, 8 p.m.
Vanderbilt at Auburn, 8:30 p.m.
SUNDAY, OCT. 18
Florida at Georgia, 3 p.m. (ESPNU)
South Carolina at Tennessee, 2 p.m.
Mississippi State at Louisiana State, 2 p.m. (CSS)
Kentucky at Auburn, 2 p.m.
Mississippi at Arkansas, 2 p.m.
Vanderbilt at Alabama, 2 p.m.
NSCAA/ADIDAS DIVISION I RANKINGS
As of Oct. 6, 2009
Rank/School Record Pts Prv
1. Stanford (32) 11-0-0 800 2
2. North Carolina 10-1-1 739 1
3. UCLA 9-1-1 728 3
4. Portland 11-1-0 724 4
5. Florida State 10-1-0 689 5
6. Boston College 11-2-0 571 6
7. South Carolina 11-0-1 548 8
8. Notre Dame 8-3-1 515 10
9. Purdue 7-2-3 470 12
10. Rutgers 9-1-3 440 13
11. Wake Forest 9-2-1 427 9
12. Virginia Tech 10-2-0 402 RV
13. Louisiana State 8-2-2 366 23
14. Florida 8-4-1 323 7
15. Santa Clara 8-4-1 318 11
16. Central Florida 8-3-1 295 21
17. Texas A&M 7-4-1 289 16
18. Georgia 10-1-1 235 22
19. Maryland 9-2-0 232 24
20. Arizona State 7-1-2 231 19
21. California 6-3-1 126 14
22. St. John’s 9-2-1 125 17
23. Southern California 8-3-0 107 RV
24. Connecticut 9-3-0 104 RV
25, Ohio State 8-2-1 103 15
Others receiving votes: Brigham Young 100, Indiana 92, Charlotte 70, Michigan State 69, Virginia 53, Washington State 45, Dayton 16, San Diego 14, Mississippi 11, Oregon 7, Kansas 6, Memphis 5, Washington 3, Oregon State 2, Hofstra 2, Illinois 1.