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Cassidy Lucht's soccer journey // 10.2.19

By Washington Huskies

October 2^nd, 2019

My soccer journey to the University of Washington has been anything but easy, but it has definitely been worth it. Ever since I could remember, soccer has been a very important part of my life and my escape from everything else. It has helped shape me into who I am and has taught me numerous life lessons. I began playing when I was around five and started getting more serious about soccer when I was in sixth grade. At that point, I had joined the club I stayed with until I went off to college, the Del Mar Sharks.

I remember working nearly every day at the park behind my house, whether it was spending countless hours shooting balls at the fence, or trying to break my juggling record, or passing against the wall ball. No matter what, this sport meant so much to me and I just strived to be the best player I could be.

At this point, the game of soccer had basically become my identity. It was all I thought about and what I lived for. It was my sophomore year of high school and everything was looking up, I was getting recruited pretty heavily by colleges, getting called up by the ODP team, and was playing as a discovery player for the OC Blues while continuing to play with the Sharks. That was when I stumbled into the first hurdle in my soccer career: I had torn my ACL.

This news was immediately devastating given that I was at such a great point in my career. However, I knew that this was only a setback and I could get right back to where I wanted to be with hard work and grit, and that’s exactly what I did. Around this time was also when I committed to play at Washington so I knew I had a lot to prove and that I had to come back from this injury stronger and ready to compete.

I worked insanely hard and was finally back, eight months post-op. I was finally out playing again and everything felt amazing when about a year out from surgery I felt the same uncomfortable pop and knew immediately something was wrong. And there I was again, in the same position, having re-torn my right ACL and meniscus. Well, as you can imagine this was completely devastating but I knew I had come back from one of these injuries before with flying colors and I was determined to come back again, even better.

I continued to push, and even came to college early and got to play my first game post-op as a Husky. It has not necessarily been smooth sailing from there, including having had another surgery after my freshman season to repair my meniscus yet again, but I am slowly getting to where I want to be on the field and am very excited for what’s to come for the rest of my time at Washington.

Going through these injuries has been the hardest and most painful experience of my life, but they have taught me a great deal about myself and how to overcome obstacles. I am also so grateful for my coaches and teammates at Washington for continuing to believe in me and helping me get to where I am today and I am so excited to see where the rest of this season takes us! Go Dawgs!