“The third one kept me out for about nine or ten months, and it was on my right knee,” she said. “The third one occurred while I was playing in a regional showcase with my club team. It was our first game, about five minutes in, and I tore it. That one was the worst, the most painful, and the most difficult to get through.”
When asked what made the recovery process so tough the first time, Young responded by mentioning that she had to set aside her dream of playing varsity soccer as a freshman and focus on recovery. Her journey back to the pitch included three surgeries and months of rehab.
“It was tough because I always grew up thinking that I wanted to be the freshman that made varsity and was playing on that team,” she said. “Obviously, that was taken away. At that point, I had a quad injury that I had been dealing with for a while, and during the recovery from my second ACL surgery, it was bothering me during weightlifting and running. I just couldn’t do what I wanted to. I ended up getting surgery on that quad, which was a quadricep fasciotomy. My second surgery for that knee was in September, and then I had to get surgery on my quad the following February. That was frustrating because it was right when I was supposed to get back to lifting and running. It didn’t add too much time to my overall recovery, but it was just another thing I had to deal with.”
After a sophomore campaign that didn’t see much success for Young and her team, she was hoping to have a promising junior season to begin the recruitment process. Unfortunately, the injury bug bit again.
“My parents used to tell me to reach out to schools with old films” said Young. “But I didn’t want to send them stuff from when I was a freshman because I wasn’t the same player.”
Tasked again with putting her dreams on the sideline to focus on recovery, her third time entering physical therapy looked a little bit different.
“The third one’s (ACL) total recovery time was like nine months, which is pretty much the typical time, but it was the hardest mentally and physically,” said Young. “That one hurt bad. The other injuries hurt too, obviously when you tear something it hurts, but that one was excruciatingly painful for days after it happened. The surgery was worse than the others. I also had two meniscus tears during all this as well.”
Young also noted that the recovery had taken a toll on her not only physically, but psychologically as well.
“Mentally, I kept wondering, ‘why is this happening again?’ I had been the person who tried to go above and beyond with my fitness and strength, and I never understood why someone who tries to work as hard as I do would have to go through those things so many times," she said. "It took a lot for me to kind of be like, ‘okay, let’s do what you’ve done before, it’ll be okay.’”
Despite those challenges, Young was able to act as a beacon to someone going through the same recovery, something that she hopes to do throughout her playing career.
“It was hard, but my little sister tore her ACL a week before I tore mine the third time. We had surgeries just a week apart, and we went through it together,” she said. “I think being able to help her because I knew what I was doing was inspiring to her. It was terrible, but in a way, there were a lot of good things that came out of everything that happened. Not just with my sister, but there are a lot of people who I’m able to talk to and try to inspire. Even on our own team, girls say they are inspired watching me play while they are hurt with the same injury on the sideline; it lets them know they can do it too.”
When asked who helped her the most through the entire experience, Young credited her family.
“I have three siblings, and both my parents at home who were supportive,” she said. “My dad’s torn his ACL twice, my older sister tore hers. My little sister tore hers twice too, since she just tore hers again this summer. Everybody is just so supportive. My dad understands what it’s like, and he was also my coach for all 18 years of my life before I came here. He is awesome and has been so supportive in everything. He reminds me never to get down and tells me, ‘I know it’s hard but I’m so proud of you, keep working.’ My mom is a mom, and I could tell her heart broke for me when I was hurt. She didn’t really understand the physical aspects of the injury, but she always checked up on my mental side of things. My siblings would always go to the turf with me to pass and shoot, which may be boring for them to just go and pass the ball for an hour, but they’d do it with me. My older sister knew what it was like too, so she was a great person to go and talk about it with too. My whole family is just super supportive.”
Though faced with a lot of adversity in such a short time, the freshman from Lebanon, Pennsylvania, never once thought about calling it quits.
“No, surprisingly, I’ve never thought that way. A lot of people ask me why I still play, soccer is just what I do; I feel like I don’t know what I would do or go without it. So, it never crossed my mind to think that maybe I shouldn’t go back. This is just what I grew up doing, and I’m always going to fight to come back.”
Since she missed what is known as the prime recruiting time for college soccer due to injury, Young had to find another way to showcase her talent to college coaches. In her case, she was able to parlay a family vacation to Florida to one of JU’s ID camps, which caught the eye of head coach John Constable.
“We get a lot of talented freshmen from our camps,” said Constable. “She played really well at the camp. What stood out was she kept coming inside onto her left foot and firing the ball into the upper-90, and she could do it with her left or right foot.”
Constable believes Young may be the first athlete he’s coached who’s gone through as many ACL surgeries as her. He also thinks players who go through a ton of adversity appreciate the game a little bit more.
“She might possibly be the only one I’ve coached that’s torn it three times,” he said. “I think it says a lot about her mental strength, her perseverance, and her resiliency and love for the game to keep coming back each time.”
“You know they’ll appreciate every second and minute being able to play, compete, train and workout in the weight room. That’s what you get from Lily.”
