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September 20, 2017
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Houma native and UL-Lafayette senior forward Kimberly Grasso planted her left foot firmly into the dirt and swung her right leg toward the ball.
Her cleated right foot made impeccable contact with the ball.
It’s no surprise. Grasso almost always strikes the ball that way.
The ball soared over a defender and toward the goal.
At the last minute, it tailed slightly – just past the outstretched arms of the opposing goalie and into the back of the net.
It was a goal for the Ragin’ Cajuns.
For fans watching, Grasso’s excellence is nothing new. She was a dominant forward for Vandebilt who evolved into an all-conference collegiate player – one of the top players for ULL’s team.
But for Grasso, herself, the goal represented something more. It represented triumph over an injury which threatened her ability to play the sport she loved into the future.
Grasso sat out the entire 2016 season after suffering a spiral fracture in her fibula, while also tearing a ligament in her ankle – an injury which required surgery and which put her career in question.
But after months of rehab, Grasso is back and is already off to a strong start to the 2017 season, owning a goal and three assists in the first seven games of the Ragin’ Cajuns’ season – enough to lead the team with five points.
Grasso said being back on the field is a blessing – a day she wasn’t sure would come. She redshirted last year and has one last year of eligibility – a season she plans to take full advantage of with her teammates.
“My goals for soccer are just to try and perform my very best every game and try and help the team out in any way,” Grasso said. “I’m trying to be an even better player than I was before my injury. This year, our main goal as a team is to win the conference championship, so we’re working really hard for that.”
For Grasso, the injury came at the worst possible time.
Grasso has been a decorated goal scorer her whole life – one of the best players in the history of Vandebilt Catholic soccer.
With UL-Lafayette, she did much of the same, including earning All-Sun Belt honors in 2014 as a sophomore. In 2015, Grasso did a lot of the same, posting 1,631 minutes of action, scoring five goals to cap her junior season.
With a solid offseason in the summer of 2016, Grasso said she felt poised to have a huge senior year.
But then it happened.
While in practice, Grasso stepped in front of a pass – like she’d done practically a million times before.
But this time, her balance was a little off. Grasso turned her ankle before falling back on her leg. As she made contact with the ground, she said she heard a sickening sound – something she wouldn’t wish on her worst enemy.
“I just heard it crack,” Grasso said. “Right then and there, I knew that something had broken.”
She broke her fibula, while tearing a ligament in her ankle. Grasso needed surgery, which placed six screws in her leg and two in her ankle.
Instead of battling with her team in 2016, Grasso was on the sidelines – on crutches for the next three months.
Once off the crutches, the real battle started – an intensive rehab schedule which aimed to rebuild the strength she’d lost while unable to use her leg.
“Rehabbing was a very hard and long process,” Grasso said. “Being on the crutches that long was definitely tiring. But I had a lot of physical therapy I had to go through just to get my whole leg back in shape. I lost all my muscle in my quad and calf from being off of it for so long. Also, getting my full range of motion in my ankle was really tough, so I had to make sure to stay on top of my stretches and exercises every day.”
It took time, but Grasso did get clearance to play, which opened the door for a fifth-year in 2017.
But that posed challenges as well – mental challenges.
Grasso said when she returned to the field, her timing was off.
“My touch on the ball was horrible,” she said.
It also took a long time for Grasso to fully let go of any anxiety she had about whether she’d actually healed all the way.
She said she played timid at first, trying to protect the leg. Things weren’t the same as they were before the injury – even despite doctors reassuring her that she was, indeed, 100 percent.
“The main thing coming back was definitely trusting my ankle that it was strong enough to be able to shoot, dribble and do everything I did before,” Grasso said. “I think what took the longest time was just being comfortable playing in those game-like situations again because it’s so much different than practice and I hadn’t played in a game for a whole year.”
Grasso started the season off-kilter a little for her lofty standards.
But little-by-little, it all came back and now, she’s back to being a force – just like she was before
In UL-Lafayette’s seven game of the season, Grasso scored her first goal since the injury – a beauty set up by a cross from teammate Denice Emokpae.
Before the score, Grasso assisted on three others – enough to lead the team with five points.
Grasso said now that the injury is in the past, her focus is on the present – winning games for her team.
The Ragin’ Cajuns started 0-3-1, but have rallied to post a 3-1-0 record in their past four matches, including a 5-1 victory over Nicholls on Sept. 10 – the match Grasso recorded her goal.
“The team has been looking really good,” Grasso said. “We’ve had to make some changes in the beginning of the season, but going into conference, we are clicking together very well and I’m excited to see how we do this year. Our chemistry as a team is great.”
Like anything else, Grasso knows all good stories must come to an end.
This will be her final season as an active player. She will graduate in Dec. 2017 and will attend graduate school for speech pathology when the year ends.
But Grasso said she’s not worried about that right now. Her focus is 100 percent with her team.
After having the game taken away from her last fall, she’s relishing every last moment she gets on the pitch.
“I will be applying to different schools hoping to get in somewhere and start that next journey,” Grasso said. “But right now, I’m just worried about my senior season and trying to do as good a job for my team as I can. I will enjoy it while it lasts, because I know it won’t last forever.”
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