The pass from teammate Bryn Maxwell fell perfectly to Bri Carrigan’s feet. In the middle of the field at the Premier Sports Campus in Lakewood Ranch, Florida, there awaited an unrestricted pathway to the opposing goal, history and more.

Carrigan took two dribbles to build up steam. She used a deft touch to her left to elude a defender, and another dribble to get into the penalty area. With a defender closing in on her from each side — and with a sliver of an opening at the left post — Carrigan unleashed a left-footed shot into the upper left corner with 1 1/2 minutes left in the first of two 10-minute overtimes in the American Athletic Conference championship match on Sunday.

The goal lifted UTSA to a 1-0 win over Rice. It clinched the Roadrunners their first AAC crown in only their third season in the league. It secured an automatic berth in the NCAA Division I championships. UTSA (10-5-6) takes on No. 6 seed Texas Tech (13-2-4) in the opening round at 6 p.m. Friday at the John Walker Soccer Complex in Lubbock.

Moreover, the moment placed a proverbial heartstring-tugging bow on a journey that has seen Carrigan deal with pain, uncertainty, loneliness and doubt — and overcome it all.

“We have a lot of girls on the team who have overcome two ACLs, one ACL, big injuries,” UTSA senior captain Zoe May said. “For me, this is my senior year, and I knew it was my last shot for a championship. But the freshmen, you don’t know when it could be your last moment with this team or just in the tournament.”

Fourteen months ago, Carrigan discovered as much. Late in the first half of only her fifth college match, less than seven minutes after entering a game vs. Colorado State at Park West Complex on Sept. 1, 2024, she crumbled to the ground and immediately reached for her left knee. The tears in her eyes and the fear on her face were unmistakable. Her mother came out of the bleachers to comfort her as she sat on an athletic training table. Teammates, as they walked to their locker room for halftime, offered hugs and words of encouragement.

“When it happened, I was in shock,” Carrigan said. “I knew something was wrong, and I knew my year was over.”

What followed was the discovery that Carrigan tore her anterior cruciate ligament, a life learning how to get around with crutches, a surgery and, under the guidance of athletic trainer Shelby Dale, months of rehabilitation in hopes of returning to the field.

“You’re alone, in your own head, but every day I knew that whatever I did would help me get better,” Carrigan said of rehab. “Having teammates around just cheering me on for the little steps, was truly what got me through it. A big thing that was said was just take little steps at a time and just be happy with the little progress that you get.”

A scar, noticeable and appearing to stretch for about five inches, is a reminder of her resiliency and determination.

“It’s pretty gnarly,” Carrigan said. “I just look at it every day and just know that it’s there for a reason. It does give me a little bit of pride in just knowing that I’ve gone through this long obstacle, and look where I am now.”

Kameron Kloza and Ava Jackson both know quite well the trek that Carrigan has gone through. They’ve endured it twice. Senior defender Haley Lopez completely tore her left hamstring and the meniscus in her left knee and missed parts of two seasons. She returned this year to be a key part of a stout defense before suffering an injury in the conference final vs. Rice.

A Lee High School product, Kloza tore her right ACL during her senior year in high school in 2021. She signed with Texas Tech, rehabbed the injury to return to play, then tore the ligament again during the 2022 spring season. She had to repeat the rehab process, causing her to be sidelined for 2 1/2 years.

“It’s made everything up to this point so worth it, and I wouldn’t trade anything that I’ve gone through,” Kloza said. “I know I’m here, and I’m back, and I’m playing some of the best soccer I’ve played in years. It is very hard to go through an injury like that and continue to want to fight and put in the effort. Just seeing other girls on our team going through the same thing, and seeing their mentality through it, it just encourages the team to want to keep fighting for each other.”

Jackson, a forward, tore her ACL, LCL (lateral collateral ligament), MCL (medial collateral ligament) and meniscus in her right knee — “the whole shabam” as she called it — as a high school senior. She signed with national power Arkansas but spent her freshman season (2023) recovering. During the spring season of her freshman year, she tore her ACL a second time.

“That was really heartbreaking in the moment,” Jackson said. “You don’t ever want to do it once, yet along twice. I think it’s a rush of emotions, obviously, the first one being shock. I did have a lot of hope in the second one because I knew I could get past it and come back better than before. You want to take it into parts. You don’t want to think about the whole injury, a year-long process at once, because that can be overwhelming. Some days you have hard days, and some days are really good ones. It’s definitely a process. It’s a mentally and physically exhausting injury.”

The joy of overcoming the hardship was on display when Carrigan netted her first collegiate goal less than a week ago. Jackson, who said she tried to be a sounding board for Carrigan during the latter’s rehab, was only a few feet away when the goal was scored.

“We’ve had our talks, our private moments, where I’ve told her about my experiences and how they can help her,” Jackson said. “For her to score that goal in the final was just amazing. I was so happy to be on the field with her. It was a perfect way to seal the deal on that game. That was a goal for the team. It embodied what we worked so hard for.”

terrence@terrencesports.com
Twitter: @sa_terrence1