Last year this Bangor soccer star broke right leg. Last month, she blew out her left knee.
In the song ‘Born Under a Bad Sign’ written by Booker T. Jones and William Bell, one of the lines goes ‘If it wasn’t for bad luck, I wouldn’t have no luck at all.”
Welcome to Lauren Young’s world.
The University of Maine-bound former Bangor High School soccer standout, who missed virtually her entire senior season after breaking the tibia and fibula in her right leg last July 21, tore the anterior cruciate ligament and meniscus in her left leg nearly three weeks ago and had surgery last Friday.
She was playing for her club team, Seacoast United, at Massachusetts Maritime Academy in Buzzards Bay, Massachusetts on April 22 when the knee gave out.
“I was just running and it kind of let go,” said Young, who is a fullback.
She said she will probably take a medical redshirt at UMaine in the fall.
Student-athletes are allowed five years in which to complete four years of eligibility so she will have four years remaining after this coming season.
She explained that the recovery is “about six months and I’ll be on crutches for six weeks.”
Doctor Kenneth Morse performed the surgery on her knee and she said the surgery went well.
Young is still in a little bit of pain but is getting better and is taking her bad luck in stride.
“I think my patience is definitely being tested right now,” she said. “I’m going to take it one day at a time. What else can I say? I don’t have a choice. I’m going to get through it. Soccer is my passion and this is just another obstacle.”
She will begin rehabilitating her leg as soon as she can and, once she goes to UMaine in July, she will start working with one of the Black Bear trainers.
The 5-foot-3 Young is a tenacious defender who helped lead Bangor to the Class A state championship in 2015.
She broke her leg playing in a tournament in Indiana and had surgery there.
She said the right leg is now “perfect” so now it is just a matter of recovering from the knee surgery.
She was not going to be a scholarship athlete at UMaine but could earn scholarship money through her performance.
“I like to think everything happens for a reason and sometimes things happen that you have to deal with,” said Young.
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