Shymka's Recovery From ACL Injury Has Come Full Circle After Her First Goal

BOULDER - "Right when I scored, a whole bunch of emotions came to me. I started crying."

That was the feeling when Camilla Shymka scored late in Saturday's record-breaking 6-1 win at the University of Denver. The sophomore from Calgary, Alberta, scored her first goal of the season. But it was also her first goal after tearing her ACL on Oct. 14 last season. Following her injury, she questioned whether she would ever play soccer again, let alone score a goal in a collegiate match 11 months later.

"I just remembered when I first tore it, I never thought I'd score another goal again," Shymka said. "Even this season, I had some times when I thought I can't play soccer anymore. Once I scored, it was like, 'I'm a part of the team, I'm back.' It was a really nice feeling, a relief."

The Rehab Process
The road to recovery from an ACL tear is always a tumultuous one with ups and downs. Shymka experienced that throughout the rehab process, which was complicated by a meniscus tear that resulted from the ACL injury. She watched teammate Nancy Best, who tore her ACL nearly a month after Shymka, progress quicker in the rehab process, a result of also having to repair the meniscus.

"She was ahead of me and I was always behind her, even though I had surgery before her," Shymka said. "It was always tough seeing her doing more than what I could do, but I knew we had different injuries because I tore my meniscus as well. Just those times were difficult for me because I wanted to do more than I could, but there's nothing I could do. I just had to wait and trust the process."

Nearly every part of Best's recovery came before Shymka's; Best also scored her first goal after surgery before Shymka, scoring on Aug. 27 in a 6-0 win over UC Riverside.

2017 Expectations
After nine months of intense rehab with CU athletic trainer Kari Kebach and strength and conditioning coach Karim Derqaoui, Shymka opened fall camp with her Buffs teammates in August. While she was still limited in contact drills, she knew she would be playing this season and the end was in sight.

Coming into the season, head coach Danny Sanchez helped Shymka suppress her expectations as she was working her way towards full recovery. He noted that ACL injuries often take up to 12 months to recover from.

"At first when I came into camp, Danny said we're not expecting a superstar the first day," Shymka said. "I think that was really good advice for me, to just take it day-by-day, and just gradually get back into contact. And once I started getting into contact, I started getting my confidence back and that helped a lot."

She also credits her teammates in helping her bounce back from the injury. She noted their positive attitudes towards her have helped build her confidence back up, even though she is not yet playing at the level she was a year ago.

Because Shymka is still not at 100 percent as she continue to build strength, has had to wear a bulky brace for the time being.

"I'm still in the brace, which is helping with my confidence and helping me with getting hit," Shymka said. "But I'm definitely making my way there and it's just a process."

"There's nobody that likes to play with the brace, but obviously we have to be smart with these injuries," Sanchez said. "She understands that the stronger she gets and the fitter she gets, the quicker she gets out of the brace. We're hoping to get her out of it soon, but we're also cognizant that she has a lot of soccer in front of her so we want to be smart about it as well.

"I think she's finding her stride a little bit. But we knew, like I told her, it would be a work-in-progress in the early part of the season. When we really need her is in conference play, and obviously that starts Friday [at home against UCLA]. It was nice to get a goal against DU on Saturday and hopefully she'll continue to progress and help our attack as we get into the meat of our schedule."

In addition to CU soccer, she also may have an international soccer career in front of her. One of the best players in Alberta, she has been a member of Canada's U-20 Women's National Team and helped Canada to a silver medal at the 2015 CONCACAF U-20 Championship.

Regardless of her soccer future beyond CU, this season will continue to be part of the recovery process.

"I think [the key for her] is just feeling comfortable playing, feeling explosive, feeling strong, feeling as fit as she can," Sanchez said. "Sometimes you just have to push through those moments. Obviously she's fit, but she's not 100 percent right now. She's getting closer every week, but I think the mental piece of having confidence to go out there and just play [is what she's still working on]."

Puketapu Earns Cap Against USWNT
Freshman Marty Puketapu earned her fourth career cap on Tuesday night for the New Zealand Women's National Team. She subbed on in the 89th minute and played the final minute and the three minutes of stoppage time for the Football Ferns. The United States won the international friendly 5-0 in Cincinnati.

Puketapu also appeared with the New Zealand National Team in three matches at the Cyprus Cup in March. New Zealand is currently ranked 19th in the world.

Puketapu will be back in uniform for the Buffs on Friday against UCLA.

Scouting UCLA
Colorado (6-1-2) opens Pac-12 play with a bang on Friday, welcoming No. 1-ranked UCLA (7-0-1) to Prentup Field for a 3:30 p.m. kickoff. The match will be televised on Pac-12 Network and Pac-12 Mountain.

The Bruins held on to their No. 1-ranking despite suffering their first setback of the season this past Friday, settling for a 1-1 draw with Pepperdine.

UCLA features perhaps the most talented roster in the country with four players earning full national team call-ups, including Jessie Fleming (Canada), Teagan Micah (Australia), Ashley Sanchez (United States) and Kennedy Faulknor (Canada). Nearly the entire remaining roster has made appearances for youth national teams.

Fleming, just a sophomore, was a starter for Canada's 2016 Olympic team that won the bronze medal and was a third-team All-American last season as a freshman at UCLA. She currently has two goals and six assists for the Bruins.

Leading UCLA is junior Hailie Mace with six goals and two assists, followed by junior Julia Hernandez with five goals. Mace recorded a hat trick in a 4-2 win over Santa Clara on Aug. 24 and was subsequently named Pac-12 Offensive Player of the Week. She has also scored against San Diego State, BYU and Pepperdine.

Sophomore Teagan Micah was named Pac-12 Goalkeeper of the Week on Aug. 29 and has a 0.85 goals-against average this season, while stopping 72 percent of opponent shots on goal. She has played every minute in goal for the Bruins this season. Senior MacKenzie Cerda has been a big help on the back line in front of Micah, scoring three goals. Those two have helped the Bruins to clean sheets against BYU and Weber State so far.

UCLA has road wins this season over No. 8 Virginia and No. 24 Long Beach State.

Giveaways On Friday
The first 100 CU students will receive a Colorado Buffaloes beanie and the first 200 fans will receive free ice cream.

Shymka's Recovery From ACL Injury Has Come Full Circle After Her First Goal

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Players Mentioned

Nancy Best

Marty Puketapu

Camilla Shymka