Opponent have to brace for Antioch's Applegren

Terry Dewing has heard the same comment from every coach and every official this season. They are amazed at the skill and talent of Antioch's Julia Applegren, the senior captain for the Sequoits' girls field hockey team.

Dewing laughs and offers the same reply:

"And she's playing with a torn ACL."

Let's jump back to the spring soccer season, the Antioch vs. Wauconda game. Applegren had been running and fell, "and I knew something was wrong right away because I heard a snap," she said.

Sure enough, Applegren's soccer season was over, immediately.

Shortly thereafter, doctors put her through multiple tests and she had an MRI test. Specialists told her that she had torn her ACL and meniscus.

"It was kind of devastating (news)," said Applegren, a soccer forward. "At first they didn't think anything was wrong because there wasn't much bruising or swelling and I could walk. But after the MRI, they told me I had torn my ACL.

"I was crushed, really upset."

But, she didn't need immediate surgery nor did she want it.

Applegren didn't want to miss her summer job as a lifeguard or field hockey in the fall.

So, the blonde-haired Sequoit, wearing uniform No. 2, plays this season with a brace on her right knee.

"I definitely am much slower," said Applegren, 17, an Antioch resident. "I was a really fast athlete, and definitely am slower now, which stinks. But I think it makes me use my head more (during games), and that actually makes you a better player. I have to be confident in the skills that I have to get around someone rather than just running with the ball. My vision has improved."

Dewing said Applegren definitely has improved, despite the knee and speed woes.

"It's hard to get kids to understand the whole philosophy of the game of field hockey. Typically, high school players get possession of the ball and they don't really make an informed decision before they attempt to release the ball to someone on their own team," Dewing said. "But with her injury and her physical limitations at this point, it has made her become more aware and more confident in her own skills, to eliminate defenders to get the ball to where she needs to get it."

Applegren, in her third varsity season, has been playing with an old-school, play-through-the-pain approach. She's still one of the team's leading scorers and a player of the year candidate among the 19 Illinois schools that offer field hockey clubs.

"My play has been really great so far; I feel like I've contributed a lot to our team," Applegren said. "I can't run as well as, or keep up with many of the girls, so I have to use other things to my advantage. The biggest difference from last year is that I'm slower. That's the biggest impact it's had on me.

"I've done a good job so far this season. I can't really complain."

Applegren is planning to have knee surgery during winter break, so her spring soccer season is pending, depending on recovery.

"I would rather be out there playing as opposed to sitting on the bench complaining about my knee," she said. "I'll just play through the pain, deal with the pain later on."

Applegren also has played for the Windy City Field Hockey Club, and made a select team to compete in a prestigious November event to showcase her play for college teams. But she is not going to participate.

"I think she could play at the college level, and be a major contributor," Dewing said. "She is a solid, consistent player who has the mental and stick skills to get the ball from our defensive end all the way to our offensive end."