In sports, injuries are simply something to be dealt with.
And this week, the No. 4 UCLA women’s soccer team (11-1)
is dealing with them.
Two Bruin starters, defenders Bristyn Davis and Mary
Castelanelli, are currently nursing injuries, forcing coach Jill
Ellis to shuffle around her lineup a bit.
“We’ve trained a lot this week in putting some
different people in different spots, so I think we’ll be
fine,” Ellis said.
Davis, who sprained her right lateral cruciate ligament in the
final minutes of last Friday’s win over USC, will not travel
with the team this weekend to face Oregon and Oregon State.
Castelanelli, who is suffering from a stress fracture to a rib,
will play in this weekend’s games. However, she is
participating in practice this week in a very limited capacity.
Castelanelli, a junior, has been hampered by the fractured rib
for about a month, and the very rare injury doesn’t appear to
be improving.
“Mary’s (injury) is troubling because it’s
been so long and it’s progressively getting worse,”
Ellis said.
The Bruins have decided to keep Castelanelli out of many
practice activities in an attempt to keep her rested and pain-free
leading up to this weekend’s two matches.
“It’s just to give it some time to heal, so
I’m not running around and breathing hard,” said
Castelanelli, adding that she’s not sure how she even
sustained the injury in the first place.
Davis’ injury, confirmed to be just a sprain after an MRI
and X-rays, should only cause the junior to miss this
weekend’s matches. She expects to be back on the field when
the Bruins host Washington and Washington State next weekend.
Though Davis suffered her injury just before UCLA’s golden
goal last Friday, she was able to summon enough energy and power to
pull herself off the ground and send a picture-perfect cross to
forward Iris Mora to assist on the game-winner against Cal.
“I fell down and I got back up, and I turned to Jill and
said I didn’t think I could play anymore,” Davis said.
“Then the ball came out that second. I didn’t have much
choice and I thought, “˜Hopefully this one goes in because I
don’t know how much longer I can play.'”
With Davis out of the lineup, Bruin freshman Catherine Calvert
will likely have a chance to contribute at the right back
position.
Ellis also mentioned the possibility of moving midfielder Stacy
Lindstrom back to defense and inserting Michelle Gleason into the
lineup as a holding midfielder, much like UCLA did earlier in the
season.
The injuries and positional shake-ups don’t seem to be
bothering the Bruins too much. It’s simply something
they’ve had to deal with.
“We have great players, even on the bench,” Mora
said. “We just have to support them and make them feel
comfortable on the field.”