An hour into practice, redshirt senior Kara Lang walked slowly but steadily onto the field where her teammates were playing in a scrimmage. Wearing a large cast that clamps her entire right leg and sporting white Keds instead of soccer cleats, she shouts towards her teammates before sitting gingerly on a soccer ball at the sidelines.
“She still is one of our captains,” junior midfielder Elise Britt said. “She’s obviously here for every practice and just helping us out. A lot of her help came from what she gave spirit-wise, and not just from her being on the field, her presence on the field.”
“She’s an incredible leader,” junior midfielder Taylor Cochran added. “Just her role is going to switch now, instead of on the field it’s going to be off.”
Cochran said that she felt sick to her stomach when she found out about Lang because the forward worked so hard.
Lang sustained a season-ending injury when she tore her ACL in her right leg in Friday’s match against CSU Northridge.
“(Her injury) was during the game, we were kind of shaken up a little bit,” sophomore defender Amelia Mathis said. “But when we found out we knew that we were going to miss her.”
The vibrations of Lang’s injury ripple throughout the team.
Coach Jill Ellis said that Lang is a strong person and a good leader for the Bruins.
“I think what we’re asking from our younger players is to step up and fill the hole that she’s sort of left,” Ellis said.
In her nine starts this season, Lang ranks fourth in scoring, registering seven points that include three goals and one assist. Despite having redshirted the 2006 season due to an ACL injury, the Canadian Olympian contributed heavily to three of UCLA’s last five trips to the College Cup.
“She was having a great season, but Kara’s been with us for five years and such a big part of UCLA soccer and our tradition, that even though she’s sidelined physically, I think she’s still a big part of our team,” Ellis said.
This season, Ellis asked the forward to play a new position at defensive midfielder.
“It wasn’t a familiar role to her,” Ellis said. “Unfortunately right when she got hurt, I think she has kind of mastered the role.”
Ellis noted that Lang is solid at ball-winning, in addition to her prowess in a number of different areas.
Despite the injury, the consensus is that Lang will bounce back from her injury.
“She was playing so, so well, I’m truly saddened that this has happend, but I also know Kara; she’ll be back, and she’ll be a big part of the Pro league,” Ellis said.
“She’s so resilient and amazing she’s going to come back and she’s going to come back fast,” Cochran added. “And she’ll be fine.”
Lang will be traveling with the team to Pepperdine when the Bruins face the Waves Friday.