-- Paoli determined to play -- For the love of her game
By Regina Lee
Broadside Staff Writer

Last semester, two Mason women's lacrosse players were injured while in North Carolina for an away game. Liz Paoli was crossing the street with her teammate Laura Kinney when the two were struck by a car.

Kenney suffered a brain injury and a shattered right leg, and is still recovering. Although Paoli's knee was seriously injured, she hopes to soon return to the playing field.

When Paoli was in the eighth grade, she asked the high school lacrosse coach if she could try out for the team. At tryouts, Paoli proved her skills and made the junior varsity team.

Today, Paoli has relearned how to walk and return to everyday life on her own. Determined to play lacrosse in the spring, Paoli has undergone two operations (avoiding a third) and aggressive physical therapy independently and with a therapist. Since the accident, she has relied on others to give support to her and her three-year-old son.

Following the accident, Paoli was taken to a hospital in N.C. and was later transferred to Arlington Hospital. She remained there for a week while doctors worked to fix her knee. During the procedure, the doctors were able to attach a donor's Achilles tendon to Paoli's knee.

Before the accident Paoli was a starter as a midfield attack and one of the leading scorers. She played around the cage, a position requiring constant running.

While recuperating in the fall and working on her therapy, Paoli was determined to return to the field to run with the other girls. Paoli watched the fall practices and liked being there. Right now, her physical therapy consists of swimming workouts and weight training with the team. She has not yet been cleared to run on the track, but is able to run on trails and grass --terrain that is soft on the knee.

Paoli is currently conditioning with the team. She said that during her workouts she tests the strength of her recovering knee by testing certain moves and whether or not she can endure them.

"Trying to go back was hard, running at the long speed and endurance," Paoli said. After some of the doctors were not sure of Paoli's return to lacrosse, she decided to go by what her knee told her. Dr. Patrone, Mason's sports doctor, seemed very optimistic of her return to the game.

Paoli wanted to get back to the physical condition she was in prior to her accident. "I really pushed myself," said Paoli.

To this day she hates stairs, especially going down. Her teammates constantly helped Paoli by driving her to therapy, baby-sitting her son and making dinner. The team encourages Paoli's recovery and return to the team.

"I think we [the lacrosse team] look good for the spring. The team has worked very hard,"Paoli said.

The second part of this series will appear in Broadside next semester.