At some point, every athlete calls it quits.
Whether injuries finally take their toll, bodies wear down, circumstances arise or the will to compete slowly dwindles, all athletes must eventually decide when it’s time to hang up the jersey and walk away from the game.
For LSU junior defender Tori Sample, the end of her soccer days came in the Tigers’ regular season finale against Auburn Thursday, and she had one wish for her final match donning the purple and gold.
“I wanted to make sure I didn’t get hurt during the game,” Sample said. “I just wanted to finish.”
In an injury-plagued career filled with long recoveries and numerous setbacks, Sample’s determination helped her push past the many obstacles she encountered during her time at LSU.
Never hesitant to put her body on the line, Sample allowed her actions to speak rather than her voice.
“Whenever Tori would make a really hard tackle, that would motivate me because if she could do that, I could do that,” said LSU freshman defender Alexis Urch. “She might not have been vocal, but she did lead with her actions, and I’m going to miss her as a right back.”
LSU soccer coach Brian Lee said replacing Sample’s dependability will be tougher than simply finding a player to fill her spot in the lineup.
“Tori’s reliable, and whenever you lose a reliable player, that’s difficult to replace,” Lee said. “You knew what you were going to get each time she came out.”
In a career riddled with injuries, Sample’s decision to end her soccer career partly stemmed from academic reasons.
Sample switched her major from nutrition and food science to civil engineering this fall, and it’ll take an additional two years for the soon-to-be fifth-year senior to finish her studies.
Under NCAA rules, a fifth-year senior can only be eligible if 80 percent of his or her degree is completed, making Sample ineligible to compete next season.
It wasn’t the first time Sample switched majors.
The Seabrook, Texas, native grew up dreaming of becoming an architect and planned to pursue the field at LSU. But during her first week in college, Sample realized she couldn’t appropriately split time between architecture and soccer, so she chose the latter.
Three years later, a more mature Sample said she should’ve focused more on her studies.
“It was probably an immature decision to stop architecture,” Sample said. “Looking back, school should be before soccer. But at that point, I wanted to play soccer. It was all I wanted to do.”
However, Sample’s decision proved fruitless when she tore her right ACL during her first practice at LSU in 2011, ending her freshman season before it began. Even after she recovered from the injury in six months, Sample faced another early setback.
“I had surgery two weeks into my freshman season, got cleared in about February [of 2012], and then I pulled my hamstring within the first week of spring practice,” Sample said. “I literally sat out that whole freshman year.”
Sample eventually recovered from the two early injuries and played in 18 games with 11 starts during her redshirt freshman campaign in 2012, scoring two goals and dishing three assists.
Sample was also the only one of LSU’s 10 rookies to earn Southeastern Conference Freshman of the Week honors that season.
But Sample experienced another devastating blow to her career eight games into her sophomore season when she tore her left ACL against Rice in September of 2013 — barely two years removed from the injury to her right ACL.
Doctors later discovered a blood clot in Sample’s left knee during her second ACL surgery, and a torn right meniscus further clouded her chances of returning to the pitch.
Sample contemplated an early end to her career, but she ultimately decided she wanted to leave the game she’d played all her life on her own terms.
“When I tore my ACL, it was so random, and I didn’t expect it to happen,” Sample said. “But then I thought, ‘This can’t be my last game.’ I wanted to know when I was going to say goodbye to soccer. It was my first love, so I had to say goodbye in a good way.”
But given all the injuries she endured, Sample understood her window of opportunity was steadily closing.
“I had two other knee surgeries in high school, so the injuries had just been adding up,” Sample said. “So for my long-term wants, I had to quit playing soccer soon. I want to be able to play with my kids or run marathons or do other things. So it was time.”
Despite the many injuries she battled through and played with, Sample managed to start in all 20 games for the Tigers this season. Her teammates admired the dedication it took for her to return to the field.
“I played with [Sample] the first few games last season, and the first thing I noticed was she’s really consistent,” said LSU sophomore forward Summer Clarke. “Coming off her injury this season, she was just as consistent as she was before she got hurt. I don’t know how she did it.”
Sample’s career may have taken unexpected twists and turns, but given her battered past, she said walking off the field on her own two feet for the final time Thursday was the best outcome she could’ve hoped for.
“I thought I was going to quit last season after I tore my ACL the second time, so this season was very much just for me,” Sample said. “I wanted to prove to myself that I could do it, so coming back from the second ACL injury to play all the games this season made me very proud.”
You can reach David Gray on Twitter @dgray_TDR.