An ACL injury is often the most detrimental thing that can happen to an athlete’s career.
Injuries of that caliber can completely change the identity of a player, so when senior defender Debbie Hahn went down with a non-contact ACL injury during spring practice, nobody expected her to come back even better than before.
“Whenever I’ve had teammates that came back from [an] ACL injury, they never were the same,” senior defender Jordane Carvery said. “But Debbie is the exact same person, even better than she was. That’s just awesome to see how she persevered and came back and overcame those challenges.”
ACL injuries usually have a six to eight month recovery period for women, but Hahn made it back just at six months. She said she didn’t even think she would be back until next season and gives all the credit to LSU’s doctors whose rehabbing gave her the opportunity to come back so quickly.
“I think that when you go down with that type of injury, you have, in my case, six months where all I focused on was my health and my fitness and my strength,” Hahn said. “If you focus everyday on just your body and your fitness, then you can’t really go anywhere but up.”
Hahn made her return to the pitch in the third match of the 2017 season against Lamar and showed no signs of still recovering from a major surgery just months prior.
Carvery has no doubt that Hahn plays at 100 percent every time she is on the field, and even more so after surgery.
“Whenever Debbie steps on the pitch, she does whatever she can to win that ball,” Carvery said. “So we have full faith and trust in her that if someone’s coming at her, I know she’s going to win that ball and make the move forward.”
However, even with all the improvement and recovery Hahn has had, not everything in her game is perfect. After a surgery of this magnitude, there are little kinks in her game that are to be expected.
“I think the only thing I’m lacking would be game fitness,” Hahn said. “I think strength, I’m stronger than ever. Just being able to fully play 90 minutes would be my next step.”
Hahn had started in every match of her LSU career before her injury, and has often been an undeniably important asset to LSU’s defense and the team as a whole.
LSU coach Brian Lee confirms Hahn as a definitive starter on the team, but redshirt freshman Lindsey Eaton and sophomore Ellie Weber have stepped up in her brief absence this season.
Because of Hahn’s game fitness level, both Eaton and Weber have also come on for her mid-game multiple times throughout the season. The younger defenders wasted no time doing what was asked of them and keeping the momentum going with Hahn on the bench.
“It’s very comforting to know that if I step off to get a break, then the level of play is going to stay the same, if not be better,” Hahn said. “So it’s just a testament again to the team’s character that anyone on the bench can step in and just keep the level up there.”
Lee has continuously spoken about how Hahn assimilated back into the team and built the chemistry on the backline, especially with freshmen Tiana Caffey and Chiara Ritchie-Williams, starting at left and right back.
She had no trouble meshing with them at a chemistry level, but other personal issues present themselves.
“The freshmen have been outstanding,” Hahn said. “Much better than I ever would have been as a freshman in the backline. Integrating into it, the main thing, my biggest struggle would be just my fitness. Just being able to last as long as I can at the same level. That’s the only thing I feel like I need to vastly improve.”
