Being captain is a huge honor for any college athlete, but at LSU, it has to be earned.
When Kelsey Major received that honor for LSU soccer to start the 2025 season, she didn’t even realize it until her teammates started cheering for her.
But once it hit her, she understood how two major injuries in her career shaped her as the leader she is today.
Since Major was seven years old, soccer has always played an important role in her life. After becoming the first high school athlete in Louisiana history to win two Gatorade Athlete of the Year awards in the same year (soccer and cross country), Major felt like it was time to focus on one sport and ended up choosing soccer.
By her junior year, Major was set up for a successful year on the field. She had all the awards a high school athlete ever dreamed of, and this year would be a crucial year for college recruiting. But for every athlete, there are high and lows, and for Major, this low would be something she never experienced before.
During a club soccer showcase, she injured her knee and thought it was nothing serious; however, she came to realize that it was a torn left ACL that would sideline her for the rest of the year.
“When I tore it in the game, I had no idea,” Major said. “I just thought it was another knee injury because I had just come off of a three month injury, but I didn’t have to have surgery. So, then I came home, went to the doctor, and I was pretty devastated.”
Nearly five to six months later, Major was back on the field like she never left. In her senior year, Major helped lead St. Mary’s Dominican High School to a state championship and was named Offensive Player of the Year, racking up 38 goals and 19 assists on the season.
Major would later sign to LSU to continue her soccer career and felt like this marked a new chapter of life. However, another injury would come her way, this time a torn right ACL.
At this point, Major felt like the things that were out of her control were affecting her the most in her career. Within the span of two years, she would require two ACL surgeries, and for her, it was a tough pill to swallow.
“The first one was frustrating, but the second one was definitely like a much bigger mental hit,” Major said. “The first one came right around recruiting…. so that was something I couldn’t control injury wise. For it to happen again, right before I feel like I was about to start fresh, get here at LSU… it ruined me for a couple of months.”
“I think mentally it was just harder the second go-around because I was in a completely new space.”
Within her first season at LSU, Major would decide to medically redshirt; however, she used her time off the field to her advantage, encouraging her teammates on the field while learning the ropes to the program. For Major, this set her up for success.
“I feel like redshirting gives you the ability to do the growth as a person separate from the growth as a player,” Major said. “I feel like I got to see everything before I got thrown into it.”
Since redshirting, Major has shown growth not only as a player, but as a leader. Within the next two to three seasons, she saw the field like no other on her team, being thrown into different positions, such as defender and winger.
For head coach Sian Hudson, Major embodies what makes this program so great, and for her, that’s everything.
“Kelsey is just an unbelievable team player,” Hudson said. “She just makes things happen through her work rate, her intensity and her press. Obviously, a home state girl. She loves to represent LSU and bleeds purple and gold.”
As her senior season at LSU continues, Major hopes to lead her team to its fifth consecutive appearance in the NCAA Tournament, and for her, that’s the major goal.
