Charlottesville field hockey’s Alex Ferguson sprinted up field, leaving the ball languishing in the goal as the players reset in the seconds after she scored what held up as the gamewinner in Thursday night’s season opening, 1-0 win over E.C. Glass.
You could hardly blame the Black Knights’ senior for forgetting her duty as the scorer to collect the ball and bring it to midfield. For one thing, she’d mostly been a defensive midfielder before moving up this season into a more offensive role. For another, she was pretty fired up. After all, 11 months ago, just playing field hockey was a distant hope for Ferguson.
“I did not think that I’d ever be a starter, let alone a captain ever again,” Ferguson said. “Basically sports was a no, never again.”
Ferguson suffered a lacerated pancreas from an off-field accident and endured abdominal surgery that kept her in the hospital for 10 days in September. She then fought through a series of complications in October and into December, as well as nearly an entire year of homebound instruction instead of going to school through most of her junior year. Ferguson avoided ending up with diabetes — which was certainly possible with the pancreas injury — but didn’t start feeling much better until June, just two months ago.
“I gave her a hug right before she came on the field tonight because last year I saw her in the hospital and it’s just bringing tears to my eyes now,” said Charlottesville coach Lindsay Clark. “We were just like Alex, you’ll always be a part of a team — I never thought she’d come back. Her story just shows we’re a huge family here, we do more than just play field hockey. She helped us see that even more.”
That family atmosphere and the joy of playing for Charlottesville field hockey drove Ferguson.
“What pushed me to get back in shape and motivated me to get out of bed was that I wanted to get back here,” Ferguson said. “The camaraderie on this team is so strong … I think that’s what got me back and to the physical strength I have today.”
Ferguson’s fight to get back on the field drove her but getting back into field hockey shape was a long, uphill climb.
“Her determination and strength has just been unreal,” Clark said. “When her rehab started she couldn’t even lift a 10-pound book. But that’s her. It’s crazy. She’s an inspiration.”
That work culminated in that incredibly uplifting goal, a critical moment for Ferguson and a critical moment for the Black Knights as it held up as the gamewinner. It was also pure, distilled teamwork, the kind of goal that takes everyone doing their job starting with Elena O’Brien’s work after corralling the corner.
“Elena did a great job to dump it in and Julia Smith, you’re supposed to obstruct the goalie’s view and she did that perfectly,” Ferguson said. “It allowed the ball to just come right to my feet.”
Ferguson’s goal and the run-up to it helped Charlottesville still grab a win despite a mixed bag of results in the second half typical of an early season clash.
“We’re still trying to find that chemistry and trust the process,” Clark said. “We’re playing a very different system than we have in the past. They get it and they’re good with it but the second it doesn’t work, they get frustrated and that’s kind of what happened in the second half.”
The Black Knights got a lot of chances in the first half in particular with junior Maya Block creating opportunities with some crafty and aggressive work in the offensive zone.
But whatever struggles Charlottesville had mattered little in the face of Ferguson’s incredible moment after a long road back.
“Just to be on the field and to start and play at all was amazing,” Ferguson said. “To score was just beyond anything.”
