March 7, 2008
Injuries for athletes are always traumatic, both physically and mentally. For senior guard Laura Aloisi and junior guard Jessica Pearson, their season-ending injuries last year came with a positive light - they had each other. Just about one week apart, both girls suffered an ACL tear. Determined to return full swing this year, the girls' strong friendship became their driving force to return to the court side by side this year.
During last season's non-conference match up with Boston College, Pearson injured her knee in the last minute of the game, while Aloisi went down while playing defense against Maine. Aloisi, who was on the fast track to a very successful junior year and already racking up team-leading statistics 10 games into the season, and Pearson, who was Aloisi's strong backup on the court, were done for the season.
"It's always a process, the mental rehab is just as important as the physical rehab and you see them struggling with that early," said Head Coach Bill Gibbons. "As a coach it was really neat to see they way they helped each other through it,"
Both girls had surgery in January 2007 and began rehabilitation with assistant athletic trainer, Amanda Wolf, about a week after their surgeries.
"They both worked extremely hard and never missed a rehab session," said Wolf. "Their work ethic is a big part of the success of their rehabilitation and I don't think I could have possibly asked for two harder workers."
To continue their rehab sessions to ready for this season, both girls spent the summer in Worcester and worked with Wolf and Holy Cross strength and conditioning coach, Jeff Oliver, to be physically ready for this year. Surrounded by a strong support system, the girls found each other's advice and support to be the most motivating.
"Some days you'd wake up and it would be a bad day knowing you couldn't play," said Pearson. The fact that there was someone else going through it helped, when one person did something better, the other person was more motivated to get to that place too."
"We had a mutual understanding and you could talk to each other, we both knew what we were going through," said Aloisi. "To go to rehab every day for five hours, it was so tedious, but you had someone there experiencing the same stuff."
While they were unable to make a difference on the court, both girls were very involved on the bench during games as well as being constant positive figures at practice. The inability to play was hard for the two competitive athletes, but Aloisi and Pearson made sure to turn the frustration of not playing into support for their teammates and coaching staff.
"A lot of times, we just tried to focus on being there for everyone else as hard as it was," said Pearson.
"I think they were both very vital in our run last year, in the huddles I remember feeling these hands on my shoulders and it was Laura," said Gibbons. "She was always so into it. We as a team felt they were a huge part in the amazing run we made to the Patriot League Championship last year."
