Yet there was Smetzler on a rainy Tuesday evening preparing with her Ridgefield teammates for this weekend’s trip to the final four of the Class 2A state soccer playoffs.
Smetzler is a big reason the Spudders hope improve on their third-place finish in state in last year. She was recently named the 2A Greater St. Helens League Defensive MVP after anchoring a defense that allowed six goals during league play.
The Spudders (17-2-2) face Ellensburg in the semifinals Friday in Shoreline. They hope to play either Liberty of Issaquah or Squalicum of Bellingham in the championship match the following day.
“We try really hard not to define success as where we end up,” Ridgefield coach Robby Trimbo said. “But in the back of my mind I’m thinking about the amount of work this kid has put in. If there are soccer gods, just give us a break on this one.”
Initial injury
Smetzler mostly remembers the pop.
In the first game of her junior season against Camas, she swung her left leg at the ball. That’s when her planted leg gave away at the knee. Her teammates nearby also heard a pop.
“I just dropped immediately,” Smetzler said. “It’s one of those moments that you hear about, but once you feel it it’s something totally different.”
For the first time since she was three, Smetzler would not be spending the fall kicking around a soccer ball. Instead, surgery followed by at least six months of physical therapy awaited her.
“I was a mess,” Smetzler said. “I had been looking forward to that year for a long, long time. My sophomore year was kind of my breakout year as a defender.”
She remained part of the team last season, watching longingly as Ridgefield won the district title and advanced through the state playoffs.
All the while, Trimbo was guiding her recovery. The former collegiate player and Pacific University graduate works full time as a physical therapist.
“In therapy you really get to know people,” he said. “You see them at a bare-bones low. That’s something you don’t see on the sports field as much. You get someone right after surgery and they realize this is going to be a long road.”
Upon learning her diagnosis and recovery timeline, Smetzler had what Trimbo called “the moment she broke.”
“But from that point on it was onward and upward,” he said. “There were a lot of tears and frustration, but it was always focused in one direction.”
Cruel twist
Everything was going as planned. Smetzler was cleared to begin kicking a soccer ball in April and return to the field in May. But during a kick-around in June, a fellow player tumbled into the back of her leg.
There was no pop this time. But she described that moment as the worst pain she has ever felt.
“There goes my senior year,” she remembers thinking. “To think that all of that was thrown away with that one fall, it was hard.”
Smeltzer’s ACL was partially torn. She had two options, either have surgery again or try to play through it, knowing it could tear at any time.
Smetzler wasn’t the only one hurting. As her physical therapist, Trimbo knew the work and tribulations his player had endured in a way most coaches wouldn’t. He wanted nothing more than for his patient and player to find some way back on the field for her senior year.
“I had a lot of conversations with her and her family,” he said. “I did the best I could to take myself out of the decision-making because I didn’t trust myself to be objective.”
At first, Smetzler wanted to quit soccer. She couldn’t imagine going through another round of physical therapy. But she found herself looking at a Ridgefield team photo in her room.
“There’s no way I couldn’t come back to that team,” she said.
Trimbo immediately began prescribing exercises to build strength in the muscles surrounding her knees. Along with the scars of her surgery, evidence of the injury is seen in Smetzler’s robust leg muscles, which along with a large brace have helped stabilize her knee. On Sept. 5, Smetzler took the field for the first time in a year as a member of Ridgefield’s soccer team. It was against Camas again.
“I was a nervous wreck,” she said.
Smetzler’s knee has held up and she hasn’t missed a beat. In a way, she feels like she’s making up for lost time.
“It’s an extra push that you had this taken away last year,” she said. “What are you going to do now that you have it back?”
In physical therapy, Trimbo has learned that every patient is unique. In Smetzler, she has recovered physically in part because of her rare mental fortitude.
“The truly beautiful thing about that kid is her resiliency,” he said. “Our program’s motto is ‘Relentless.’ She embodies that every single way you possibly can.”
