Oregon standout Garbin might miss soccer season
By Leila Wai
Advertiser Staff Writer
Oregon junior-to-be Nicole Garbin will most likely miss the upcoming soccer season because she tore the anterior cruciate ligament in her left knee, a year and a half after tearing the ACL in her right knee.
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"It's a shame because she was just regaining her quickness (from her previous surgery)," said Oregon coach Bill Steffen.
University of Oregon soccer player Nicole Garbin will likely get another season of eligibility.
Garbin, the two-time Advertiser State Player of the Year, injured her knee during the spring season in the Oregon State 7x7 Indoor Tournament on March 6.
"The prognosis is she wouldn't be eligible for the fall season," said Steffen, who said Garbin had surgery to repair her ACL in March. "Unless rehab goes well and she's ready for the second half of the season if we make the playoffs."
Garbin, who returned to Hawai'i yesterday, was less optimistic about her chances of returning to the team this season.
"The doctors are very certain, because they are very conservative, that I will not play at all, and that is very disappointing," she said.
Steffen said the school is petitioning for another redshirt year, because Garbin, a 2001 graduate of Baldwin from Wailuku, already used her redshirt year in 2002 after tearing her right ACL on a preseason trip to Florida in August of that year.
"I've already redshirted a season, and the season coming off of it I had so much to prove, and I felt like I did that," she said. "Now, it's like, 'What's going on?' "
Steffen said he believed Garbin will receive an extra year of eligibility, giving her the option of playing two more years while continuing her education in graduate school.
He said losing her this year was disappointing because Oregon was "scheduling teams with Nicole in mind."
Her injury had an almost immediate effect on the team's schedule. The Ducks had to cancel the rest of its spring competition because of injuries to Garbin and other players.
And the Ducks will most likely feel the effects of her absence when the regular fall season begins. Garbin, a forward, was named to the Pac-10 All-Conference second team in the fall after notching a school season record in points (21) and tying the season shots (70) and assists (7) records. She tied for the team lead with seven goals, and is third on the school's career list with 12.
"We'll just have to wait and see what comes out of this," Garbin said.
Steffen said her rehabilitation was going well, but "she's gone through it once and she didn't want to go through it again," he said. "She's a little bit ahead of where she was in the first one, it's probably more effective because she's done it before."
Steffen also called her injury a shame because he was excited to see Garbin on the field with 2002 Mililani High graduate Mele French, who will be a junior, and recent Baldwin graduate Kami Kapaku, who will be joining the team in the fall.
"It's a shame because we were excited to see all three on the field," Steffen said. "They are three of the best players Hawai'i has ever produced."
French was the Advertiser's Player of the Year in 2002 and Kapaku is a two-time All-State first-team selection.
Reach Leila Wai at lwai@honoluluadvertiser.com or 535-2457.
