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Every competitive athlete has that deep-down fear of injury. But an injury doesn\u2019t have to mean the end of the game; it could just be another motivation to come back better. Let\u2019s look at some of our favorite comeback stories in women\u2019s soccer, from USWNT to NWSL players who have recovered from injury and never looked better.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n It\u2019s not exactly an injury, but Orlando Pride\u2019s Toni Pressley<\/a> bounced back after receiving treatment for breast cancer in 2019. In fact, Pressley barely took time off, appearing in a game for Pride just two months after undergoing surgery.<\/span><\/p>\n Embed from Getty Images<\/a><\/p>\n Since her initial diagnosis, Pressley continued to be part of the Pride\u2019s roster and recently signed a one-year contract with the Icelandic team, <\/span>Brei\u00f0ablik<\/span>, of the Besta deild kvenna.<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n Embed from Getty Images<\/a><\/p>\n Back in 2018, Ertz suffered a knee injury during the SheBelieves Cup. This took her out of the first half of the NWSL season for the Chicago Red Stars, but she came back strong. She appeared in 15 games in the back half of the season and helped Red Stars get to yet another semi-final appearance.<\/span><\/p>\n Embed from Getty Images<\/a><\/p>\n That same year she was <\/span>named to the 2018 NWSL Second XI.<\/span> Ertz and the Red Stars finally broke their semi-final curse the next year when they made it all the way to the NWSL finals. Plus, USWNT won their fourth FIFA World Cup title that same year.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Now, Ertz is making her way back from giving birth and a previous knee injury.<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n Embed from Getty Images<\/a><\/p>\n Similar to Ertz, Sam Mewis was in recovery from a knee injury at the beginning of the 2018 NWSL season. The injury, the result of a collision during a game against Canada, took her out of the SheBelieves Cup as well.<\/span><\/p>\n Embed from Getty Images<\/a><\/p>\n But Mewis returned to the NC Courage later in the season and scored in the 86th minute to help send her team to the finals over Ertz\u2019s Red Stars. She was also able to return to the USWNT roster in a friendly against China.<\/span><\/p>\n Embed from Getty Images<\/a><\/p>\n Just over a year after her knee injury, Mewis was named to the CONCACAF Championship roster and, the next year, to the USWNT.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n Embed from Getty Images<\/a><\/p>\n Goalkeeper for OL Reign was put on the injured list in 2019 after rupturing her Achilles tendon. Losing a goalkeeper is a hard hit, and an Achilles rupture is a hard injury to come back from. But Betos did the very next year.<\/span><\/p>\n Embed from Getty Images<\/a><\/p>\n On her return, Betos was also grieving the loss of her father, who had passed away from an undisclosed illness in the interim. Despite the injury and heartache, Betos put it all out on the field just like before. Since the injury, Betos has played for Racing Louisville and, most recently, Gotham FC.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n You know her, you love her, and you\u2019re always happy to see her\u2013but Alex Morgan is no stranger to coming back from injury.<\/span><\/p>\n As early as 2006, Morgan has been staging injury comebacks. In fact, the ACL injury<\/a> she sustained from a scrimmage against the men\u2019s Junior National Team in 2006 kept her off the UWSNT roster for two years. But she has been a mainstay on the senior US Womens National Team for well over a decade now, yet it hasn\u2019t been a smooth ride.<\/span><\/p>\n Embed from Getty Images<\/a><\/p>\n In 2014 alone, Morgan recovered from an ankle injury and scored five goals in seven matches for USWNT, only to reinjure the same ankle at the CONCACAF Championship tournament. <\/span><\/p>\n The next year she sustained and recovered from a knee injury in the time surrounding the 2015 FIFA World Cup. But that didn\u2019t stop her from being instrumental in their winning their third World Cup title, starting and finishing every one of the seven final matches.<\/span><\/p>\n Embed from Getty Images<\/a><\/p>\n After a hamstring injury in the 2017 SheBelieves Cup took her out of the rest of the tournament, Morgan received 2018 US Soccer\u2019s Female Player of the Year honors. And finally, after suffering a season-ending ankle injury during a FIFA Victory Tour friendly, she came back in 2021 to score her sixth international career hat trick!\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Embed from Getty Images<\/a><\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n It takes a lot of strength and courage to come back from an injury, but these women have done it (some multiple times), and you can too!<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n Featured image via Getty Images<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\nToni Pressley (breast cancer 2019)\u00a0<\/b><\/h2>\n
Julie Ertz (knee injury)\u00a0<\/b><\/h2>\n
Sam Mewis (knee 2018)\u00a0<\/b><\/h2>\n
Michelle Betos (Achilles 2019)\u00a0<\/b><\/h2>\n
Alex Morgan (ACL 2006, ankle 2014, knee 2015, hamstring 2017, ankle 2019)\u00a0<\/b><\/h2>\n
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GIRLS SOCCER NETWORK: YOUR SOURCE FOR GIRLS SOCCER NEWS<\/b><\/h4>\n