Rash of injuries has Lumen soccer team looking toward hopeful playoff run
By Mike Moore
Staff Writer
Jackson — The injury report has been a rotating carousel of names and diagnosis.
And if he wasn’t front and center to witness it, Damon Havlicek may not believe its validity.
But as the Lumen Christi girls soccer coach spoke Thursday night about his team, and about its continuous updating of who’s in and who’s out, he couldn’t help but force a laugh.
“I’ve never had anything like this before,” he said. “I’ve had friends who coach who tell me stuff similar, I guess. But you never expect something like this to happen to you.”
Since the season started, the Titans have lost three players for the entire year, three more have missed time with quadricep injuries, another with a hamstring issue and another with a hip flexor.
“I’ve never pulled kids up from the junior varsity before during the season,” Havlicek said. “This year I had no choice.”
In one of Lumen’s most recent games, Havlicek said he had two subs on the bench.
The girls were 8-5-1 entering Friday’s tilt with Western.
“They are soldiering on,” Havlicek said. “When you are stitching lineups all the time, it’s tough to build that continuity, but they are battling. I give these kids so much credit. They have given full effort every single time out.”
Including that Friday game at Western, Lumen has just four games remaining in the regular season.
The team won’t open the playoffs until June 2 in a district semifinal against Columbia Central or Olivet at Jonesville.
“We are hoping, with some gaps in the schedule and just four games left, we can get some of these girls back,” Havlicek said.
If that’s possible, it’s important to remember most of this same team was part of a group that reached the Division 3 regional final in 2015.
“If they bounce back, they have the fresh legs, the new outlook, the fresh approach, we’re always optimistic,” Havlicek said. “That’s what you hope for come playoff time. That’s what we’re hoping for. The potential is certainly here.”
Mike Moore is a play-by-play commentator and Sports Writer for JTV Sports. You can reach him at mjm12@albion.edu. He’s also the author of ‘Love, Defined; A Dedication to the Love, Sacrifice, and Magic of Motherhood.’
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