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The Daily OrangeWLAX | After 3rd ACL tear, Bissett still helping SU
By Christopher James
Posted: 5/7/08, 7:56 PM EST Section: Sports
Ken Bissett couldn't believe it when his daughter, Stephanie, called last season to tell him she had torn an ACL for the third time.
"It was dread," Ken Bissett said. "No, not again."
The Syracuse women's lacrosse defender was coming off a breakout 2006 in which she started every game and tied for fifth on the Orange with 25 ground balls. Stephanie Bissett tore her right anterior cruciate ligament twice in three years in middle and high school. Now, six years later her college career was threatened by a left ACL injury suffered in practice.
"I went to change direction, and my knee just snapped," Bissett said. "Your knee feels weak, and you can't walk on it."
Bissett has been forced to take on more of a coach's role for No. 5 Syracuse, which takes on Towson Sunday in a first-round NCAA tournament game at 3:30 p.m. in the Carrier Dome. It will be the first home NCAA game in the SU program's history. The Orange lost in the quarterfinals to top-seeded Northwestern last year.
Bissett has only played in two games this year, sidelined with a quadriceps tear in addition to her knee.
Former Syracuse coach Lisa Miller said she remembers when Bissett suffered her third ACL tear last season. The team was running a drill in which the defense tries to clear the ball under pressure. Miller saw Bissett plant and tumble to the ground.
"You can just tell," Miller, now the head coach at Harvard, said. "You can see it in their face. I knew when she went down it was probably her knee."
The next day the swelling was so severe, Bissett said it looked like her quad muscle went below her knee. As her teammates heard the "pop" of the muscle tearing, Bissett said all she could think about was the reconstructive surgery and six months of rehab she was so familiar with.
As she recovers, time on the field has come at a premium this season for Bissett. Orange coach Gary Gait confirmed Bissett suffered a quad muscle tear earlier this year. Ken Bissett said his daughter assumed the pain she felt was a result of surgery, but later turned out to be a separate injury.
"It was dread," Ken Bissett said. "No, not again."
The Syracuse women's lacrosse defender was coming off a breakout 2006 in which she started every game and tied for fifth on the Orange with 25 ground balls. Stephanie Bissett tore her right anterior cruciate ligament twice in three years in middle and high school. Now, six years later her college career was threatened by a left ACL injury suffered in practice.
"I went to change direction, and my knee just snapped," Bissett said. "Your knee feels weak, and you can't walk on it."
Bissett has been forced to take on more of a coach's role for No. 5 Syracuse, which takes on Towson Sunday in a first-round NCAA tournament game at 3:30 p.m. in the Carrier Dome. It will be the first home NCAA game in the SU program's history. The Orange lost in the quarterfinals to top-seeded Northwestern last year.
Bissett has only played in two games this year, sidelined with a quadriceps tear in addition to her knee.
Former Syracuse coach Lisa Miller said she remembers when Bissett suffered her third ACL tear last season. The team was running a drill in which the defense tries to clear the ball under pressure. Miller saw Bissett plant and tumble to the ground.
"You can just tell," Miller, now the head coach at Harvard, said. "You can see it in their face. I knew when she went down it was probably her knee."
The next day the swelling was so severe, Bissett said it looked like her quad muscle went below her knee. As her teammates heard the "pop" of the muscle tearing, Bissett said all she could think about was the reconstructive surgery and six months of rehab she was so familiar with.
As she recovers, time on the field has come at a premium this season for Bissett. Orange coach Gary Gait confirmed Bissett suffered a quad muscle tear earlier this year. Ken Bissett said his daughter assumed the pain she felt was a result of surgery, but later turned out to be a separate injury.
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