Ryan’s Hope Turns True Lake City Soccer Player Returns After Successful Surgery
Glenna Ryan planted her right foot, pivoted, then her knee popped.
The result: Ryan’s 1994 soccer season lasted for newly founded Lake City High School for just 26 minutes.
The Timberwolves went on to a third-place state finish.
Ryan’s replacement at sweeper, senior Katie Clark, earned all-state honors. The same honor Ryan merited as a freshman and sophomore.
Last December, Ryan underwent reconstructive knee surgery to repair a torn anterior cruciate ligament.
Another month on crutches was followed by five months of physical therapy.
Ryan was fitted for a high-tech knee brace, designed to prevent hyperextension, which weighs less than a pound.
Cautiously, Ryan returned to the Timberwolves practice field in mid-August. “I played at eight months, which is pretty soon,” she said. “They recommend nine months to a year (for recovery).”
The team welcomed not only Ryan back, but senior Chanda Roane coming off the same ACL surgery. They, along with senior Callie Meyer, were elected tri-captains.
During preseason practices, Ryan’s knee concerned first-year Lake City coach Jim Facciano. “She was very tentative,” he explained. “She couldn’t make it through a whole practice. Her leg would get sore and tired, and she would sit down.
“She said, ‘Don’t worry, I’ll be there.’ She has. As of the first game, she’s been there 100 percent.”
And Ryan’s relentless backfield defensive pressure has helped put the Timberwolves in position to repeat as the North Idaho Independent Soccer League champion.
A 3-0 victory over Sandpoint on Wednesday night ensured Lake City (7-1-2 in league and 8-3-4 overall) of a first-round district tournament bye and host position, as one of the top two seeds.
Crosstown rival Coeur d’Alene (6-1-2, 8-4-3) closes league play today at Lewiston (3-5-1, 5-5-1). A victory by the Vikings earns them the league title, based on a 1-0 win over Lake City. Should the Vikings lose, Lake City is the league champ.
The district tournament concludes Oct. 14 in Moscow. The winner advances to state in Boise on Oct. 19-21.
“I was worried I was not going to be as fast, but it seems like I’m almost as fast as I was,” Ryan said. “Pretty much my main asset is my speed.”
“She gives our backfield a lot of security,” Facciano said. “Her best quality - besides her obvious skill and her speed - is her knowledge of the game and her communication skills.
“When the game is going on, she is controlling the defense. (Yelling) ‘push ‘em up, push em up; mark em.’ That is the sign of an excellent sweeper.”
Ryan was a third grader when she joined her cousin at soccer practice after an aunt noticed her quickness. “In the fifth grade, I started liking (soccer). I started scoring goals.”
Ryan became a defensive specialist in the seventh grade. Now, she’s the last defender assisting the goalkeeper.
“My freshman year, I could only use my right foot,” Ryan said. “(Former coach Bill Eisenwinter) totally got on me to use my left foot, and now I probably favor that foot.”
Ryan worked on heading technique as a sophomore.
Soccer goes year-round for Ryan, who flew to Boise on Thursday morning for a four-day Olympic Developmental Program training session for state age-division teams.
Monday afternoon, Lake City closes the regular season at Hayden Meadows Elementary School in a non-league game against East Valley of Spokane.
“Sweeper is such a pivotal position,” Facciano said. “Maybe it’s not a position of glory, (but) we as coaches and team members love it. The sophisticated soccer fan appreciates the job that a good sweeper, and contrarily a poor sweeper, does.
”(Glenna’s) got the ability to really focus on that (opposing) forward and to be able to read their directions,” Facciano continued. “Together with her speed, she’s able to win the 50-50 ball and turn it up field, not just clear it. She just doesn’t clear it, she ends up focusing on the ball, and stealing it, and turning it up field, and transitioning it into offense.”
Against weaker teams, Ryan sometimes brings the ball up the field herself, and other Timberwolves fall back.
“I remember the summer before I hurt my knee,” Ryan said. “I carried it up two times and scored.
“I get too worried about the defense, so I just pass it off, and also when I hurt my knee I was carrying the ball.”
Ryan, a 3.7 student interested in studying medicine, is being recruited to play collegiate soccer. She relishes the thought of playing the game at a faster level.
“The girls, especially the younger girls, have a lot of respect for what she has to say,” Facciano said. “She has really helped bring the team together as a cohesive unit. She has tried to make everybody feel an equal part of the team.”
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