Maryland women鈥檚 lacrosse player overcomes rare leg condition
COLLEGE PARK, MD. (BVM) 鈥� Sophia Antonopoulos, a junior Terp on the women鈥檚 lacrosse team, came to the University of Maryland her freshman year with high hopes for the next four years. However, her collegiate career took a tragic turn after she was diagnosed with a rare leg condition forcing her to medically disqualify for the rest of her time at UMD.聽
Antonopoulos, who was a highly–recruited player from Towson, Maryland, made the ultimate decision to commit to the University of Maryland after her freshman year of high school. She not only chose the University of Maryland for its exceptional lacrosse program, but a huge deciding factor was its great academics. Antonopolous chose the University of Maryland over UNC, Michigan, Notre Dame and Princeton.聽
Overwhelmed with excitement, Antonopoulos recalls arriving in College Park for the first time as she was met with smiling faces from her older teammates.聽
鈥淚 was so excited to be at UMD, you know, it was a dream come true being able to play under Kathy Reese, who is one of the best coaches in the game,鈥� Antonopoulos said.
However, her dream was short-lived after she began suffering severe leg pain during workouts and practices. Antonopoulos discussed that she suffered from lower leg pain throughout her whole life, which made playing sports in high school very challenging. Antonopolous explained that she had visited multiple doctors and none of them could figure out what was wrong.聽
鈥淎fter a while, it got to a point where I was in constant pain all the time, I just became used to it and began to accept it as normal,鈥� Antonopoulos said.聽
The pain was taken to a new level when Antonopolous arrived in College Park, making it unbearable for her to participate in team runs and lifts.聽
鈥淭he intensity began to surge and the symptoms began to get a lot worse. I had a lot of numbness throughout my calves and it hurt all the time,鈥� Antonopoulos said.
After months of testing and procedures, one of her doctors eventually figured out where all of these problems were stemming from. Antonopolous was diagnosed with a rare disease called popliteal artery entrapment syndrome. This syndrome occurs when the calf muscle is enlarged and compresses the artery in the knee which cuts off blood flow to the lower leg.聽
Antonopolous had to endure a total of four surgeries in the past three years to cut out the excess calf muscle. She explains that after her first surgery in the fall, she believed that the problem was fixed and was trying to get back in lacrosse shape to be ready for the season.
鈥淎fter I started training again, the symptoms returned eventually. We ran some more tests and found out that the syndrome had come back into my legs, so we decided to do another surgery in the spring,鈥� Antonopolous explained.
She describes the feelings that she had when she was told she would have to get another surgery.聽
鈥淎t this point, I was on my third surgery in less than two years of college. They were very extensive surgeries; I wasn鈥檛 feeling like myself at all. That’s when me and the coaches started having the conversation about medically disqualifying.鈥�
Medical disqualification occurs when a player is ineligible to play in competition because of a medical reason. However, medically disqualifying allows the University to continue providing athletic related financial aid and scholarships to the student-athlete. The student-athlete is still treated like a normal player on the team and is allowed to attend practices and workouts. However, they are never allowed to compete in a collegiate game again after signing the NCAA contract.聽
鈥淎s you can imagine for someone who had played lacrosse their whole life, this was absolutely heartbreaking and devastating when I had to make this decision. You know, you spend your entire middle school and high school career trying to get recruited to play lacrosse in college and you work so hard. Then one day, it’s just all down the drain,鈥� Antonopolous said.聽
Although giving up lacrosse was a huge decision weighing on her shoulders, Antonopolous said that at the end of the day, her decision to medically disqualify came down to her future.聽
鈥淚t ultimately came down to my life,鈥� Antonopoulos said. 鈥淚 have future aspirations outside of lacrosse, to be a physician鈥檚 assistant, which involves me being on my feet for many hours of the day. If I can’t walk without pain, I can’t pursue those dreams.鈥�
Although Antonopolous made the final decision to quit lacrosse she explains that this was one of the most challenging decisions she has had to make and there are still upsetting moments, even today.聽
鈥淭here are definitely hard days like, when the team is dressed up in the locker room, and I have to sit there knowing that I will never be able to do that,鈥� Antonopoulos explained.聽
However, Sophia believes that in the long run she has made the right decision in her sacrifices in order to continue to live a long and happy life.聽
鈥淵ou know I think I made the right decision and for me it was a sign from God that I wasn鈥檛 made to play lacrosse forever and that I have another life to offer.鈥�
Even though Antonopoulos may not be able to physically represent her team on the field this season, she is looking forward to cheering them on from the sidelines.
