In the late 1980s, Ronnie Lott, an All-Pro defensive back for the San Francisco 49ers, broke his finger in the middle of the season. Lott was given two options: have surgery and miss the rest of the season or have it amputated. Lott finished the season with only nine fingers.
Senior forward Caroline Helwig is the Duke field hockey version of Ronnie Lott.
In her third game of the season this year against Virginia Commonwealth, Helwig charged the net after a loose ball as she always does. Only this time, the approaching keeper, in an attempt to win the ball, swept Helwig's leg and down she went to the turf.
"It was like two trains going at each other," coach Liz Tchou said. "The keeper kicked her leg out and Caroline didn't get up. Usually after those plays, she just pops right back up. We knew it was bad, and she knew it was bad."
Tchou and the team were shocked. After all, Helwig was a fifth-year senior who was red-shirted her freshman year due to a torn ACL in her left knee. And this was her last chance to play field hockey as a Blue Devil.
Helwig hung around for the remainder of the game, cheering her team on to a 4-0 victory over the Rams. The news she received about her newest injury was not promising, another torn ACL, this time in her right knee.
In addition to her ACL, however, Helwig also tore her MCL, meniscus, posterior oblique, coronary ligaments and a few tendons and other ligaments to boot. At this point, things looked bleak for Helwig, as almost nothing was holding her knee in place.
Helwig was given two choices. If she opted for surgery, she knew that she had played her last game in a Duke field hockey jersey. But the decision was not a difficult one.
"Caroline told the doctors, 'Just get me a brace because I want to play,'" Tchou said.
It was as simple as that. The doctors agreed to do what they could to get her back on the field. Rehabilitation started immediately, and the results were amazing.
Helwig started simply by working on her range of motion the first few days. She was running by the end of the week and had regained her ability to do lateral cutting by week three.
Despite suffering an injury that sometimes ends athletes careers, Helwig was back on the field by the fourth week. The only sign of her injury these days is the brace she must wear on her leg.
"Right now, it's great," Helwig said. "I barely feel it when I play. The only obstacle is the actual brace itself that slows me down.... I'm just really grateful for the way things have turned out."
As if her return itself was not impressive enough, the fifth-year senior scored her first goal of the year in her third game back versus Fairfield. She followed up that performance by netting the game-winning goal against ACC foe Wake Forest Sunday.
"You'd think she might be limping a bit or something out there," Tchou said. "But she's actually playing better right now than she ever has."
For a time near the end of last season, it was questionable as to whether or not Helwig would return for the 1999 campaign. She had one more year of eligibility left, and Tchou claimed that she did not plan on taking "no" for an answer from her star forward.
In the end, it did not take too much convincing for Helwig to give things one more go.
"I was undecided at the end of the season last year," she said. "But I am the type of person that can't give up knowing I could have given more. So, I really wanted to come back and see how the season would play out."
It is unlikely she expected things to play out quite like they did, but things appear to be on the right track now. The Blue Devils own an 11-5 record and earned their first ACC win of the season over Wake Forest on Sunday.
And Tchou knows her team could not have achieved this level of success without Helwig.
"She has just been a role model for all of our players," Tchou said. "She has just been the heart and soul of the team, as far as setting an example that if you just set your mind to do something you can achieve it. And I don't know how many other people would do what she did."
The respect in the relationship between Tchou and Helwig is certainly mutual, as Helwig recognized her coach's impact on her life.
"Liz has really given me every opportunity, and I owe her the world for that," she said of her coach. "She came here with such high energy and dedication to the Duke field hockey program. She is a selfless individual and I owe her a lot."
With only three games left in the regular season, don't expect Helwig to be holding anything back. However, it would be quite ridiculous to expect her to give anything less than 100 percent.
"[The team] definitely doesn't want to have any regrets," she said. "We have taken steps to play this season like we won't have a second chance."
This fifth-year senior would like nothing more than to end her career with a strong postseason run and maybe even the team's first-ever NCAA Tournament bid. But, regardless of the team's final standing, and the season's final outcome, one thing is for sure: Helwig will leave it all on the field.
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