NU soccer player returns after freak accident

While lying in a hospital bed, all Nebraska soccer player Kori Saunders could think about was getting back on the field.

Saunders' family and friends were worried about more than soccer. On Aug. 10, the first day of practice, the NU sophomore had been the victim of a freak accident serious enough to keep her in the hospital for a week.

In between two-a-day practices on that August day, the glass table that Saunders was sitting on collapsed. An 8-inch shard of glass pierced her back, cutting her ureter, puncturing her kidney and chipping a vertebrae.

If the glass had entered Saunders's back a few centimeters to the left or right, the knife-like object may have paralyzed the forward.

But Saunders wasn't thinking about any of that as she lay in that hospital bed. She was wishing that she could put on the Nebraska soccer jersey again, and soon.

Just seven weeks after the accident, Saunders has done just that. She is back with the Huskers, having seen her first game action and recording her first assist against Missouri on Friday.

The sophomore could have redshirted, but the sidelines were hardly better than that hospital bed. The field is exactly where she wanted to be all along.

"I only lost a half a season," Saunders said. "It hurt more to watch the team. I never thought about redshirting. I'm no good on the bench."

Until last week, NU Coach John Walker said he thought the bench was where Saunders would spend the rest of the season. After recovering from the injury, the midfielder and forward still had to get back into soccer shape. Walker said he was leaning toward a redshirt season for the sophomore.

"Honestly, a couple of weeks ago, I didn't think she'd make it back," Walker said.

Saunders wasn't buying it, though, her coach said.

"I presented her with all the reasons not to come back," Walker said. "She was just so passionate about coming back to play with this team."

Junior midfielder Meghan Anderson said she expected Saunders to bypass the redshirt season.

"I wasn't surprised she came back," Anderson said. "She's a fighter, so I knew she'd work hard."

Even after Saunders rejected the redshirt, it was unclear when she would first take the field. The day before the Missouri game, Walker said, he didn't believe Saunders would return until this Friday's game against Texas.

"I didn't decide she'd play until the day of the game," Walker said. "I watched her practice that day and knew she had done the work."

Saunders said she felt fine after playing for 40 minutes during NU's 2-0 win over Missouri.

Walker said he didn't notice any hesitancy in Saunders's play.

"She made a bunch of tough tackles against Missouri," Walker said. "She definitely hasn't lost any of her tenacity or courage."

In her second game back, Saunders was knocked to the ground after she collided with a Kansas player.

"It scared me for a second," Saunders said. "I got hit in the side and had a shooting pain. It was hard to breathe, but I realized I just got the wind knocked out of me."

But that was the only time Saunders said she thought about the injury.

After Saunders was medically cleared to play, it was back to full throttle, the 31/2-inch scar on her back the only reminder of an injury that nearly cost the Overland Park, Kan., native her Husker career.

"I have to be 100 percent to play my game," Saunders said. "If I can't play that hard, I shouldn't play."

Saunders said she didn't have the patience to let her skills come back to her and shake the rust off.

"I keep feeling I don't have the time to work," Saunders said. "I need to do it now."

More than anything, Saunders said she wanted to win a championship.

"That was definitely a big factor," Saunders said. "The team is incredibly talented, and we have a good chance to win it all. It's a dream."