A great story about one of our greatest!

SOO HOO FIGHTS FOR ONE LAST SEASON ON SOCCER FIELD...

CLEVELAND, OH - The senior season is a special time for any student-athlete as four years of hard work and dedication culminate in a final season on the field. For women’s soccer midfielder Jen Soo Hoo (Berkeley Heights, NJ), her senior season was abruptly put on hold in early June. Soo Hoo tore her anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) and lateral meniscus in a co-ed soccer game.
“It was really simple, I was just changing directions and it snapped,” said Soo Hoo about suffering the injury. “I didn’t think anything was wrong at first because I was able to limp off and it didn’t really hurt. After I found out, I was really upset at first but I always assumed I’d try to come back and play.”

For many athletes, a medical red-shirt would be the course of action, and their senior season would just be put on hold a year. For Soo Hoo, who is already in her first year of medical school at Case Western Reserve concurrently with her senior year, the academic requirements would have been too much.

"There was a period where I debated between red-shirting and playing next year or coming back for this season,” explained Soo Hoo. “Med school wise though, I knew my only chance of playing was probably this year.”

There was only one option left for Soo Hoo – fight as hard as she could to make it back to the soccer team by the end of the season.

So Soo Hoo did what she could and rehabbed every chance she got. With the start of the season less than three months away, there was no chance she could return from an injury which typical takes six months of recovery time by then. However, if she could get ahead of schedule, a return for University Athletic Association (UAA) play in October was not out of the question.
“I never really thought about not being able to come back this season, I was always like ‘no, you have to come back this season,’” said Soo Hoo. “I wanted to keep pushing it, like when she told me I could run, tomorrow I wanted to sprint. (Case soccer’s head athletic trainer, Erin Lake) was really good about all of it. She knew when to tell me no I couldn’t do that.”

“She has worked very hard over the last few months,” said Lake. “Jen's desire to return to the field was the driving force behind her rehab. Some people need to pushed, but not Jen. There were times I had to slow her down. She managed to make rehab a priority, even with medical school classes.”

“Jen’s dedication to the program and the team in the rehab process has been outstanding,” said third-year Head Coach Tiffany Crooks. “As a first year med student, she could easily have walked away from the season and her teammates to focus on her studies. Rather she has attended nearly all of our practices, attends all the games, and is finding success in med school.”
Last year’s team captain received plenty of encouragement to make it back from teammates and the coaching staff.

“I received a million calls, everyone just wanted to know what happened and they were really sorry,” said Soo Hoo. “Coach (Crooks) tried to call me all the time but I didn’t want to talk to her at first because I didn’t want to cry while talking to her on the phone.”
While Soo Hoo sat and gave encouragement from the bench, her teammates flourished to open the season. The Spartans got off to a 7-3-2 start and were ranked in the Great Lakes Region for the first time since at least 2004. This included a 2-0 start to the conference season, the team’s best start in UAA play since 1993.

“The team was very open with me being apart of everything,” said the senior. “The first UAA win, I was very happy for the team. Obviously, I would have liked to have been a part of that, but I still felt a part of it, sitting and watching.”

Not everything has been smooth sailing for the Spartans this season as several other players have gone down with knee injuries. Already being on the road to recovery, Soo Hoo was able to talk to the other during their time of need.

“I’ve talked to (the injured girls) and everyone reacts to it differently,” said Soo Hoo “It’s nice for them that they have at least another year to play, but it’s obviously devastating.”
All of Soo Hoo’s persistent indeed paid off. In early October, Soo Hoo was cleared to practice and just a week later, she joined the team on a big road trip to St. Louis and Chicago to make her first appearances of the year.

“It’s good to be back out there and just playing,” explained Soo Hoo. “Fitness is huge right now after only practicing a week before going out there.”

While the Spartans dropped both games on the trip to No.9 Washington University and No. 15 University of Chicago, the team was happy to have Soo Hoo back.

“Jen is one of the most gifted players in the UAA, completely healthy she’s is a game changer,” said Crooks. “Even though she is not 100 percent, she can still provide us with limited minutes and impact the outcome of a game. Just seeing her on the field and playing is inspiring. I'm not sure I've ever been prouder of a player.”

Soo Hoo’s knee will prohibit her from playing at the level she was at a season ago as one of the team’s best players. However, she’s going to try to think about her knee as little as possible the rest of the season.

“It was tough, because I remember how I used to play before the surgery and I feel a lot slower and can’t do the same things I used to,” explained Soo Hoo. “I try not to think about it because it’s all mental and I know my doctor wouldn’t have cleared me if I couldn’t go out on the field. It’s a little scary because of how I tore my ACL, just turning.”

The Spartans have four matches left (@ Oberlin - Oct. 24, Carnegie Mellon - Oct. 30, Emory – Nov. 1, Rochester - Nov. 7) in the regular season. That final date against No. 10 University of Rochester is senior night and is expected to be an emotional night as the team graduates four seniors, forward Kaitlyn Yule (Raleigh, NC/Vernon Hills), midfielder Caroline Garber (Cincinnati, OH/Ursuline Academy), defender Katie Fromwiller (Clackamas, OR/Sam Barlow) and Soo Hoo.

“Every senior year we always see the seniors get very emotional,” said Soo Hoo. “This is your last game ever playing soccer in a competitive environment and obviously soccer has been a huge part of our lives so it’s going to be something that we’re all going to miss.”

While that game will be the end of Soo Hoo’s playing career, she will still be at Case Western Reserve another three years for medical school. She already has experience coaching youth soccer as an assistant with former Case player, Madeline VanGunten, and has spoken with Coach Crooks about staying involved with the team in the years to come.

“I talked to Coach Tiff about it and she’s very open to it,” said Soo Hoo about having a future role with the program. “I hope to help out, come to practices and home games at least. I want to help out as much as possible. Coaching is really different than playing…it takes a lot of patience.”