By Keith Skendore, reporter
Two significant injuries have struck the Lady Thunder soccer team
Coach Todd Messner has confirmed that middle players Mariah Metoxen and Brianna Messner both have suffered concussions during last weekend’s New Berlin West tournament.
In game one, Metoxen kicked a ball that ricochet off a New Berlin West player that was close to her, and struck her in the face, causing the injury.
During the championship game Messner went to head a ball and collided heads with an Ashland player leading to her concussion.
Both girls sat out the Luxemburg-Casco, New London and Marinette conference matches last week. They were also ruled out of last Saturday’s Green Bay East Invite.
Both play in the middle of the field and it affects how everybody is going to play,” Coach Messner said. “Even communication wise, we rely on the two of them to do certain things.
“We are definitely a different team.”
He said most teams rely on the midfielders to transition from defense to offense
“They win a lot of balls defensively, make good passes and distribute to the offense,” Messner said. “We’ve been doing very well because we won in the midfield. It takes pressure off the defense and creates a lot more scoring chances”
The injuries, Messner said, definitely was a big factor in the loss to Ashland.
“We looked like the better team in the first half,” Messner said. “They looked like the better team in the second half.
He said depth had a lot to do with the team’s performance.
“We had six girls that played every minute of both games (160 minutes). That’s a lot for one day.”
“Losing those key girls, we had nothing left.”
Metoxen and Messner both will have to wait until they are symptom free before they return to action. Both are complaining of headaches.
Coach Messner said the girls will take a computerised test which will evaluate different memory things.
Scores significantly lower than the original test the girls each took at the start of the season would indicate a concussion.
“Once it’s determined they have a concussion, they have to be symptom free,” Messner said of the computerised test and a physical test they will also be taking. “They cannot get any symptoms back.
“I’m hoping they will be back to play on Tuesday.”
