Most patella hairline fractures crack in the shape of a smile. Meg Mosenson’s cracked in the shape of a frown.

‘I guess that means my patella injury was sadder than others,’ Mosenson said.

The injury’s unusual shape reflected the state of Mosenson’s 2006 season – her freshman year with the Syracuse women’s lacrosse team. Because the fracture’s shape was unique, doctors had trouble making a diagnosis. So the attacker played several games despite a serious injury.

Regardless, it didn’t seem to affect her play. Mosenson started the first nine games of her career scoring 13 goals. She was one of the reasons why the Orange jumped to a 7-2 start.

But all of a sudden, her season ended on March 28. Mosenson had to watch her team’s last seven games from the sidelines, unable to walk, let alone run up and down the lacrosse field.

Now a sophomore, Mosenson is trying to regain her form from a year ago. In less than a year, she went from learning how to walk from scratch to playing Division I lacrosse for a nationally ranked team. Though she has only started two of the nine games she has played this season, Mosenson has made seven goals and four assists – including one in Wednesday’s 16-8 rout over Colgate.

She has little time to rest. The No. 11 Orange returns home today to take on No. 18 Rutgers at 7 p.m. in the Carrier Dome. Mosenson is just glad to be contributing again.

‘It was so hard for her,’ sophomore Katie Rowan said. ‘Really, it was hard for all of us because we are so close with Meg. We knew how much she wanted to be out there last year and it was so frustrating to see her like that.’

Mosenson thought she had tendinitis in her right knee. Although she played lacrosse and ice hockey most of her life, she never suffered a serious injury before. Because she was playing so well, there was no reason to bring attention to some soreness.

As the season went on, a little soreness turned into a lot of pain. Mosenson sat out Syracuse’s 10th game of the season, hoping an extra day would solve the problem, especially with an upcoming week off.

By the next game, Mosenson thought she was ready to play. She lined up with the team for basic one-on-one drills – a common pregame warmup. When Mosenson dodged past her defender and shot toward the net, she heard a pop in her right knee. Right away she realized it wasn’t just tendinitis.

‘Based on how the season was going and how I was playing, the experience actually was traumatizing,’ Mosenson said. ‘I didn’t really know how to handle being injured.’

Later that month, Mosenson had surgery to repair the fracture. Doctors later put two screws in her knee. She spent the entire spring and summer on crutches. Eventually, she had to learn to walk again.

After Mosenson could walk, next came the hard part: running. She sat out the first two games of this season before returning to the field on March 3 against Virginia – almost 11 months after feeling the pop.

Even as a freshman, Mosenson had the hardest shot on the team, Rowen said. It was apparently unaffected by the knee injury. Three days after her first game back, Mosenson drilled three goals in a 23-4 rout over Binghamton.

Mosenson knows she is still not back to normal and understands her role this season as a reserve. But as she gets back in shape and plays more, she hopes to be back in the lineup by next year.

‘Just being mobile again is awesome, because for so long I couldn’t do anything,’ Mosenson said. ‘Watching all those games made me a smarter player, and I’ll be back to normal soon.’

Published on April 12, 2007 at 12:00 pm