SE: Rocha Returns Old Self Again, Adds Depth to K-State Soccer Backline
Aug 23, 2018 | Soccer, Sports Extra
By Corbin McGuire
Aly Rocha did not have a car her first year at K-State in 2016. She also did not have a healthy right knee. This made getting to her rehabilitation appointments, as early as 5:30 a.m., and the California native's first season away from home, extremely difficult.
Still, Rocha found a way through it.
Instead of asking teammates or friends for an early ride, she hopped on a bike and rode the few blocks from her apartment to rehab. "It was not that far," Rocha said of her two-wheeled commute. "When it would be like 30 degrees… it was brutal, but it was worth it."
Later in the morning, she would watch her teammates practice and often be hit with waves of sadness that she was not out there doing what she loved. Through her grueling redshirt season filled with bike rides, rehab sessions and observatory practices, however, Rocha reminded herself, "OK, I'm a step closer to getting back on the field."
Now, two years later, Rocha's more than back on the field. After playing in only eight matches last season, she has returned to become a legitimate starting option for K-State, off to the first 2-0-0 start in program history with a home match against Drake on Thursday at 7 p.m.
"I think Aly brings composure, brings an understanding of how to play out of the back and gives us a weapon on set pieces," K-State head coach Mike Dibbini said. "We have a lot of depth on our backline this year, which is really good. It's good to have Aly step in, be positive and be confident at the same time. It only allows us to have more depth as a unit."
Rocha started at outside back and played 69 minutes in K-State's 4-0 win over Oakland last Sunday. She sent in the corner kick that led to her team's first goal and put a shot on goal as well.
"Honestly, I feel like I'm myself again," the 5-foot-4 defender said. "Soccer, I feel like it's my therapy. Being fully back, it's such a great feeling. I feel like I can just be myself on the field and do me."
Rocha was not at this level for a long stretch of time, mentally or physically. Not only did she move far away from home, she did so in the middle of a knee rehab. She had no car, no family nearby and no guarantee she would bounce back from the injury like she hoped.
What she did have was experience.
"If I didn't love the game," Rocha said, "I probably would have just stopped after the first injury."
Yes, this was not Rocha's first knee injury. In fact, it was not even the first on that knee.
Rocha also tore her ACL during her freshman year of high school. She said she was pushed from behind on the field, stepped forward and landed awkwardly enough to put her through her first knee reconstruction process.
"Going through it the first time," Rocha said, "I thought I'm probably never going to get back to where I was again. I should just stop now. There's no point."
Her older brother, AJ, helped steer her back toward a positive mindset through his injury experiences. He had risen quickly as a soccer talent, playing for the youth team of Chivas USA, a former Major League Soccer club. Then injuries derailed his career.
"He'd been out for like three years in a row for constant surgeries," Rocha said. "He'd just tell me, 'If I can do it, you can do it. Just be you. You love the sport and you know you're not going to stop until you make it.'"
So, she kept going. Rocha came back better than ever, too. She was a force for Slammers FC, a nationally prestigious club in her home state. She tallied 22 goals and 52 assists in her last four seasons with the club, including a game-winning goal to send her team to the ECNL Nationals.
Division I offers poured in for Rocha, like many of her club teammates. She was one of more than 10 on her club to sign with a Power Five program in 2016. Life, for the Huntington Beach native, was good.
Then, in a match a few months before she was set to move to Manhattan, a player went for a tackle and buckled Rocha's right leg. Soon, she was sent to many places she hoped to never revisit — doctors' offices, MRI scans, crutches, physical therapy.
The positive? She knew what was in front of her. If she could do it once, she was convinced she could do it again.
"Going through the second round, I knew what I was getting myself into," she said. "I was like, 'OK, it's going to be a lot better than the first one because I know what to expect.'"
The most frustrating part of the second rebuild, she said, was to be patient. It took longer than her first knee recovery, mostly for caution, so Rocha had to hang on to every milestone along the way.
"Running and being able to tackle again," she said were two moments she remembers well. "But mostly just playing on the field, I remember crying (my first time back)."
Her first match back was in the spring of 2017 in Colorado. This milestone trumped all those before it.
"I was shaking. I had chills. I felt like a little kid again," she said. "I know it was a spring game and didn't mean anything, but to me, it meant everything."
"My life is here," she continued, pointing to K-State's soccer field. "I could get back to playing my life again."
Rocha spent this past summer back where her life began, in California. She said she trained two to three times a day with her brother and father to get ready for her redshirt sophomore season as a Wildcat. She will return home with her team next week as K-State travels to play Santa Clara and San Jose State, ready to prove she's back on the field for good.
"I believe in myself," she said. "I feel like I'm myself."
Aly Rocha did not have a car her first year at K-State in 2016. She also did not have a healthy right knee. This made getting to her rehabilitation appointments, as early as 5:30 a.m., and the California native's first season away from home, extremely difficult.
Still, Rocha found a way through it.
Instead of asking teammates or friends for an early ride, she hopped on a bike and rode the few blocks from her apartment to rehab. "It was not that far," Rocha said of her two-wheeled commute. "When it would be like 30 degrees… it was brutal, but it was worth it."
Later in the morning, she would watch her teammates practice and often be hit with waves of sadness that she was not out there doing what she loved. Through her grueling redshirt season filled with bike rides, rehab sessions and observatory practices, however, Rocha reminded herself, "OK, I'm a step closer to getting back on the field."
Now, two years later, Rocha's more than back on the field. After playing in only eight matches last season, she has returned to become a legitimate starting option for K-State, off to the first 2-0-0 start in program history with a home match against Drake on Thursday at 7 p.m.
"I think Aly brings composure, brings an understanding of how to play out of the back and gives us a weapon on set pieces," K-State head coach Mike Dibbini said. "We have a lot of depth on our backline this year, which is really good. It's good to have Aly step in, be positive and be confident at the same time. It only allows us to have more depth as a unit."
Rocha started at outside back and played 69 minutes in K-State's 4-0 win over Oakland last Sunday. She sent in the corner kick that led to her team's first goal and put a shot on goal as well.
"Honestly, I feel like I'm myself again," the 5-foot-4 defender said. "Soccer, I feel like it's my therapy. Being fully back, it's such a great feeling. I feel like I can just be myself on the field and do me."
Rocha was not at this level for a long stretch of time, mentally or physically. Not only did she move far away from home, she did so in the middle of a knee rehab. She had no car, no family nearby and no guarantee she would bounce back from the injury like she hoped.
What she did have was experience.
"If I didn't love the game," Rocha said, "I probably would have just stopped after the first injury."
Yes, this was not Rocha's first knee injury. In fact, it was not even the first on that knee.
Rocha also tore her ACL during her freshman year of high school. She said she was pushed from behind on the field, stepped forward and landed awkwardly enough to put her through her first knee reconstruction process.
"Going through it the first time," Rocha said, "I thought I'm probably never going to get back to where I was again. I should just stop now. There's no point."
Her older brother, AJ, helped steer her back toward a positive mindset through his injury experiences. He had risen quickly as a soccer talent, playing for the youth team of Chivas USA, a former Major League Soccer club. Then injuries derailed his career.
"He'd been out for like three years in a row for constant surgeries," Rocha said. "He'd just tell me, 'If I can do it, you can do it. Just be you. You love the sport and you know you're not going to stop until you make it.'"
So, she kept going. Rocha came back better than ever, too. She was a force for Slammers FC, a nationally prestigious club in her home state. She tallied 22 goals and 52 assists in her last four seasons with the club, including a game-winning goal to send her team to the ECNL Nationals.
Division I offers poured in for Rocha, like many of her club teammates. She was one of more than 10 on her club to sign with a Power Five program in 2016. Life, for the Huntington Beach native, was good.
Then, in a match a few months before she was set to move to Manhattan, a player went for a tackle and buckled Rocha's right leg. Soon, she was sent to many places she hoped to never revisit — doctors' offices, MRI scans, crutches, physical therapy.
The positive? She knew what was in front of her. If she could do it once, she was convinced she could do it again.
"Going through the second round, I knew what I was getting myself into," she said. "I was like, 'OK, it's going to be a lot better than the first one because I know what to expect.'"
The most frustrating part of the second rebuild, she said, was to be patient. It took longer than her first knee recovery, mostly for caution, so Rocha had to hang on to every milestone along the way.
"Running and being able to tackle again," she said were two moments she remembers well. "But mostly just playing on the field, I remember crying (my first time back)."
Her first match back was in the spring of 2017 in Colorado. This milestone trumped all those before it.
"I was shaking. I had chills. I felt like a little kid again," she said. "I know it was a spring game and didn't mean anything, but to me, it meant everything."
"My life is here," she continued, pointing to K-State's soccer field. "I could get back to playing my life again."
Rocha spent this past summer back where her life began, in California. She said she trained two to three times a day with her brother and father to get ready for her redshirt sophomore season as a Wildcat. She will return home with her team next week as K-State travels to play Santa Clara and San Jose State, ready to prove she's back on the field for good.
"I believe in myself," she said. "I feel like I'm myself."
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