With a sudden burst, an ACL explodes, an Olympic dream detonates and a way of life shatters.  It was the loudest noise Leslie Osborne ever heard.

Three days into a late May U.S. Women’s National Team training camp, the players were plugging through the backend session of a double day.  Small-sided 5-v-5 games had just begun.

Osborne was marking the dribbling Heather Mitts.  Mitts spun.  Osborne’s right leg crossed over her left planted leg to follow.  But her left leg still anticipated moving in the direction Mitts had originally been going and did not pivot.

POP!

Osborne knew.  Mitts, who had just returned from tearing her own ACL a year and ten days earlier, knew.

“We were the only ones who heard it but we knew right away that something was wrong because of that noise, that pop,” said Osborne.  “It didn’t hurt at all.  I actually didn’t really swell from the injury until maybe two days later, which was interesting because I never really felt like I tore it except for that pop.”

A MRI taken the next day on May 23 confirmed the ear-piercing snap was Osborne’s ACL ripping in two. 

One of the last players cut from the Gold Medal winning 2004 Olympic team, Osborne’s ascension on the National Team ironically was sparked by that cursed injury.  When Shannon Boxx tore her ACL in the summer of 2006, Osborne, also a defensive midfielder, latched onto the opportunity.  She made such an immediate impact as a starter that when Boxx returned then head coach Greg Ryan sometimes trotted out a lineup that included both players.  At the 2007 FIFA Women’s World Cup, Osborne drew four starts and served as a defensive specialist shutting down Sweden’s Victoria Svensson and England’s Kelly Smith.

As new U.S. head coach Pia Sundhage favors playing with a single holding midfielder, Osborne’s playing time had diminished in 2008 with Boxx often receiving the starting nod, but she still filled an important role off the bench in buoying the team’s chemistry.  Ever positive, Osborne is now struggling to rationalize why her aspirations of competing in her first Olympic Games died so abruptly.

“It’s crazy because I think that this happened for a reason and I don’t know why right now,” Osborne said.  “All I know is that I have different plans now.”

Those new designs continued on June 3 when Osborne underwent surgery to repair her torn ACL and also reconstruct her left ankle.  Saddled with weak ankles that often sprained due to ligaments stretching much too far, Osborne had her right ankle reconstructed in 2004 and was told then that she would eventually need the same procedure performed on her left ankle.  Knowing that she has a lengthy rehabilitation period in front of her for her knee, she decided the time was perfect to have her ankle operated on as well.

A Santa Clara alumna, Osborne returned to the Bay Area for the surgeries.  While staying at the home of her collegiate coach, Jerry Smith, for the past few weeks, she has been surrounded by the Bronco family.  During 2005, Osborne served as a volunteer assistant coach for Santa Clara and many of her former players have been brought her food, driven her to doctor’s appointments and kept her company.

Two days after her surgery Osborne began physical therapy.  She can already bend her knee 105 degrees, a measure that usually is not achieved until three to four weeks post-surgery.  On Monday following an appointment with her surgeon and a visit to Women’s Professional Soccer’s office in San Francisco, former Bronco teammate Brittany Klein will drive Osborne back to the National Team’s home base outside of Los Angeles where she will complete the remainder of her rehab.

Osborne will largely toil in solitude at The Home Depot Center while her U.S. teammates contest a slate of overseas matches followed by a pair of domestic friendlies against Brazil before departing for the 2008 Olympics.  Through emails, text messages and phone calls, she stays in touch with her teammates including Mitts who she connects with daily to chat about the rehab process.  Still the separation pains her.

When the U.S. arrived in South Korea a week ago to prepare for the Peace Queen Cup, Abby Wambach, Heather O’Reilly and Tobin Heath called Osborne on Skype to express how much she is missed.

“I broke down that day because gosh, I could be there with them, I want to be there with them and I miss them so much,” Osborne said.  “It’s just crazy about how that was my life one second and now it’s drastically changed.”

In a cruel twist, Osborne is not the only U.S. player adjusting to a new, undesired reality.  A week after her ACL was repaired, Osborne woke to find an email in her inbox from O’Reilly.  Cat hurt her knee.  Keep her in your prayers.  We’re hoping it’s just her meniscus.

A MRI undergone in Seoul, South Korea extinguished that flicker of hope.  Cat Whitehill, a veteran defender, had likewise torn her left ACL during training and will miss the Olympics.

“Oh, gosh, my heart hurts so much for her,” Osborne said.  “She was there for me so much while I’ve been going through this.  It’s crazy because now I’m telling her everything that she told me.”

Comparing rehab timelines is one topic Osborne and Whitehill are certain to discuss in the coming weeks and months.  Osborne’s master plan calls for her to return to the field – including contact play – by January 1.  She is setting aside two months to regain her fitness and comfort level before jumping into the WPS pre-season in March.

If her schedule holds, seven months and ten days will have elapsed from the date of her injury until the date of her intended return.  That time period speaks to the most difficult consequence to come to terms with: There is no quick remedy for a shredded ligament, no swift mending of a tattered Olympic dream and no rapid restoration of normalcy, not when you hear POP! (Courtesy WPS)