Fifteen minutes into the first practice of the year, and her season was over — right away, Lindsey Johns knew what had happened.

“I’ve heard stories from people who have torn their [anterior cruciate ligament],” the junior midfielder on the ASU soccer team said. “So when I did it, I knew what I had done, and that’s what freaked me out.”

After a month of running, Johns had been conditioned to play tough. She was in the midst of embarking upon her second year with the team when a routine drill went wrong.

“I was running beside a girl, and I just got knocked,” she said. “It’s one of those things — it’s like a point of no return. You land awkwardly, and you just tear it.”

Though the injury put her Sun Devil soccer career on hold, tearing her ACL was anything but a deal-breaker for Johns.

The only difference in her story was that being a part of the team didn’t necessarily have to mean being on the field.

“I think that my mentality for the entire thing has changed,” she said. “I was miserable when I wasn’t playing. You’re on a team, but you’re not really a part of it. It’s like your identity, [and] once it’s gone you’re like, ‘OK, what do I do now?’”

It was in the time she spent watching her team from the bench that she discovered her real passion for the game. Suddenly, waking up early to go run at practice didn’t seem like such a bad idea.

“Being on the sidelines last fall gave me a new appreciation, just to not take things for granted or complain about running or getting up early to go to practice,” she said. “Getting injured just makes you enjoy it more. You want to play harder when you’re out there.”

So much so, that in her second game back, Johns found a way to score her first collegiate goal, aiding in her team’s double-overtime victory over No. 23 Tennessee.

Now, she’s looking to become an impact player on this year’s team, learning how to overcome her injury and making the best out of the position she worked so hard to get back to.

“Getting injured can be the worst thing in the world,” ASU coach Kevin Boyd said. “But it can also have some positives to it. Sometimes, the way you view the game and what you have to do for it end up being positive. Sometimes, there are some points where it affects your attitude — if you’re the type of person that has an overall objective fashion, you can get something out of it. Credit to her for getting something out of it … That’s a terrific attitude.”

For Johns, soccer is a passion. It’s a way of life, and when she was injured, it was something that motivated her to regain her strength — in her mind, quitting was never an option.

“I think everyone goes through days where you wonder why you’re playing,” Johns said. “When I got hurt, it was a realization of how much I love soccer, and I wanted to do it and rehab and come back so I could enjoy the rest of my time playing at ASU.”

As the season continues, Johns and the rest of the 2009 squad will continue to do their jobs, to improve upon their play and to take one game at a time, trying all the while to enjoy themselves.

“I think I was lucky compared to some of the other girls,” she said. “I got to come back during the spring, so I kind of got to slowly get back into it and gain my confidence and my touches and my soccer fitness.”

Reach the reporter at emiley.darling@asu.edu.