Auburndale girls soccer duo back strong after injuries ended junior seasons

AUBURNDALE — Auburndale junior Alaney Hancock was the high school’s weight room training for the upcoming district meet when it happened.

“I just fell and I dropped the bar on my neck,” she said. “I was devastated that I couldn't finish weightlifting and so couldn't participate in any district (girls soccer) games or the district (girls weightlifting) meet from there.”

Hancock’s neck injury put her in a neck brace and kept her from strenuous activity for three month. After being a first-team, all-county selection in girls weightlifting as a freshman, she was favored to finish in the top five at the state meet at 110 pounds last season.

It was a double blow for Auburndale because the girls soccer team was now down a second key player. Madison Houlihan had injured her knee and her status to return for the postseason initially was questionable. However, she too ended up being out for the remaining of her junior season.

With their seasons winding down, Hancock and Houlihan are back, playing at their best and are looking forward to a strong finish as the girls soccer district tournaments and girls weightlifting meets begin this week. The 5A-6 district tournament begins Wednesday, but Auburndale moved from No. 2 to No. 1 in the final FHSAA rankings and will receive a first-round bye. The Bloodhounds will play the Gateway-Lake Buena Vista winner in the semifinals on Monday. The Auburndale girls weightlifting team will head to Lake Wales for the meet that begins at 2 p.m. on Thursday.

“It feels really good to be back, and especially playing with all my lifelong friends and being able to play with juniors that I played with when we were little,” Houlihan said. “And so it’s been really fun and so I’m hoping we can make really far in districts so we can end the season with a bang.”

Hancock is looking to end her seasons with two big bangs in both her sports. Last year when the bar fell on her neck, she didn’t know at first that she was hurt. She finished her workout, and it wasn’t until she went home did she know she was hurt. She missed two weeks of school and had a neck brace on until the end of April, and it was May when she began lifting weights again. She took the comeback slowly but had five months before weightlifting and high school soccer began.

“I started both soccer and weightlifting in late and early Jone, and I slowly started getting back in the gym, starting doing more practices, started lifting more,” Hancock said. “I would do AAU meets and little games just to start getting back.”

Hancock plays club soccer for Orlando City.

It took her awhile, she said, to get back to being as aggressive as she normally is as she was concerned her neck. Now, she’s back to her normal game.

“Technically, I'm not supposed to head the ball, but some little ones are OK,” she said. “That's the main thing that every time I do it, I make sure I'm OK.”

In weightlifting, she’s lifting more than she did last season. She was county champion last season in the Olympic competition at 110 pounds before getting hurt. She’s moved up to 119 pounds and said she’s lifting more than last year.

Houlihan, who was on a pace to have more than 15 goals last season, was injured in early January last year playing in an ECNL showcase.

“I was playing outside back, and I went in for a side tackle and that's when they think that’s when I did (for hurt),” she said. “I'm not entirely sure. I played three games all weekend perfectly fine. And when the game ended on the third game, I heard a pop and I knew something kind of was wrong. So we went to the doctor sure enough.”

Houlihan had surgery in February and was supposed to be back by April for her club team. She had torn cartilage in her knee had to get her knee scoped to remove the remaining bits of torn fragments removed. It was supposed to be a four- to six-week recovery, but she had setbacks and it turned into a nine-month recover.

Houlihan said she didn’t play a full soccer game until the high school season. As the season has progressed, she has gotten stronger.

“Her confidence is growing with each game,” Auburndale coach Tawanda Kaseke said. “It’s always going to be, touch and go that first game after being injured. And what we did is we gave her a start that first game to try to help get the jitters out of the way. Five minute thing, she was back to herself and she hasn't turned back since.”

Missing her club season between her junior and senior seasons hurt, however, because it’s a key period for recruiting. Not playing put her behind, but Kaseke said she can play at the next level.

Although she knew what she was missing, Houlihan remained positive through her recovery.

“It was really hard, but I had the mindset that I was got to be able to back,” Houlihan said. “I did everything I was supposed to and then I actually got released a little too soon. I did one practice and my knee just swelled up again and I had to take off another seven weeks. So it was, it was hard, but I tried to stay optimistic and I was happy to at least be back for my senior (high school) year and for my senior club season. So I’m excited.”

Although Peyton and McKenna Battilla were the leaders of the Auburndale attack last season as each scored more than 30 goals, the loss of Hancock and Houlihan in the postseason was a severe blow for the Bloodhounds.

“We lost a lot of attacking options,” Kaseke said. “Both of them are very dynamic on the attack down the middle or out wide. And so we limited our options in terms of who and what we can do in the attack in terms of our style of play. It forced us to almost be one dimensional.”

Auburndale (10-2-3) remained a top team despite some key graduations, including Peyton. McKenna remains a top scorer but the Bloodhounds didn’t replace Peyton’s production, which adds to the importance of having both Hancock and Houlihan for the postseason.

Hancock is second on the team in goals with seven goals, and Houlihan is second in assists, both behind McKeena. Kaseke  was confident that he could count on both players this season.

“These two players have very good work ethic,” Kaseke said. “I think just keeping in touch with them throughout the injuries, they gave me enough confidence that they would back stronger. The work that they were putting in showed that they would be ready. The work Madison's put in with the club teams to get ready for the season, and Alaney coming back from the injury, she's worked very hard. We’ve always known they were hard workers.”

Roy Fuoco can be reached at roy.fuoco@theledger.com.

This article originally appeared on The Ledger: Auburndale girls soccer duo back strong after injuries ended junior seasons