Before every practice session, Bianca Calderone leads the Northeastern University women's soccer team through a set of stretches and exercises targeted specifically at preventing tears to the anterior cruciate ligament.
She knows all about the major knee component not just because she's a physical therapy major, but because of the injury she sustained midway through her freshman season.
Shortly after the 5-foot-4 center back from Wellesley earned a starting role for the Huskies, she tore her left ACL in a practice, and was sidelined the remainder of her first season.
She returned for her sophomore year, but her play was hindered by a knee brace.
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"I worked so hard to get that starting spot freshman year," recalled Calderone, now a senior. Then, after the injury, she said, "I just pushed so much harder to get back in shape and achieve more."
It was a long road to recovery; one she hopes none of her teammates will have to go through. So the team created the ACL prevention program, with Calderone as its ambassador.
"She's been through it; she's overcome the injury and really triumphed over it," said fifth-year head coach Tracey Leone. "When you see what she's done and how amazing she is right now, having overcome that injury, there's nothing our team can give her but the utmost respect in leading that program."
Last fall, she proved herself as a leader on the field as well, guiding Northeastern to the Colonial Athletic Association title and leading the team in minutes played in her first full injury-free collegiate season.
Northeastern started off dismally, with a 0-6-3 mark, but made an incredible turnaround against its Colonial rivals.
"I remember we were getting all down on ourselves, but we just came together as a team one day and we were like, 'OK, we really need to refocus, forget about what happened. It's a new season now that we're starting conference play,'" Calderone said.
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The Huskies went 5-2-1 through the rest of the regular season, then won three straight playoff games, including a 3-1 win over top-seeded James Madison in the CAA championship game.
Through it all, Calderone rarely came off the pitch, nor did she want to. It's a second home to her; she was practically raised on a soccer field.
She and her brothers, Daniel and Michael, all played varsity soccer for Wellesley High. Their mother, Lisa — whose father played semiprofessionally in Italy — coached her from kindergarten all the way up to high school.
Wellesley High plays in the highly competitive Bay State Conference. "The league we play in Wellesley is pretty aggressive, so it prepared me for here because college is way more aggressive and faster," said Calderone, who was a four-time conference all-star for the Raiders and the team's top-scoring forward.
But in college, she's dropped back to the last line of defense, no longer scoring goals, but instead preventing them. Her defensive prowess earned her Northeastern's only spot on the preseason All-CAA team this fall.
"She's just very smart tactically, a smart defender who reads the game very, very well," said Leone, a former member of the 1991 world champion US national team. "She's also very fit, very strong . . . she knows she can outdo anybody physically."
Now she's in prime shape for her senior year, though she can't believe her final season in a Husky uniform is already upon her.
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"It's weird, especially since I sat out for almost two years. It feels like it isn't my senior year," she said.
Her roommate, goalie Paige Burnett, says Calderone's dedication to her rehabilitation was inspiring, and she is thankful to have her defending in front of her again.
"The struggle that she had her sophomore year, trying to get back and play, was difficult to watch, as her friend," said the four-year starter from Placentia, Calif. "But then to have her flourish as this phenomenal leader for our team and watch the success that's come her way . . . it's nothing but well-deserved."
Burnett said Calderone takes a lot of pressure off of her, with her constant pressing style of play. In the home opener against the University of Massachusetts Lowell on Friday, the River Hawks had a clear breakaway to the net, but Calderone angled toward the striker at bolting speed, forcing an early shot and resulting in an easy save for her keeper.
Through two matches, opponents have registered a total of four shots on goal, compared with the Huskies' 15.
"She just makes my job a lot easier," said Burnett, who shut out UMass Lowell 3-0. "She organizes a lot of the problems so that I'm not the only voice in the back. She just digs balls out and she fights and never gives up on a play."
And once Calderone's senior season is over, she has no plans on giving up the game, hoping to play at the next level in some capacity. However, Northeastern's physical-therapy program, which takes five years to complete and extends to a sixth clinical year, may complicate the process for her.
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"I definitely want to keep playing, but I'm just trying to see if I can because of the physical therapy here," she said. "I'll have to see if it works, but I definitely want to play, whether it's overseas or it's here."
But for now, she's just focused on the final season at hand, hoping to make the most of it and make up for the time lost to injury.
"She's really motivated; you can see that," said Leone, who said Calderone is one of the top two or three defenders she's had in her tenure at Northeastern.
"She's been so incredible for us . . . we just don't want her to graduate," she added with a laugh. "But she's hungry, she's ready to go, and is really focused on having a successful senior season."
Taylor C. Snow can be reached at taylorcsnow@yahoo.com. Follow him on Twitter @taylorcsnow.