Before I watched a women’s soccer game, I jumped to the conclusion that it would be a boring game with no contact and no physical play. After less than a game, I found I was completely wrong.

At nearly every game I attend I see a girl get taken out by a slide tackle or someone getting shoved down. I’ve even seen a girl forced to leave a game after suffering a concussion.

“It’s one of the more physically demanding sports,” coach Frank Horvat said. “I’d say it’s basically football without pads.”

While many who haven’t seen a soccer game would laugh at this comment, it’s not as crazy as it sounds after seeing the games I have.

It is not even halfway through the season and the Huskies have already suffered their fair share of injuries.

There have been a few concussions, several sprained ankles and an ACL injury along with other various bumps and bruises.

In a sport where one can’t use their hands there are many serious injuries that occur to an individual’s legs.

In the preseason, freshman Mallory Schaefer suffered a season-ending ACL injury when she went for a slide tackle and her knee stuck and turned the wrong way.

Schaefer’s recovery will be six months of pain-staking recuperation to get back on the field to put herself back on the line and possibly have it all happen again.

“I will have to focus a lot on endurance and lift a lot of weights and do a lot of ab work so I don’t gain weight,” Schaefer said. “Soccer is very demanding because you have to be in top physical and mental shape, especially with collegiate ball.”

With 22 people all trying to kick the same ball, people are bound to get kicked. Twice this year an NIU player has suffered a contusion from getting kicked.

This weekend, junior Maggie Nowicki suffered a half-inch wide contusion on her shin after getting kicked fighting for the ball. Earlier this year, freshman Chanelle Crosby suffered a similar injury to her shin as well.

However, one of the toughest positions on a soccer field might be the goalie position. As of this week, NIU’s top two goalies are hurt. Junior Leigh Steigerwald just received eight stitches above her eye. The other, freshman goalkeeper Carrie Dvorak, has been sidelined with a severely sprained right thumb.

“It’s pretty rough considering we use our hands every day,” Dvorak said. “Many goalies break, sprain or jam their fingers and there is lots of physical contact, including getting kicked in the head.”

Throughout all these injuries, players like Schaefer and Dvorak constantly receive treatment so they can jump right back out there and compete in their physical environment.

From what I’ve witnessed and heard through first-hand accounts, soccer is not for the weak of heart. To play it you have to be willing to play through an injury and be willing to go back out there even if you just got kicked in the head.

As Dvorak says, “Once you try playing this sport you will understand how physically tough it is.”