Two years ago, Addy Lang was one of the state’s most prolific scorers with 25 goals.
Lang was poised to repeat that effort last girls soccer season, but a torn ACL prevented her taking the field for Columbus North. Now a senior, she’s back on the field and ready to lead the Bull Dogs to a bounce-back season.
“(Sitting out) was pretty bad,” Lang said. “It wasn’t very fun.”
The Republic Girls Soccer Player of the Year in 2014, Lang was playing for her club team in May 2015 when she was injured. She went up in the air to take a shot, and when she landed, somebody hit her and the knee twisted. She heard a pop.
Lang returned to her Center Grove club team in November and played through this summer. She feels like she is fully recovered.
“(Rehab) was pretty tough, but I just kept going at it and went harder than I did before,” Lang said. “From training and just working out and making it stronger, I feel stronger than I did before.”
North struggled with Lang out of the lineup last season. After going 13-5-1 and winning a sectional title her sophomore year, the Bull Dogs went 5-9-3 and lost to Columbus East in last year’s sectional.
To illustrate the significance of Lang’s absence, North scored only 22 goals as a team last season, or three less than Lang had herself the year before.
“We were not scoring goals last year, and we were losing games by a goal,” North coach Derek Stewart said. “Obviously, we missed her in that regard.”
This year, Lang wants to score more goals than she did as a sophomore. She also wants to make it to state.
“I’m excited,” Lang said. “I think our team is going to be really good this year. We have a lot of strong seniors and a lot of new incoming freshmen that are really good.”
Lang has visited Bellarmine University. She also has talked to coaches at Hanover, Trine and The Citadel.
Stewart is happy to have her back at North for one more year.
“Just getting her back is going to mean a lot to the team and the production up top,” Stewart said. “She’s a great goal scorer for us, and we’re looking forward to getting her back in the mix real soon. Hopefully, she can get off to a great start.”
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Name: Addy Lang
School: Columbus North
Year: Senior
Position: Forward
Key stats: Scored nine goals as a freshman and led the Bull Dogs with 25 goals as a sophomore
Did you know: Lang’s older sister Hayden played at Columbus East, and the two faced each other twice when Addy was a freshman and Hayden was a senior
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