By Annie Renz
From the moment Grace Robison tied her soccer cleats for the first time at five years old, she knew that she wanted to compete at as high a level of soccer as she could.
Today, Robison lives out her dream by playing Division 1 soccer at Stonehill College, but her journey over the past three years as a collegiate player is not what she could have imagined at five years old.
In the summer of 2020 going into her junior year of high school, Robison had what she called the “goodbye going into high school soccer scrimmage.” Fifteen minutes into the game, she went to defend an opponent and her knee buckled.
“People are like ‘It’s not that painful.’ No, it was so painful when I did it,” said Robison, “and come to find out, I completely destroyed my ACL, lateral meniscus, and medial meniscus.”
It was the first of six injuries and surgeries for the now 21-year-old who continues to power through repeated obstacles.
Robison’s recovery from this first surgery began the way any injured athlete could hope for.
“The first few days post-op went really well. I was using the machine that helped bend my knee. I was getting 70 degrees with it which is huge,” said Robison.
Unfortunately, after about a week, her progress took a striking halt. “Day six or seven hit and any time I got up to go to the bathroom, or any time I wasn’t horizontal, I was in excruciating pain from my knee down,” said Robison.
The throbbing, burning pain that she felt was initially believed to be the numbing medicine wearing off.
However, her shin swelled, turned yellow, and burned to the touch – three things that caused her physical therapist to send her to the hospital.
As it turns out, Robison had two blood clots in her shins. Because of this finding, all of her progress with the bending machines and exercises were shut down for two weeks.
As any athlete with a knee injury like Robison’s would know, a two-week rest that early in recovery is risky because it causes the knee to stiffen. However, the rest was mandatory to deal with the blood clots.
Robison needed manipulation surgery three months later to remove stiffened scar tissue that built up from the blood clot. She also couldn’t walk normally for five months.
The following year, Robison battled through pain during her senior season at Bishop Feehan High School in Attleboro, Massachusetts. However, the pain intensified when she went to college for freshman year preseason.
Her dream of playing collegiate soccer came true when she began her career at Sacred Heart University. However, after retearing her lateral meniscus two weeks into preseason combined with wanting to be closer to home when dealing with this injury, Robison decided to enter the transfer portal in November 2022.
She said she wound up at Stonehill College for her freshman spring semester because of the support Head Coach Alex Wilson showed her.
“Thank God for Coach [Wilson],” said Robison, “she believed in me. I was very transparent about my injury, which needed three months [of] recovery, so I was getting cleared right when I showed up to Stonehill.”
Robison said she was excited to play again when Stonehill faced Boston University in the first spring 2023 game. Unfortunately, she suffered her third severe injury during the game, tearing her lateral meniscus for the third time.
Then, she tore her medial meniscus during a strength and conditioning session over winter break that year. This injury needed a serious operation in May 2024 that repaired her “incompetent” ACL but left her lateral meniscus destroyed.
“I only have 50% of it left,” she said.
To put Robison’s ACL injury into perspective, she said her surgeon told her in March 2024, “I’m worried that your ACL is no longer competent. It’s there but it’s not doing anything, which is equivalent to a torn ACL. It’s like a loose elastic band, it’s not doing anything.”
The surgeon told Robison about the dire state of her ACL before the operation for her lateral meniscus. There wasn’t a thought that her ACL would be involved this time around.
The loss of half a lateral meniscus, in addition to what Robison called a practically nonexistent ACL, is the current result of a four-year injury cycle.
A career with highs and lows like this makes or breaks an athlete, but if you ask any of Robison’s teammates, they will tell you she is one of the most positive, high-spirited people they’ve ever met.
“Despite numerous setbacks which most athletes will never have to experience, Robo continues to show up for herself and the team even on the hardest of days,” said Lily Roslonek, Robison’s teammate at Stonehill.
Another teammate, Emma Cranston, had kind words to say of Robison’s perseverance.
“Even while facing her long-lasting injuries, she continues to bring such a positive energy to every single practice, lift, and game. Her resilience and upbeat attitude reminds us that everyone’s own battles can be easily overcome and faced with optimism,” said Cranston.
To stay positive, Robison said she has a short-term goal-setting mentality to get through long-term recoveries.
“It starts to get better the more activity you can do. Once I started running five months post-op, that was really helpful. I always tell people when they get hurt to make short-term goals. It puts a lot of pressure on yourself to be like ‘I need to be cleared nine months post-op.’ The small goals really keep me going,” she said.
In reality, the hardships that come with recovery and being positive may not be realistic.
“When you’re hurt, you realize how much bonding goes into being at practices, drills, games, who you’re on with. You feel a little disconnected, and I felt sad then,” said Robison.
Not only does having short-term goals keep Robison motivated, but finding a new role within the Stonehill soccer team outside of being an impactful player on the field keeps her going.
“I had to realize my role was going to change. Obviously, I want to be out [on the field] so bad I know I can’t so I have to control the controllables. How else can I be there for the team? I’m in SAAC (Student-Athlete Advisory Committee) so I’m an advocate and I’m an empathetic person, so just being there for the team emotionally, checking in, supporting the team,” said Robison.
She said she has learned to bring her skills on the field to her new role off the field.
“One thing I was big about when I was a player was communicating like crazy when I’m on the field. So now I’m like, ‘I can do that from the bench now.’ I can give the girls advice when they come out and when they’re waiting to go in,” she said.
She has the potential to return to play as early as February 2025. Her determination to power through is because of her father, Scott Robison.
“My dad played hockey at UNH so he had a really big impact on knowing what it took to get [to the college level],” she said, “He tore his ACL three times and he had to medically retire. He wishes he could go back and keep fighting through it. I’m doing this for him and myself in a way.”
Robison offered advice for any athlete going through a similar experience.
“It is very hard in the beginning, you just have to take it day by day and know each day it will get better, but it’s not linear so try not to be a perfectionist about it all. Just be patient with yourself because it’s a whole other side to you that you’ll never experience so embrace the journey and embrace what you’re going to become,” she said.
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