Christy Zwolski takes pride in having the answers. When an underclassman forward on the women's soccer team approaches the senior and wants a tip on how to time a diagonal run through an opposing defense,

Zwolski says it's "cool" to be able to provide the correct response.

When fellow senior forward Britni Benage seeks instruction on how best to play off one another along the frontline of Marquette's attack, Zwolski delights in relaying helpful instruction.

So as she leaned against the cement blocks

that help prop up the lobby of the Raynor Library one recent weekday afternoon, Zwolski reflected on the first half of her final season as a collegiate soccer player. Her legs rested on a glossy wooden bench as she revealed the question to which, for the longest time, she had no answer.

Why does it feel like I'm running through sand while everyone else is running on grass?

The burning in Zwolski's legs started a few months ago, but the sensation originated out of a year-round training regimen into which she has thrust herself for as long as she can remember.

Marquette's season would end just shy of winter break, during which Zwolski would train and participate in tournaments with her club team. Upon her return to campus, Zwolski would lift weights and perform conditioning drills with the other Golden Eagles. The team's spring season followed soon after.

Then came summer, a time with limitless opportunities to work out. Without a full slate of classes to attend and study for, what else was there to do but play soccer?

Until recently, the plan was foolproof. When Marquette advanced to the Sweet 16 in 2005, Zwolski was the team's leading scorer. During the Golden Eagles' run to the second round of the NCAA tournament last fall, Zwolski was responsible for seven goals and five assists.

But it was Zwolski's reputation as the team's relentless workout warrior that made her demeanor during this year's preseason training camp stand out. "She was always working hard, but there were times when she was not running around as much as normal," Benage said.

Zwolski took notice as well but assumed the pain in her legs just meant she was not in top physical condition. So she worked out more. Trained harder. Tried to flush out the blaze in her legs by increasing her exertion.

Diverting her attention from the damage she was unknowingly doing to the muscles in her legs were all the questions coming her way in the wake of an injury to Allison Mallams, the team's other experienced and talented forward.

Shock settled in surrounding news of the head injury Mallams suffered a week before the season began, and the Golden Eagles set out in search of answers.

Who will lead the offense? Who will spur the attack?

Zwolski understood she would be looked upon to ease any concerns surrounding the team's ability to score. With four goals and three assists on the year, she is the second-leading scorer for a team off to a 10-2-1 start.

"She's an intelligent player, really confident and extremely competitive," said senior goalkeeper Laura Boyer, who roomed with Zwolski when the two were sophomores. "The younger players look to her coming in and breed off her confidence."

Indeed, sophomore Anna Sawicki (four goals, two assists) and freshman Ashley Bares (eight goals) have flourished while paired with Zwolski along the team's frontline.

"Her playing well makes others want to play well," Sawicki said. "It's a domino effect on the younger players."

But Zwolski knew she was not playing well, or at least, not as well as she could. After undergoing a wide range of medical tests Sept. 24, Zwolski was informed she had exercise-induced asthma as well as an excess of an enzyme known as creatine kinase in her muscles, the result of all those hours of strenuous workouts.

The former came as a shock (she says she has never once felt short of breath), and the latter explained why simple tasks such as squatting down to pick up her backpack had become excruciating.

Though conforming to strict hydration guidelines (two and a half Nalgene bottles of water per day) and using an inhaler before all games and practices, Zwolski said the pain has not diminished, which has made head coach Markus Roeders' task all the more difficult.

"For her to tell herself to let her guard down and tell herself she needs to do less is very difficult; it's engrained in her," Roeders said. "You can't tell her (to ease up). This is her senior year. Right now, this is what she lives for."

Zwolski said she knows she has to communicate better with Roeders about when she can't go as long or as hard during games as she used to, but "at this point, it can't be an excuse. I can still play."

Consolation, at this point, comes in the form of players like Benage, Sawicki and Bares, forwards who once leaned on Zwolski for assistance and now are returning the favor.

"It's nice being surrounded by people like that," Zwolski said. "They give such emotional support and make up for what I can't do on the field."