As Marquette women’s lacrosse was in the midst of a hotly contested bout at Northwestern Feb. 14, 2022, then-junior attacker Hannah Greving went to make a cut towards the net.

She planted her feet, twisted her body and got ready to give the Golden Eagles a much-needed goal. But instead, Greving heard a crack and pop and fell to the ground. 

She tore her left ACL, sprained her MCL and suffered a bone bruise. 

“I was in denial, especially a couple days after because I just know how horrible this whole ACL injury is and I just remember it hurting a lot,” Greving said. “I was just shocked because you never think it’s gonna happen to you until it does.”

After this, she could have quit — few would have blamed her.

Afterall, it wasn’t a “clean injury.” It was a grade 3 ACL tear with a minimum nine-month recovery. It was an MCL sprain that made the knee impossible to bend. It was a bone bruise that swelled so much the surgery was delayed by two months. It was an injury that could have signaled the end of her lacrosse career.  

But Greving made sure this setback wasn’t the final chapter of her story. 

She said that after dealing with the COVID-19 pandemic her first and second seasons and then an injury as a junior, all she wanted was a normal year. But first, she had to heal.

The recovery was anything but seamless, and head coach Meredith Black said they had to take steps back because of how Greving’s body responded.

“That was probably one of the hardest things I’ve ever done,” Greving said about the recovery process. “It was just hard to see what was going to happen next because I just wanted to get back to playing.”

By the time summer rolled around, Greving could bend her knee again, and she started walking, which she said was when she could see the light at the end of the tunnel.

Even though Greving was unable to participate in practices and games, she still made sure her presence was felt at team events. 

She went to every home game and would spend time on the sidelines helping some of the younger players.

“I was just keeping in mind that my teammates would be here for me, so I want to be here for them,” Greving said. “The main thing is that even though I can’t play, just still being visible and being a voice and helping out the other players was really something that I could lean into because I couldn’t be there (playing) myself.”

Black said that while she improved her passing by playing wall-ball, she made the most strides in her leadership abilities. 

“(The injury) forced her to move outside her comfort zone in a leadership manner and really helped coach the team and be a teammate from a sideline perspective,” Black said. “She was less of a cheerleader, more of a true coach in that sense, which is a great role.”

Even when she wasn’t physically there, Greving made sure the team knew she was supporting them by calling into team meetings and texting with teammates to come up with pre-game chants. 

“We do this certain cheer where Hannah comes up with something funny to say before every single game, and when she went down and wasn’t at away games, I took that role on to say the funny thing,” senior attacker and Greving’s roommate Emma Soccodato said. “Me and her would talk about it, text about it, see what to say. It was just fun to keep her involved.”

Prior to the start of her senior season, 10 months after her injury occurred, Greving was told by the team trainers and doctors that she should manage her expectations about playing in the season opener and it may take a month into the year for her to be game-ready. 

And Greving’s response to this news? 

“Hannah was like, ‘Absolutely not, I’m playing,’” Black said.

Greving was right. She made an appearance in Marquette’s season opening win against San Diego State Feb. 12 and scored a goal. It had been 363 days since she’d last played in blue and gold.

When Greving stepped onto the field for the first time in nearly a year, she felt a whirlwind of emotions.

“Even doing the simplest cut makes you nervous and I just had to trust my recovery process that it was all going to be okay,” Greving said. 

And this past season was not Greving’s last either. She will be returning for her fifth and final year of college eligibility after a historic season for both her and the Golden Eagles.

We’re excited to announce Hannah Greving will be returning in 2024! Hannah played in all 19 games last season and recorded career-highs in assists and points!#WeAreMarquette pic.twitter.com/30e0JW2KbS

— Marquette Women’s Lacrosse (@MarquetteWLax) June 21, 2023

Now fully healed, Greving has a newfound appreciation for both the sport of lacrosse and the experiences of injured teammates and rivals alike.

“It made me appreciate the sport so much more and I could understand and appreciate every other injured athlete (and) what they have gone through,” Greving said. “I was just more grateful every single time that I stepped on that field again, just because I hadn’t been able to do it for so long.”

This article was written by Jack Albright. He can be reached at [email protected] or on Twitter @JackAlbrightMU.