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Every so often, Sammie Goin rewatches the clip of her ACL tear from October 2024. She recounts how, as a senior in high school, her college plans changed instantly. Instead of entering her freshman season at Syracuse healthy, one wrong turn required surgery, physical therapy and nearly a year of recovery.

“I don’t know why I watch it. Sometimes I’m just thinking about it,” Sammie said. “I don’t know if it’s good or bad.”

After working through her rehab, Sammie has become a mainstay substitute for the Orange since making her debut in the fourth game of the season. The Brambleton, Virginia, native appeared in each game of SU’s Atlantic Coast Conference Tournament run, even filling in for a sidelined Liz Stange in the midfield against Wake Forest. It’s what she’s longed for ever since her injury.

“She’s a worker,” Syracuse head coach Lynn Farquhar said. “She’ll do what the team needs her to do, and that’s something I give her a lot of credit for.”

Even though it’s been over a year since the tear, Sammie’s high school coach, Jennifer Darrow, can’t forget that match between her team, Independence High School (Virginia), and Potomac Falls.

As soon as Sammie collapsed, Darrow ran to her from the sideline, already aware of what had happened. Sammie could only sit helplessly as Darrow told her the bad news.

“I knew, even through all of her emotions, she wanted the truth,” Darrow said. “As a coach, that was hard to give, because I always want to be supportive, uplifting and positive. But at that moment, I knew she needed the truth.”

Questions kept flowing as trainers examined Sammie, who was transported back to the trainer’s office at Independence. The midfielder tried to grasp how long it would take to heal and when she could play again.

“She was lying there on the table, iced, hurt, barely able to move her leg, and she wanted to get back out with the team right then,” Sammie’s father, Greg Goin, said.

But Sammie wouldn’t be joining her teammates any time soon.

Doctors confirmed she’d suffered an ACL tear, requiring surgery and months of physical therapy before she could return to play. Even worse, Sammie initially intended to reclass and enroll at SU in January to prepare for her freshman season early. Instead, she realized she had to start from “ground zero.”

Sammie Goin tore her ACL in her senior season at Independence High School (Virginia). Goin rehabbed in her freshman year at Syracuse and broke into SU’s rotation. Courtesy of Jennifer Darrow

Although her future was in limbo, Sammie still showed up to Independence’s practice the next day. To her, if she were physically incapable of helping her team on the pitch, she’d do whatever she could from the sideline.

“Sammie was very good at making others around her better,” Darrow said. “She was our star player, but she made everybody else rise to her level.”

She became an unofficial coach and took her teammates under her wing, including recent Syracuse commit Abby Giusto. Darrow said Sammie practically became Giusto’s personal mentor, providing consistent encouragement and instruction during practice and breaks in gameplay.

As her high school season ended and club season began, Sammie stayed involved on the sideline.

She never planned to play club hockey her senior year, but still offered guidance to other midfielders with Metro Hockey Club, which she’d played for since fourth grade.

“When she speaks, her teammates listen,” Metro HC head coach Ralph Goodwin, who coached Sammie for eight years, said. “It’s a coach’s dream to see someone who is going through the worst still be there for the program and be someone her team can rely on.”

Her success — a four-time Virginia All-State First Team selection, the 2023 Virginia Player of the Year and a member of the Under-16 United States National Team — gave her words more weight. But for Sammie, it was never about boosting her own stats; it was about improving, so she could remain consistent for her team no matter the game’s events.

“(Greg and I) didn’t push,” Sammie’s mother, Cathy Goin, said. “She drove. We were just along for the ride.”

Sammie’s attitude was evident throughout childhood. At 11 years old, she simultaneously played with U-12, U-14 and U-16 squads. By age 14, the U-19 team was asking her to play for it. Through each level, Goodwin remembers Sammie as a regular communicator on the pitch, studying film and constantly fiddling with her hockey stick.

Sammie applied the same mindset to recovery. Having already earned all the high school credits to graduate, Sammie stopped attending classes for physical therapy as soon as she had a full range of motion in her knee.

“Once she was allowed to start moving again, she knew everything was in her control,” Cathy said.

For four months straight, Sammie spent 10 hours each day doing physical therapy, conditioning and stick work. She did everything she could to get back on the field.

Although her condition vastly improved over the spring, Sammie still wasn’t fully fit by the time she reported to Syracuse in July. She was tasked with adapting to the speed and physicality of the collegiate game, but she didn’t even know if she could play. Sammie had yet to be cleared and was limited in what she could do at practice.

“Coming (to Syracuse) was the second hardest part,” Sammie said. “This was my dream to come play here, and I was watching everyone do it.”

“I was worried I’d fall behind,” she added. “I knew my potential. I knew what I could do this season. I was worried the injury would wipe it all away from me.”

To get match-ready, Sammie returned to what had previously worked. She called her hometown trainer Stephanie Wiz each week to strengthen the mental side of her game and spent as much time as possible playing to rebuild physically. Eventually, she was able to fully participate in practice.

By the time the ACC/Big Ten Challenge rolled around on Sept. 5, Sammie was eligible to play. Wearing a knee brace, she made her collegiate debut in a 2-1 win over then-No. 13 Ohio State and began receiving consistent minutes afterward.

Her breakout was against Colgate, though. Just three minutes after assisting Danique Schuurman’s opening goal, Sammie received the ball outside the shooting arc on the left flank. She accelerated past her defender and drove diagonally toward the goal before flicking the ball into the bottom right corner for her first collegiate goal.

Sammie described that game as when her confidence truly returned; she wasn’t overthinking or worrying about anything, she was just playing.

“My first thought, ‘She’s back,’” Cathy added. “She finally looked like the player she was before injury.”

Sammie’s involvement only grew after her performance against the Raiders. With her freshman year complete, Sammie can focus on her successes and failures this year rather than the aftermath of an injury she couldn’t control.

Now, that game against Potomac Falls is nothing more than a clip on her phone.

“Actually, I think it’s a good thing that I rewatch the video,” Sammie said. “Because when I rewatch it, I realize what I’m doing now.”

Published on November 19, 2025 at 12:35 am
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