Photo by: Ryan Lumpkin
Lacrosse redshirt junior defenseman Brendan DeBlois was only a sophomore when he suffered serious injuries that jeopardized his DU career.
In the early morning of Feb. 15, 2010, as DeBlois was biking across the Evans cross walk to make it to class, a small car ran a red light and struck him off the bike. The impact caused him to flip over the car and land nearly 10 feet behind the vehicle.
“My initial reaction was that another car might be coming, so I got up immediately and tried to move out of the street,” said DeBlois, when asked to recount the moment of the accident.
Nearby pedestrians came to the scene and tried to adminster medical care until an ambulance came to the scene. DeBlois was then taken to the hospital, where doctors examined the extent of his injuries. He suffered a fractured left wrist, separated right shoulder and a fractured right ankle. He was released from the hospital later that day.
The injury came when his team was about to travel to the University of Syracuse for their season opener.
He would not be able to accompany them.
“I did not know that it would be a season-ending injury,” said DeBlois. “I thought I would be able to join my team when we traveled to Syracuse.”
In addition to not joining the team, he would have to take care of himself for a few days since his teammates would be out of the house.
“That first weekend was brutal,” said DeBlois. “None of my teammates were at the house [we were living in] since they were on the road, and they left a loaf of bread and some lunch meat on my night-stand for me to eat since I could not get out of bed.”
The injury ended up costing DeBlois his sophomore campaign after playing in 14 games the previous season.
DeBlois had a long recovery process ahead of him. His ankle injury was so severe that he could not walk, and instead maneuvered around campus in an electric wheel-chair.
To begin his rehab, he worked with the DU athletic staff five days a week, determined to make a comeback for that season.
He eventually worked himself off of the injured list and onto the field during this year’s 2010-2011 season.
“[Brendan] DeBlois was clearly not 100 percent during this season”, said head coach Bill Tierney. “It was clear that he was in pain some days, so we had to modify his practice schedule and give him two days off from practice every week.”
DeBlois continues to work hard with DU athletic trainers and rehabs his injuries before and after practices, as well as games.
This season, DeBlois has played in 15 games, starting 12 of them, while registering 37 ground balls and has caused 19 turnovers.
The DU men’s lacrosse team won the ECAC conference championship earlier this season after defeating Fairfield 11-9 in front of a home crowd.
This past weekend, they won their first round game of the NCAA tournament against Villanova, 13-10. It was the first ever NCAA Tournament game to be played on the west side of the Mississippi River.
Against Villanova, DeBlois made a pivotal play to help the Pioneers secure the victory.
With 8:30 remaining in the game, and the Pioneers up 11-10, DeBlois picked off a pass from a Villanova player to give DU another possesion.
On the ensuing offensive possesion, the Pioneers scored on a goal by freshman midfielder Jeremy Noble. The goal put DU up 12-10, a lead they would not relinquish.
Up next for DeBlois and the Pioneers is No. 3-seeded Johns Hopkins in the quarterfinals of the NCAA Tournament.
The game will take place on Saturday at 12:30 p.m. in Hempstead, N.Y.
The winner will advance to the NCAA Final Four in Baltimore on May 28-30.
