Sam Mewis overcame setbacks and is "peaking" just in time for World Cup

By Neil Morris, WRALSportsFan contributor

Cary, N.C. — Whether it's two years or two weeks ago, when Sam Mewis is asked how she views her role with the U.S. women's national team, her answer is always an inoffensive variation on a theme.

"I'm really excited to contribute whatever I can in the service of the team," Mewis mused to a bevy of reporters following her brace during a May 12 win by the U.S. national team over South Africa.

It's the sort of safe answer you often hear from national-teamers who don't want to rock the boat, lest they draw the ire of the coach or risk jeopardizing their spot on the squad. Still, some veterans, like Carli Lloyd, aren't as reticent, eager to trumpet their talents and desired place in the World Cup roster pecking order.

However, never mistake Mewis' benign banter for a lack of competitive fire. Three years ago, Mewis was tapped as an alternate for the U.S. team at the Rio Olympics. It was a honor for the then 23-year-old, and an experience that left her unfulfilled.

"It was tough," Mewis admitted to WRALSportsFan in early 2017. "I was there, which was a huge honor. But I wasn't there as an Olympian.

"Individually, it was a challenge. I think knowing I wasn't going to get to play and going to practice every day and being the supportive teammate is kind of exhausting. Your own performance isn't really the priority, so at times I remember feeling like I was just there to help everyone else, and I was."

Having won a couple of NWSL championships - including last year with her North Carolina Courage - since Rio, Mewis is on the U.S. roster as it prepares for the 2019 FIFA Women's World Cup in France. During the World Cup run-up, one of the most hotly-debated questions is whether Mewis should be in the starting lineup amid a stable of talented midfield options. It's a topic that overlooks the quiet reality that Mewis has started four of the final six matches for the U.S. before the World Cup, scoring four goals over that span.

It also forgets the fact that after Rio, Mewis started all 13 matches for the U.S. in 2017, highlighted by a two-goal performance against South Korea in front of her Courage faithful on Oct. 22 at WakeMed Soccer Park. Mewis' ascendance to a prominent position in the U.S. hierarchy seemed assured. Paul Riley, her Courage manager, told anyone who'd listen that Mewis would be the national team captain someday.

Then came Vancouver. Playing against Canada on November 9 on the artificial surface at BC Place, Mewis got into a tackle in the first half. She felt a twitch in her right knee but kept playing until she was subbed off in the second half. She then played 74 minutes in a rematch against Canada three days later. But something didn't feel right.

"I was able to keep playing, so in that sense I wasn't really sure," Mewis told WRALSportsFan last year. "A few days later, I was like, ‘Let's get this checked out.'

"We got an MRI about a week later and there was some cartilage damage in my knee."

Although broken bones and torn tendons can keep a player out of action for months, the treatment is typically straightforward and the long-term prognosis has become more predictable. Knee cartilage damage is a far dicier proposition. While Mewis was vague about the precise classification of her condition, she admits that her soccer future was far from assured.

"The offseason (after 2017) was pretty uncertain, and I had some setbacks," Mewis said. "But I had a great team of people helping me out in Boston. My strength and conditioning coach, my physical therapist, everybody involved was amazing. Even though there was a lot of uncertainty around the injury, about whether or not it would require surgery, I felt like I was in good hands and would come out as best I could, regardless."

As Mewis conceded, the perils of surgery were multifold. The outcome of any cartilage repair procedure was far from certain. Moreover, the lengthy post-operative recovery and rehabilitation period would have removed her from soccer in 2018, including the Courage and the U.S. national team. And that absence, coupled with an unknowable aftermath, would seriously jeopardize her World Cup aspirations.

"Of course the calendar was in our discussions," Mewis admitted. "But our number one goal was to get me back and playing so I can continue to have a long career."

Mewis remained on crutches and in a straight-leg brace for four weeks in December 2017, designed to negate any bending or weight-bearing from her knee in hopes that would prompt healing. In the meantime, she began an intensive workout regime at Walter Norton Jr.'s Institute of Performance & Fitness back home in Massachusetts.

"Right after Thanksgiving I started going in three times a week," Mewis said. "We did a ton of upper body, we did core, we would do anything I could while keeping my leg straight."

"One of my favorite stories from this whole thing is that I went from being able to do no pull-ups, literally hanging from the bar, to being able to do six," Mewis continued. "People might say that has nothing to do with soccer, but mentally, making improvements in other areas was really cool for me because I felt so stuck not being able to play."

Mewis took calcium, glucosamine, and other supplements. She soon progressed to physical therapy at the Massachusetts General Hospital's renowned Sports Medicine Center. "I worked with a physical therapist named Rachel, and she was awesome. Other than that, I would go to the gym, I would do PT, and I would sit on the couch. I watched a lot of TV. My (then) boyfriend and I would cook. I hung out with my sister (Kristie). I hung out with my friends from home. It was kind of boring, but looking back now it was worth it."

Nevertheless, as Courage preseason training camp opened in February 2018, Mewis remained home. She was already going to miss the SheBelieves Cup in early March. Privately, there were varying prognoses and surgery was still very much on the table. Mewis solicited several medical opinions about the best option to pursue. "I had a lot of Courage staff helping, a lot of national team staff helping. I talked to people on the phone. I talked to (physical therapists), I talked to doctors, I talked to orthopedic surgeons. There were a lot of really smart people in the mix helping me."

"Of course, we wanted to do it non-surgically, if we could," Mewis recalled. "That remained the top goal all along. So, we started out really conservative. Things looked good, so we continued progressing that way. There was a time in February (2018) when I got a couple more opinions just to make sure we were on the right track. But the imaging showed healing, and the doctors I saw and discussed with all agreed that a conservative option was the best, so we continued along that route."

Mewis returned to the field for the Courage on April 18, and for the U.S. on June 7 during a friendly against China. Still, she started only 10 regular season matches for the Courage last year and played 1071 minutes. After metering her minutes for much of 2018, Mewis played the full 90 minutes over the Courage's final six matches, including both NWSL playoff games. U.S. head coach Jill Ellis similarly eased Mewis back into the national team rotation, culminating with a World Cup journey that begins for the U.S. on June 11 against Thailand.

Today, Mewis is arguably playing the best soccer of her career. Riley says she is "peaking," a popular term in the parlance of soccer coaches. Mewis is that rare combination of size, strength, speed, and skill, able to deliver a pinpoint pass from 50 yards or a shot on target from 25. But as Mewis prepares for her first World Cup - and her first chance to play on the sport's biggest stage - the travails of the past 18 months have given her another gift: perspective.

"Having this kind of an opportunity is more fun than ever because I was away from it and missed it," Mewis said. "At the same time, I certainly see how pressures can add up and distract you from that fact, and that certainly happened to me in the past. Now, my thoughts and feelings towards the game are just all love. I want to play, I feel really, really lucky that I get to play, and I want to play as long as I can.

"This is my job, to go out at 10 in the morning and run around on the field with my friends, kick the ball, and laugh. I get to express myself, I get to be intense, I get to improve and work on something every day, and I think it's the coolest job ever."