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Gabby Seiler announced this morning on Twitter that she had torn her ACL in training on Friday.
Devastated and heartbroken to share that I tore my ACL in training yesterday. I feel at a loss for words, but I know that I can get through this. Thank you to @ThornsFC and my amazing friends and family. The comeback is always greater than the setback pic.twitter.com/R5zHddu6Zg
— Gabrielle Seiler (@gabby_seiler) August 17, 2019
Seiler has been having a breakout rookie season for the Thorns after missing the whole 2018 season with an MCL injury she picked up at the end of her career at the University of Florida. She started the season on the bench but she found her feet quickly, getting called in to play minutes in central defense at first, and then stepping into midfield and immediately making a splash with her aggressive and intelligent defensive style, roving around to pick off isolated players and win the ball to quickly start counterattacks. At the moment she leads the team in tackles won with 16.
Mark Parsons and Meghan Klingenberg both described her as playing soccer like a point guard early on in the season, using her ability to read play to create from deep whether she’s on the backline or in midfield. Her entry passes and her ability to keep the play moving are high quality, and she’s got six key passes on the season despite playing deeper in the field than almost anyone but the two central defenders.
She’s gone on to make more appearances than any other Thorns midfielder this year with 15 total games played and 13 starts. We’re certainly wishing her a speedy recovery, and find it very generous that she’s giving the rest of the rookies this year eight whole more games to catch up to the lead that she’s built up in rookie of the year race.