It’s hard to imagine stopping Midge Purce. Fresh off an MVP performance in the 2023 National Women’s Soccer League Championship, the world-class forward was well on her way to helping NJ/NY Gotham FC to a repeat title and maybe even making the U.S. women’s national team roster for the 2024 Olympics. Nothing could get in her way.
Then, on March 24, 2024, an athlete’s worst nightmare—Purce tore her ACL in the team’s away match in Portland, an injury that would sideline her for over a year. Even now, she thinks about that moment and how it changed the trajectory of her career.
