Olivia Bell battled compartment syndrome before breakout season at SU
Get the latest Syracuse news delivered right to your inbox. Subscribe to our sports newsletter here.
Olivia Bell learned to shoot on her trampoline.
In middle school, Bell spent hours on her backyard trampoline practicing reverse and back-handed shots, her parents Maureen and Jeff said. Bell repeatedly hit the ball into the netted enclosure. Now, there’s a hole in the trampoline bed.
Bell has a “ripper of a hit,” said Mia Duchars, a teammate at Gateway Field Hockey club.
In her junior season at Syracuse this year, Bell has tallied four goals and one assist through 17 games. Yet, Bell hasn’t had the chance to consistently exhibit her offensive prowess, only playing eight games during her first two seasons. She underwent compartment syndrome surgery in Nov. 2022, after dealing with lower body injuries and pain since high school.
In her senior year of high school, Bell, a then-dual-athlete, suffered a stress fracture in her leg playing soccer. The injury persisted throughout Bell’s freshmen year with Syracuse, where she appeared in four games and scored her lone goal against Cornell on Oct. 31, 2021. She continued to experience discomfort in the offseason entering her sophomore year.
Bell spent that summer home in St. Louis coaching at Gateway Summer Camps with former Nerinx High School (Mo.) teammate Grace McGuire (Iowa) and Duchars (Louisville). The trio practiced almost daily in 100-degree heat.
Throughout the training, Bell couldn’t run and McGuire and Duchars sensed the pain Bell was going through. But Bell still showed up every day, showing strong mental toughness, Duchars said.
“She was in enormous amounts of pain but she still came out with us everyday and wanted to get better,” Duchars said. “She wanted to hit around and wanted to improve her skills.”
During shooting drills, when Bell attempted to corral her shot rebounds, McGuire and Duchars had to scream at her to not run, citing Bell’s trainer’s advice.
“The hardest thing for Olivia was she had to be her own advocate,” Maureen said. “The trainers were helping but it’s not easy when you’re like ‘OK, I have this injury that you can’t see and it’s not going to show up in an x-ray.’”
Arlo Stone | Digital Design Director
Bell only played in four games her sophomore season. The pain mounted. Bell’s feet occasionally fell asleep after running. She researched other symptoms and revealed them to her trainers. Bell decided to get compartment syndrome surgery at the end of the 2022 season shortly after Thanksgiving. The surgery was a double fasciotomy procedure, focused on healing her calves.
“Before when I ran, it felt as if I was running through mud and my calves would swell up,” Bell said. “I wasn’t able to run as fast as I could or as much as I could. Now that I’ve got the releases, it’s so much of a relief, not having that pain anymore.”
Bell recovered by working out at the local YMCA and running daily. She worked with SU athletic trainers as well as a physical therapist in St. Louis.
“Coming off surgery, she was super determined to get back out there,” Duchars said. “She’s done literally everything she could, do her rehab, do her fitness. She’s done everything and she’s tackled it head on. It’s very impressive to watch.”
Bell developed a strong mindset throughout her time at Nerinx. In 2017, the team played rivals Villa Duchesne at the Midwest Field Hockey State Tournament. Bell’s club teammate, Taryn Tkachuk, played for the opposition. She had previously scored all four goals in a 4-1 Villa Duchesne win during their regular season matchup. At the practice the night before the game, Bell made a promise to her teammates.
“After practice was over, (Bell) called the whole team over and the coaches and she’s like ‘let me play defense tomorrow night,” Jeff remembered. “I can mark Taryn. I guarantee you she won’t score.’”
Matching up against a taller Tkachuk, Bell held her scoreless. Though Nerinx lost the game after a second round of shootouts, Jeff said Bell’s performance was a pivotal moment.
Bell’s fearless approach to the game sometimes leads to injuries, Jeff said. He said that she goes into everything at “100 miles per hour” and “doesn’t back off of anything.”
Jeff said Bell played through a lot of things that she didn’t reveal to her parents. When Bell complained, her parents knew the injury was truly painful.
Now, nearing the end of her junior season, Bell is progressing back to full health, while setting a career-high in goals (four). Syracuse head coach Lynn Farquhar commended Bell for enduring a challenging rehab process and finding out ways to help SU this season.
“(Being healthy) has opened (my game) up a lot,” Bell said. “(I’m) doing things I’ve never been doing before. Getting on the field like I am, running is the main thing that has opened up a lot of opportunities. It’s the reason why I’m on the field today.”
