A knee injury could have led to a freshman year full of frustration for Alyssa Murray. A star at West Babylon High School, a torn anterior cruciate ligament in her knee cut her senior season short.

She arrived at SU with mixed expectations because of it. Bouncing back from a ruined high school senior season provided a challenge in itself.

‘I was most upset because my high school team was having a really great year, so it kind of was a letdown that I wasn’t going to be able to finish out the season,’ Murray said. ‘But it was comforting to know that I would have a good training staff to help me get back at Syracuse.’

Murray completely recovered and tallied 48 points as a freshman. Approaching midway through this season, the sophomore has nearly matched that production with a team-leading 25 goals and 36 points for the No. 3 Orange (6-2, 1-0 Big East).

Murray came to SU as the nation’s No. 6 recruit, according to Inside Lacrosse.She had numerous Division-I offers and eventually narrowed down her list of prospects to Syracuse, North Carolina and Florida. Murray was a standout player, but when she tore her ACL during her senior year, her path to the D-I level became much more challenging.

The questions of her ability with the Orange were rooted in her knee, as the degree of her recovery would dictate her value to SU. Head coach Gary Gait still expected her to be a potential star, but he was cautiously optimistic about her first season with the Orange.

What Murray gave him – 24 goals and 24 assists – was about what Gait expected out of her freshman campaign.

‘I think she delivered what I expected,’ the head coach said. ‘I just wanted her to get back and be a part and contribute, and she did that. And now she’s stepped up her game and that’s kind of what I expected out of her.’

As last season progressed, Murray lived up to Gait’s loftier expectations more and more. The attack was inconsistent to start the 2011 campaign, but she eventually showed flashes of the dominant force she would become this season.

In a 10-9 victory over eventual Big East champion Loyola (Md.), the freshman tallied four points, and just a week later, she matched a then-career high with five points against the Greyhounds in the first round of the Big East tournament.

‘You saw that she can be a very good finisher, and she’s a smart player,’ Gait said. ‘The second half of her season last year was exceptional. She really turned it on and was really one of our impact players the whole second half of the season, and I think that she’s just continued from there and built on it.’

Now in her sophomore season, Murray is growing more accustomed to the collegiate level of play. She also says her knee has been at 100 percent since the start of the season, letting her put up the stellar numbers that she has been all year.

Gait said Murray’s greatest asset is her speed. An ACL injury especially affects mobility, so for a player that relies on speed as much as Murray does, being completely healthy is imperative.

‘Coming back from my ACL has been really what’s gotten me more confident,’ Murray said. ‘My speed and strength have come back this year a lot better than they did last year.’

Although the attack was still getting back to full strength last season, Murray was pain-free when the season began. She felt the bigger issue for her was missing out on fall practices.

‘I got cleared after fall ball, and by the time I came back the first actual practice that I had was the first day of two-a-days in January, so it was just being thrown right in,’ Murray said. ‘And I was able to get going a little bit, but just confidence-wise I would have loved to have the fall.’

Perhaps most importantly, the experience of returning from injury has been a learning experience.

For all the frustration she experienced while missing out on a chance to guide West Babylon to a county championship her senior year, Murray’s father, Ray, believes she has taken a lot away from dealing with this adversity.

‘No question about it,’ he said. ‘It was difficult for her, but I think going through that has helped her grow a lot.’

dbwilson@syr.edu