By Jay Leon Guerrero

Standout athlete Marlon Evans suffered a knee injury just two regular season games into his freshman collegiate soccer season at North Greenville University located in South Carolina. Evans suffered a complete tear of the ACL and severe straining in his lateral and medial ligaments.

Evans had started three preseason games and played in two games for the Crusaders scoring one goal.

“The injury will have me in a brace for 3-4 months, and then rehab will take about another 3-4 months. All together the injury will have me seeing 7-8 months of inactivity. I will be focusing on rehab the best I can to get back into what I love as soon as possible,” said Evans.

Evans, the 2015 Shieh Scholar Athlete recipient and 2013-2014 IIAAG Volleyball MVP, said that the injury will be a setback but he will work hard to get back out on the soccer field and volleyball court.”I was tracking back a long ball that was hit behind my line. As I was slowing down from sprinting and about to pass it onto my teammate, that’s when my knee made a large popping noise and gave in,” said Evans of how the injury occurred.

“Playing sports is what keeps me sane so it is always tough being on the sidelines and watching other people play right in front of me. I have had pretty severe injuries before in my life such as my arm and torn tendon, so I have a general understanding as to how the recovery process goes, but as always, it’ll be hard to get back to 100% once again.”

Evans scored a goal in a preseason game but said his best game was an overtime thriller against Brevard. According to Evans, the game was deadlocked at 1-1 in regulation and NGU eventually won in the closing seconds of overtime to win 2-1. “We had a lot of shots against (Brevard) and they were in our half for most of the OT but we were able to finish a 1-on-1 with three seconds left on the clock.”

Evans, who is also a member of Team Matao, has been in close contact with his teammates and coaches while in South Carolina. He intends to solidify his game with collegiate experience and bring that experience to contribute to the talented Matao squad. The injury will be a setback but Evans said he will recover and visit during Christmas and summer breaks to work out with the team in Guam.

“The Matao and coach Gary White made the transition into the college level as smooth as it could have been. Training day in and day out with the Matao and practicing along side professional players from all around the world prepared me for the quicker pace of college soccer. It would have been tough for me if I didn’t have the Matao and jumped straight from high school to the college level.”

Evans said that his season was going really well before the injury occurred. He was working well with his teammates and the transition from playing on Guam to college was smooth.

If rehab goes ahead of schedule, Evans will take the field and the volleyball courts as well. Evans played setter for the Harvest Christian Academy Eagles. He won the MVP award as a junior and he looks to play volleyball in South Carolina upon completion of his rehab.

Evans getting in practice time during the South Carolina Crusaders scrimmage. (courtesy photo)

Harvest graduate Marlon Evans was All-Island in both soccer and volleyball as a setter and was named to Guam’s national soccer team. (GSPN file photo)