There was a time when Concordia soccer player Morgan Bain was worried about the health of her leg. Now it is her competition's turn.

"Morgan takes everything as a challenge," Cobber coach Dan Weiler said. "She knows she's put up all these points, and she's going to get more the next game.

"She's gifted enough to have the competitive fire to want to do more."

Bain, a sophomore forward from Hugo, Minn., leads the Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference with 12 goals in nine games. So far this season, she's finished almost every scoring chance.

However, she thought her soccer career was finished when she tore the anterior cruciate ligament in her right knee four years ago. 

 
Bain, at the time a sophomore at White Bear Lake High School, was one of four girls on her summer team to suffer the injury that year. The prognosis was not good.

"I wasn't given much chance to ever play on the varsity soccer team," Bain said. "Everyone told me that girls that tear their ACL don't come back."

Those naysayers were only partially right. Bain put the tenacity and drive she had in soccer into her rehabilitation.

Soon she was back on the field scoring goals for the junior varsity. She was the only one of those four injured White Bear Lake players to return to the team.

The experience changed her approach as a player.

"Now I play every game like it's my last," said Bain, who only played one year of varsity soccer in high school.

Bain's injury did not scare off recruiters from several NCAA Division III schools. She decided on Concordia after several conversations with Weiler. However, she never expected to make a difference or even play much as a Cobber freshman.

She could not have been more wrong. Bain led the Cobbers with 10 goals -- including five game-winners -- as Concordia made the conference playoffs for the first time. She was named to the all-MIAC first team. Bain has been even better this season. And there are still nine regular season games remaining to cement her status as one of the league's top forwards.

"She's putting them away a lot faster than last year," said Cobber midfielder Miriam Lombardozzi, also Bain's roommate. "I'm impressed with the way she's been able to finish the ball. There doesn't seem to be anything she can't handle."