Sam Swart’s ACL comeback: From injury to half-marathon to WLL

Sam Swart doesn’t remember pain when her knee gave out. What she remembers instead is stillness – the brief moment when everything stopped.

“I just remember going down, and I got a lot of questions,” she said. “People were asking, ‘Were you in pain? What were you feeling?’ Some people experience screaming pain, but I really didn’t feel much pain. It was more like, ‘Whoa, what just happened?’”

Her confusion lingered because the moment didn’t just interrupt a game. It threatened everything that she had built. Swart tore her ACL at the 2024 Women’s World Lacrosse Box Championships, and in an instant, years of momentum and constant drive collapsed beneath her.

Because lacrosse has never been just a sport for Swart, the injury carried more weight than just the physical consequences. Lacrosse – Swart’s “passion” – had built her community, helped shape her identity and driven every major chapter in her life.

Her passion began at an early age growing up just outside of Villanova, Pa., where the game quickly became a significant part of her life. She stood out at Archbishop Carroll High School. As a senior, she led the team in scoring and became an Under Armour All-American before taking her talents to the collegiate level. Swart then starred at Syracuse. Her dominant senior season with the Orange earned her a spot on the Tewaaraton Award watch list and a place on the USA women’s national team.

Each opportunity opened a new door for Swart, and the USA national team led her to the next evolution of her career: box lacrosse. Because Syracuse men’s and women’s head coaches Gary Gait and Reggie Thorpe lived the box game, it became embedded in her development.

“I grew up playing box lacrosse at Syracuse because Gary Gait and Reggie Thorpe were big box lacrosse players,” Swart said. “Gary instilled box lacrosse into my life, and then USA Lacrosse came up with a box program.”

So when USA Lacrosse formed its first women’s box national team in 2024, Swart was ready. The opportunity offered a chance to represent her country again on a world stage and pushed her forward in her career. Until it didn’t.

“Running on and off in box is a lot of subbing and pretty rapid,” Swart said, so it took almost an entire half of play before she began to find her rhythm on the field. In the waning seconds of the second quarter against Team Haudenosaunee, Swart began to settle into the fast-paced style of box lacrosse – finding her own version of a runner’s high.

“I was getting to the point where I was like, ‘Alright, I’m kind of just rolling, I’m going to stay on the field,’” she said.

Because she stayed on, she took one more sprint down the floor. Because someone stepped on her planted foot, her knee moved where it wasn’t meant to. And because of that single unlucky step, the universe, as Swart described it, “shook for a second.”

Shock and stillness followed.

But even in that movement, the darkest of her career, she wasn’t alone. Her teammates were there with her, and the moment softened.

“I just remember laying there and Emily Hawryschuk, my Syracuse teammate for life and USA teammate, just looked over at me and leaned over on top of me and was like, ‘You’re OK, everything is fine,’” Swart said. “So that was really nice to see a friendly face in that moment.”

However, that brief moment of comfort was not enough to stop reality. Swart’s knee buckled when she tried to stand, and denial was no longer an option.

“That is when I knew something was wrong,” Swart recalled. “But in that moment, I had the choice to accept what was happening or just live in this moment of ‘Oh, it didn’t happen.’ So I just kind of accepted it.”

Acceptance changed her role. Because she couldn’t play, she chose to lead, this time with crutches on the sidelines, screaming at the top of her lungs.

“I wanted to be present with my teammates, and I wanted them to see me be strong,” she said. “I didn’t want my teammates to go back out on the field and play hesitant, because when you play hesitant, that is when you get hurt.”

Her energy didn’t go unnoticed, and her teammates responded. Team USA turned a 4-3 halftime deficit into a second-half shutout for an 11–4 victory over Team Haudenosaunee. Because they rallied, they advanced, and because they advanced, they had the opportunity to compete for and win a gold medal – downing Team Canada in the title game.

“Came home with the GOLD and left without an ACL,” Swart wrote on Instagram, “but WE ARE WORLD CHAMPIONS!!!”

Swart’s injury didn’t end her story as a lacrosse player. It redirected it. Her ACL tear did not define who she was as an athlete, but it did force her to decide who she wanted to be afterward.

“I was laying there after my surgery thinking I am either going to take the sad scary route, or I could still be a badass after and just enjoy the moment,” Swart said.

Her mother helped clarify that choice for her. Instead of framing her recovery as rehab, she reframed it as a reset. Swart used her yearlong recovery as a “mental and physical break” from the countless hours of training she had grown accustomed to for as long as she could remember.

“[My mom] told me maybe this is a sign to take a breather,” Swart said. “She told me this was the time to just breathe and relax for once in my life.”

She gave herself that grace, and as a result, she discovered something unexpected: a newfound belief that carried her to a finish line that she never imagined crossing. Just a year removed from her surgery, Swart ran her first half-marathon in Philadelphia.

“What I have really learned is that I can do anything,” Swart said. “If I can have ACL surgery and then run a half-marathon, I can basically do anything.”

Because she shared that mindset openly, not only with her friends and family but with the vast world of social media, Swart’s recovery became bigger than herself. Through social media, she was able to document the highs and lows of her own healing, turning her vulnerability into visibility for younger athletes who were following along.

She created “day-in-my-life” videos to share on the USA Lacrosse women’s national team’s Instagram in which she joked about having the “pleasure of tearing her ACL”. Because of her injury, she learned more about herself not just as an athlete, but as a person.

“I think it’s super important to realize the audience that’s in front of you,” she said. “There are so many younger kids that are unfortunately going to experience what I did, and I don’t want them to be afraid of the experience. I want these kids to not be afraid of knee injuries and just know it’s a part of life sometimes, but it only makes you stronger.”

Her resilience didn’t go unnoticed. As Swart documented her recovery and pushed herself beyond the limits she once feared, Maryland Charm head coach Emily Parros was paying attention – and she saw more than a comeback. She saw a player ready to make an impact in the Women’s Lacrosse League.

“When Coach Emily called,” Swart said, “she told me, ‘Sammy, you ran a half-marathon – you look like you’re an iron woman!’ These are things I’ve never heard before because I’ve never opened myself up to new challenges. But because of my ACL, I am not afraid to do it.

Swart was training at Athletic Republic Escape in New Jersey when she noticed a missed call from Parros. Knowing the conversation would be ‘emotional,’ she waited until she finished her session, got into her car and pulled over before calling back.

Swart said she “broke down crying” after Parros offered her an opportunity to continue her journey as a professional lacrosse player.

“Lacrosse is my life, and I made sure to tell her that I won’t let her down,” Swart said. “I’m just so thankful for Coach Emily for just seeing me again and seeing my Instagram stories. It may seem little from the outside, but that means so much to me.”

The moment felt like proof that everything she had worked through had led her exactly where she was meant to be. Swart’s affirmations and manifestations came true, and she continues to serve as a role model for younger and older athletes alike. She is a living, breathing example of her own philosophy: If you set your mind to something, there is nothing you can’t do.

“I wrote it down, and it’s happening, and it’s here,” she said, “and I just can’t wait to experience what the WLL has created for us, because, again, this is the biggest stage to be a part of, and I’m just grateful to even be here at this moment.”

Swart will officially take the field as a professional athlete on Feb. 27, when the WLL Championship Series returns to The St. James in Springfield, Va. This time, instead of wearing red, white and blue, she will don the Maryland red, yellow and black as a member of the second-ever Charm roster.