Goshen, IN — Goshen College women’s basketball head coach Steve Wiktorowski announced Thursday that senior guard Jennifer Rupp will likely miss the majority of the 2005-2006 season due to an Anterior Cruciate Ligament tear in her right knee, dealing a major setback to the Leafs’ experience factor heading into this season. Wiktorowski said that Rupp tore the ligament during spring workouts and underwent reconstructive surgery on July 11th. Rupp has been rehabbing the knee since.

“Jenn’s knee injury is certainly a blow to our plans this year,” Wiktorowski said. “She was by far our most experienced returning player and the best penetrator of all our guards. Our younger players are going to have to grow up quickly in order for us to be successful early on.”

Rupp, a three-year veteran under Wiktorowski, appeared in all 32 games during the 2004-2005 season, averaging 3.7 points and 2.0 rebounds per game. Since arriving to Goshen in 2002, Rupp has been a model of durability, playing in 93 of the Leafs’ 94 games during that time.

“I feel so badly for Jenn because she had been working so hard to get ready for her senior year, even arranging to stay on campus this summer so she could work out more often,” Wiktorowski said. “We hope that we can get her back for the second half of the season, but with this kind of injury you never know exactly when players will return or how effective they will be. Hopefully Jenn will make a strong recovery and help us during the conference portion of our schedule. She is a terrific person and everyone is really pulling for her.”

Wiktorowski speaks from experience, as Rupp is his second player to suffer an ACL tear in just three years leading the Leafs’ program. Junior forward Danielle Haney tore her ACL in November of 2003, missing the remainder of her freshman 2003-2004 season as a result. Haney’s injury happened early enough in the season that she was granted a medical redshirt, giving her an added year of eligibility. With Rupp on schedule to graduate this spring, however, Wiktorowski said she would in all likelihood not sit out the entire 2005-2006 year to play in 2006-2007.

“Jenn is planning on intense rehab with a goal of being ready to play by January,” Wiktorowski said. “If she can get back on the floor by January, it’s our hope that by February and the end of conference play she’ll be able to really contribute.”

Rupp may have had the benefit of an extra month of recovery time had it not been for an initial misdiagnosis of her injury. According to Wiktorowski, Rupp went down awkwardly during an early May workout. Local doctors elected not to perform an MRI, diagnosing the injury as a strained tendon. After taking a month off from working out, Rupp returned to the court in early June. While playing in an open gym, Rupp felt the knee give again. An MRI taken just days later revealed a total tear of the right ACL.

“We will do all we can with Jennifer to help her get back on the court as quickly and as safely as possible, but rehabilitation on this type of injury is time consuming,” said Linda Kaminskis, Goshen College head athletic trainer. “Jenn is very determined, and that is a big first step.”

Goshen will open its season on Nov. 3 against Andrews University at 5 p.m. Click here for an article detailing the release of the Leafs’ 2005-2006 schedule.