Four minutes rarely amounts to much in the lives of the 18-22-year olds who make up the teams remaining in the NCAA Women’s Soccer Tournament, but in 2013 that amount of time served as a blessing in disguise for Kentucky.The Wildcats became a group of walking wounded late in the regular season due to the piling up of injury upon injury. Come last Friday’s first-round game, the Wildcats had to recall a player who was thought to be out for the season: Courtney Raetzman.In fact the UK staff had applied to officially end her season so as to grant her an entire additional season of eligibility due to injury hardship, but NCAA rules denied the request. The technicality? She had played four minutes too many to qualify for a medical redshirt. Those four minutes may have seemed trivial if not cruel earlier this season, but as it turned out they were key in allowing the Wildcats to advance to Friday’s 10:30 p.m. ET second-round matchup at UCLA. Raetzman was a revelation in UK’s first-round victory over Ohio State. Her performance was all-the-more impressive given she was wearing what looked to be an extremely restrictive brace, apparently to protect against reinjury.”We’ve got a gutsy kid in Courtney Raetzman that was back,” head coach Jon Lipsitz said. “I mean, Courtney has been out since the seventh game of the year. She actually played four minutes too much for us to be able to look at redshirting her this year, so everything that she did was, I’m going to find a way back, I’m going to find a way, I’m going to get back on the field. “And a week ago, she wasn’t even really going full-go in training. Just two days ago, she was finally cleared to train, tackle, do everything. For that kid to come back in and play like that, it’s unbelievable.”The impact of Raetzman’s play cannot be overstated, and her return helped UK in tactical terms, but the comeback also was also helpful in ways less quantifiable. When a player works that hard and gets back onto the pitch so quickly and so effectively, teammates apparently take a great deal of inspiration.”Anytime you get a player back on the field from injury, it’s great,” All-SEC forward Arin Gilliland said. “We’re a family here and being able to have someone on the field that really makes a difference once again is a great feeling and it brings so much energy back to the field and it gets everyone excited.”The team’s excitement at Raetzman’s return translated into goals galore and a win, but similar stories have been widespread across the team in 2013. Such unexpected stories of perseverance seem necessary for a team like UK, which has lost so much talent because of injury to be able to make it as far as UK has.Caitlin Landis’s 2013 journey is yet another example of a player who spent part of the season on the periphery of Lipsitz’s first choice lineup only to play a pivotal role once the NCAA Tournament came around.Landis, a senior, began the season by losing a starting place which she had held for much of her career, but like many other Wildcats, injuries to others forced her back into heavy playing time.Apparently the adversity brought out a new level in Landis’s game, which was on full display when the forward opened the scoring in the 3-1 win over Ohio State.”The way she sees the field and her ability to play other players in now is something she didn’t have before,” Lipsitz said earlier this season. “She was not starting early in the year, and we made some adjustments … She has put a stranglehold on it ever since. I hope she feels like I was totally wrong when I wasn’t starting her early. “I hope she looks at me every day and thinks, ‘You are an idiot,’ because I want my players to want to be on the field and think they deserve to be. She was ready when her number was called and she’s been ready ever since.”And then there’s the case of Ashley VanLandingham, whose season has in many ways been best exemplified by not even four minutes, but only a matter of seconds.The senior captain started the trend of UK women’s soccer players suffering untimely injuries as she was declared out for the season with a knee problem last spring.Nonetheless she was named a team captain, and served this season as UK’s loudest player offering support from the sidelines during games and as one of the Wildcats’ most influential leaders.VanLandingham’s symbolic minutes came on senior day, when she started the game with the opening kickoff being played out of bounds before she showed her rehab progress by jogging off for an immediate substitute. The move was a nice in-game touch of ceremony, which served as a sort of reward for a player who had given so much to the program.”I had recruited Ashley to go to Charlotte when I was coach there as she is from North Carolina,” Lipsitz said. “What a leap of faith on her part to come play here at Kentucky. That’s special, but as much fun as it was to watch her on the field her progression as a leader this year despite not playing is the most special thing of all.”The senior captain’s one minute of play this season had almost no direct impact on the events, which transpired on the field during UK’s game that day or any other wins. Yet, just like Raetzman’s return or Landis’ ability to be a team-first player while on the bench, the ceremonial start represented off-field work, which helped UK in ways less visible but still important.

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