College athlete loses leg in horrific accident, does the incredible in first game back
Two years ago, Noelle Lambert, a freshman lacrosse player at UMass-Lowell, got into a moped accident on Martha’s Vineyard, Massachusetts.
She crashed into a dump truck and lost her leg.
On April 7, with a prosthetic leg, she was not only back on the lacrosse field for UMass-Lowell, but she scored a goal.
After losing her leg in an accident nearly two years ago, junior Noelle Lambert returned to the field and scored a goal for @RiverHawkWLax. pic.twitter.com/OMWxrN0H0z
— NCAA (@NCAA) April 8, 2018
It’s an amazing story of heart, perseverance and determination.
Lambert recalled the moment that changed her life two years ago.
“I veered left and went into a dump truck. I remember hitting it, and then being on the ground. I looked down at my leg, and it was gone,” she said via The Washington Post. “Obviously, lacrosse was one of the first things I thought of, that I was never going to be able to play again.
“The guy that was driving behind us was the first one to come toward me, and he took his shirt off and wrapped it around my leg, which basically saved my life, because I hit a major artery. I remember them saying, ‘Everything’s fine, you’re gonna be OK,’ and I said, ‘No, my leg is gone.'”
Through the Heather Abbott Foundation, Lambert received a waterproof prosthetic leg and began her journey back, reported the Martha’s Vineyard Times. Abbott lost her leg in the Boston Marathon bombings and started this foundation to help other amputees.
After the accident, Lambert asked her coach, Carissa Medeiros, “Am I still on the team?”
“My answer was, without even thinking, ‘Noelle, you are the team,'” said Medeiros.
In a 48-hour span, Stony Brook's Courtney Murphy became the NCAA's all-time goals leader, UMBC shocked No. 1 Albany and amputee Noelle Lambert scored a goal in her first game back for UMass-Lowell.@AmericaEast FTW pic.twitter.com/o6u6wdMDyG
— Matt DaSilva (@mdasilva15) April 8, 2018
When Lambert got the call on April 7 from Medeiros to get in the game against the University of Hartford, she had come full circle.
“When she said my name, I was just like, ‘What? What are we talking about?” she told UMass-Lowell. She had been cleared several weeks earlier by the NCAA to play with her prosthetic leg, but her number had not yet been called in a game.
Seven minutes later, she got a pass in front of the goal and threw it in for a goal. Lambert dropped her stick and screamed with joy, and she was soon mobbed by her teammates.
Noelle Lambert made an inspirational return to the field for @RiverHawkNation Saturday, nearly two years after a moped crash seriously injured her and teammate Kelly Moran. #AEWLAX #3Pillars pic.twitter.com/liNqzBQVQW
— America East (@AmericaEast) April 10, 2018
“It was an indescribable feeling,” she told the Martha’s Vineyard Times. “Watching the video, my teammates were equally if not more excited than I was. To have that support really got me to this goal, truly.”
Noelle Lambert throws out the ceremonial first pitch prior to tonight's @RedSox game at @fenwaypark #UnitedInBlue #AEWLAX #RiseUp pic.twitter.com/MwkB70wDCO
— UMass Lowell Women's Lacrosse (@RiverHawkWLax) April 14, 2018
Friday night, Lambert was an honored guest at Fenway Park, where she threw out the first pitch for the Red Sox.
“I wasn’t going to let this define me,” she told America East, the conference UMass-Lowell plays in. “I don’t see myself as a leader on the field. What I want to see myself as is, ‘OK, if she can do it, I can do it.'”
Lambert told the Martha’s Vineyard Times, “Stickwork, footwork, and on my mindset. I really think that helped me feel more comfortable on the field. I’m nowhere close to where I want to be, I still have so much work to do, but I’m just keeping it day by day.”
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