Megan Rapinoe suffers non-contact injury in final match of her career
Megan Rapinoe of the OL Reign suffered a non-contact injury to her right leg early in the NWSL championship match Saturday night and needed assistance as she hobbled off the field in the last match of her storied career.
Rapinoe broke toward Maitane Lopez of Gotham FC, who was dribbling outside the penalty area, and suddenly went down. After staying on the ground for a few minutes, Rapinoe needed help from two trainers for the long walk along one end line and then down the sideline back to the Reign's bench at San Diego State's Snapdragon Stadium.
Ali Krieger of Gotham FC, who like Rapinoe is retiring at the end of the match, ran over and hugged her former teammate from the U.S. Women's National Team.
There was no immediate word about the severity of Rapinoe's injury, although she did share her belief that it was an Achilles tear.
"This was a tough one, definitely not how I envisioned this last one going," Rapinoe said in a post-match interview. "I'm pretty sure I tore my Achilles."
The match had been billed as a showdown between Rapinoe and Krieger, neither of whom has ever won a NWSL title.
The field at Snapdragon appeared in better shape than it was on Sunday night, when the Reign beat the San Diego Wave to advance, but there were still some areas that appeared torn up. The Reign-Wave match was played 24 hours after a home San Diego State football game.
Reporting by The Associated Press.
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