Carmel’s Anna Hartman recalls being on “cloud nine” at the end of her sophomore year.
After helping Carmel’s girls basketball team win the 2022 Class 3A state title, she was named the East Suburban Catholic Conference co-player of the year in girls soccer. Club soccer season was coming, and she expected to start hearing from college coaches.
“Obviously, I was really excited for that,” Hartman said.
Her mother, Kara Adams, said their entire family was excited.
“She would say a couple of times that ‘life’s so great for me,’” Adams said. “She was having so much fun. Everything was going so well for her.”
Then came the downpour. Hartman suffered serious knee injuries in June 2022 and May 2023, sidelining her for club soccer both years and chilling her recruitment in her top sport.
But Hartman is back once again, and the senior forward is ready to show what she can do.
“My goal is to play soccer in college,” she said.
Carmel girls soccer coach Stephanie Kile has confidence that Hartman, who had 15 goals and 21 assists during her sophomore season and then had eight goals and 11 assists in just 13 games last season, can achieve her goal.
“I absolutely think she can still do that,” Kile said. “She has come back faster from both ACL tears than anyone I’ve ever coached. Often, I see a change in players after an ACL tear where they’re a little more hesitant or cautious. I have not seen that with Anna.”
Hartman’s first knee injury came in the first week of June 2022. She tore the ACL, medial meniscus and lateral meniscus and sprained the LCL and MCL in her left knee.
“It didn’t feel real at first,” she said. “I’m a kid who loves playing. I love going to practice, and now not to be able to play and having to watch my teammates, it was hard. I had physical therapy for six and a half months.”
The injury affected Hartman’s recruitment process too. Per NCAA rules, college coaches can communicate with student-athletes and extend offers to incoming juniors on June 15.
“It was just terrible timing,” Adams said. “College coaches were not making offers because they wanted to see her get back. Her goal was always to play at the highest level of soccer.”
Hartman finished her recovery in time to play a little more than half of basketball season during her junior year and then eased into soccer season. But she suffered similar damage in her right knee during the Corsairs’ win against Vernon Hills in the Class 2A Carmel Regional championship game on May 19, 2023. She tore her ACL and menisci.
Without Hartman, top-seeded Carmel lost 1-0 to Lake Forest in the Deerfield Sectional semifinals.
Hartman had surgery May 24. During her six-month rehabilitation, she made a choice.
“I decided to focus on soccer this time around instead of going back to basketball,” she said. “I wasn’t quite as upset the second time because I knew what to expect. It did stink. But I didn’t cry the second time.”
Her resilience impressed Adams.
“She was getting into the college recruitment period again,” Adams said. “But Anna’s not a kid who will let anything stop her. She was so determined.”
Hartman, who has 40 career assists in soccer, noted that she learned some things during her time away from the sport.
“I think sitting out made me read the game better, watching more instead of playing it,” she said. “I almost see what passes I would like to make if I was playing. I also have more sympathy for a player or a teammate, and I know you have to take advantage of things you have.”
Bobby Narang is a freelance reporter.
