Houston Dash confirm Carli Lloyd suffered sprained MCL
The Houston Dash confirmed Monday afternoon that Carli Lloyd suffered a Grade 1 sprained medial collateral ligament in her right knee during Saturday night's National Women's Soccer League game aginst the Orlando Pride.
Updated May 15, 2016: This story has been corrected. The original version included a photo which, according to the circulated caption, was of Carli Lloyd on the ground after being injured. As it turns out, the injured player in the photo was Rachel Daly, not Lloyd. I found this out because Lloyd told me publicly on Twitter that she wasn't in the photo. She did so with some humor, and reached out to me privately to confirm further details. So I've removed the photo.
The Houston Dash confirmed Monday afternoon that Carli Lloyd had suffered a Grade 1 sprained medial collateral ligament in her right knee during Saturday night's National Women's Soccer League game against the Orlando Pride.
Lloyd underwent an MRI scan Monday morning. She is expected to be out three to six weeks, which means her return to the field would likely come in late May or early June.
That would give her plenty of time to be ready for the Olympics, though she might not be available for the U.S. team's June 2 and 5 games against Japan.
Lloyd suffered the injury in the fifth minute of Saturday's contest in Orlando. She came down awkwardly on the Citrus Bowl's artificial surface after blocking a clearance by Orlando defender Laura Alleway.
The Delran native and U.S. women's national team captain immediately fell to the ground and appeared to be in quite some pain, leading to concern that the injury might have been more serious. But she was able to get up and move around, and was seen on the field after the game chatting with fellow national team star Alex Morgan.
On Sunday, Lloyd flew to New Jersey for a promotional appearance, and tweeted a picture of her right leg elevated with a giant ice bag on the knee.
"I would like to thank everyone for their well wishes," Lloyd said in a statement issued by the Dash. "Obviously, I'm very disappointed with the injury. I was feeling great and starting to get comfortable with my Dash teammates. The timing is not great but I'm confident that I will come back in peak condition. Rehab starts tomorrow and you'll see me on the field soon."
Lloyd also tweeted a message to fans: