‘Will I ever get to lace up my cleats again?’: A life-altering accident transforms Devon Olive’s soccer journey

Driving west down the one-way College Avenue at Penn State is always full of surprises. People crossing through the middle of the street, buses pulling in and out of stops and cars turning onto the road from every side street imaginable.

The one surprise Penn State midfielder Devon Olive didn’t have on her bingo card was a collision with another vehicle that would change the course of her collegiate soccer career.

The car accident broke three facial bones, plagued her with months of persistent concussions and gave her the steepest uphill battle in her life.

Before the final spring season game against Syracuse in April of 2023, Olive and three teammates were involved in a motor vehicle collision on the way home from practice, leaving Olive with long-term injuries.

Then the ever-present self-loathing question: “Why me?” entered Olive’s headspace.

Amid finals preparation and the end of the spring season, Devon was forced away from University Park to head home to New York for more help and a change of environment.

It would take a team effort and three weeks of testing, exams and second opinions as Devon continued to suffer from the acute reactions to the incident, leaving her thoughts of returning to the pitch irrelevant.

Devon said, “I wasn’t really looking into [soccer] as much because there were still so many other things going in those moments.”

Her recovery would begin in the summer of 2023 when she returned to Penn State, subjected to the sidelines and the stationary bike while her teammates ran drills, scrimmaged and prepared for the 2023 season. It was supposed to be the Brooklyn native’s true athletic senior year thanks to an NCAA-granted COVID-19 season.

As the summer wore on, Devon got cleared to participate in team activities, but if any lingering symptoms arose in training she was forced to stop.

Olive found herself in a rough patch where she was taking one step forward and three steps back as prolonged concussion symptoms were working hard against her.

“My facial bones were healing nicely, my eye doctor said, ‘your eye looks good,’ but at that point, I was having headaches, and was still seeing [those] symptoms come up.”

Doctors wouldn’t clear Olive until she had gone 14 days in succession with no concussion symptoms. The midfielder would go, “six to seven days [or] eight to nine days” without signs, but couldn’t hit the quota of 14 straight during the fall season.

After talks with family, friends and the coaching staff, Olive chose to redshirt her true senior season and take on the comeback for a fifth athletic year at Penn State, while also pursuing a graduate degree.

Devon witnessed the 2023 fall season from the bench, saying, “It wasn’t all sunshine and rainbows,” and “Not being able to play in contact drills was really difficult.”

She attributes her return to, “my teammates, my coaches and my family,” while also heavily relying on friends outside of sports to give her a different outlook on the situation.

It was here on the sideline that she began to form a strong connection with teammate Ava Minnier, a redshirt freshman going through her own medical issues.

The two created a bond that was heavily instrumental in Olive’s recovery and could only be encapsulated by senior day, where Devon had Minnier to her right with her mother to her left as she walked out following the 2-1 win over Columbia.

“I can’t even repay her for what she did for me, but she’s one of the most hardworking people I’ve ever met. I just know her comeback story is going to be unbelievable,” Olive said about the redshirt freshman midfielder.

Olive is living the plan she and Minnier blueprinted during recovery.

“It pains me to see her back on crutches again and to not be able to live out this season, because she worked so hard this summer for what this season was going to look like for her,” Olive explained.

Alongside Minnier on the sideline, Devon leaned on coach Dambach to serve as her rock, as a coach and a mentor outside the game. Dambach joined her in the emergency room the night of the incident and hasn’t left her side since.

“She cares for every single one of us in the same way and wants what is best for us on and off the field,” Olive said. “It’s just a blessing to have her as a head coach and it would look a lot different if I didn’t have her. She always puts soccer aside, and all of last fall would ask how you are as a human being, not just a player.”

Devon’s connected support staff of family, teammates, friends and the coaching staff have created an opportunity for her that wasn’t even a thought 17 months ago. It all culminated in her first start September 12th against Michigan in a game Olive said was, “just another day at the office.”

After a headed ball from a Wolverine defender following a cross by Natalie Wilson, Olive was set up outside the 18 and told herself, “Let’s crank at this.”

She eyed her approach and let the ball rip. The shot hit off a defender and found the back right corner of the net.

Olive celebrated immediately with her teammates before sprinting over to the sideline, embracing Dambach and her teammates before sprinting to Minnier who was at the end of the bench, jumping up and down on her crutches.

Olive’s goal served as the game-winner in a 6-0 shutout of Michigan and it proved to everyone that Devon could not only lace up her cleats again but finally contribute again on the pitch for a Penn State team looking to make a run at the NCAA championship.

Olive is taking on an important role for the rest of this season, not only as an experienced leader on Penn State’s talented roster but also as a major contributor to the team as well. She plays an aggressive style of soccer that keeps pressure on opposing players and forces action to keep her out of open space.

Olive’s speed from the halfback spot plays an instrumental role in Dambach’s attack alongside her intelligence and ability to serve the ball in from set pieces. Having her back in action gives an experienced presence to the midfield that can play quarterback alongside Molly Martin and Olivia Damico.

She’ll have the opportunity to bring that speed and experience this upcoming week on the road against a top-25 team in Iowa on Thursday and a physically imposing Nebraska squad when the Nittany Lions travel to Lincoln on Sunday.

Jeremy Rose is a second-year majoring in broadcast journalism. To contact him, email jrose0531@gmail.com.