Schwartz: Red Bulls' Connor Lade Continues Rehab After Season-Ending Knee Injury

By Peter Schwartz
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Connor Lade will always remember Aug. 7, 2016.

During the first half of a 2-2 draw against the Galaxy at the StubHub Center in Los Angeles, the Red Bulls' homegrown defender was running after Galaxy midfielder Sebastian Lletget. As Lletget cut the ball back, Lade planted his leg and tried to turn, but his cleat got stuck in the ground.

"I remember it like it was yesterday," Lade told WFAN.com by phone Wednesday night. "I heard a pop. It was probably the worst pain that I suffered in my life. I couldn't put any pressure on it."

As it turns out, Lade tore the ACL in his right knee and was done for the season. For any athlete, not being able to compete and be there with your teammates is a tough pill to swallow. Lade received plenty of support from his family and friends, but the injury meant he could not play the game he loves as the Red Bulls marched toward a second-straight Eastern Conference regular season championship.

"It's incredibly difficult," Lade said. "You never really can plan for these things and you don't know how you'll react, but I tried to keep a positive attitude."

Later that month, Lade underwent surgery, and so began his road back to the pitch. That journey has now taken him to preseason training with the Red Bulls in Arizona, where he has resumed soccer activities with the goal of getting into game action in the not-too-distant future.

"It's been great," said Lade, a native of Morristown, New Jersey. "It's been everything that I've been working for over the past five months. I'm getting close, but I'm not all the way there yet. The closer I get, the hungrier I get. It's been really good to just get back around the team and participate any way that I can."

At this point, there is no timetable for Lade to be able to play in a game. But when the team returns from Arizona, Lade will see his doctors, and they'll be able to take a look at the knee. His status for the March 5 regular season opener in Atlanta is up in the air, but Lade is maintaining an optimistic approach to his rehab.

"Hopefully I'll be able to continue to implement myself into training more and more as we go through these next couple of weeks," Lade said. "It was strictly a freak thing, but I think it will make me stronger, and it's given me a new appreciation for the game."

The encouraging news is that the knee feels good, but it gets sore as the workload increases because of the different movements that he hasn't experienced since the injury. Lade is thankful that the Red Bulls trainers have taken the necessary steps to help him get through each practice session and to prepare for the season.

"We've been putting together a good plan with really hard days and pulling it back on a couple of others to give it a chance to catch up," said Lade, who is now the longest-tenured player on the Red Bulls roster. "I couldn't be happier."

Lade could return to full participation in training sometime in the next couple of weeks, and that would cap the spectrum of emotions that he's experienced over the last six months.

On July 13, he scored his first MLS goal against Orlando City, and then less than a month later he suffered the serious season-ending knee injury. But on New Year's Eve in Philadelphia, Lade went from one end of the spectrum to the other as he married Morgan Perri, who he met at Red Bull Arena when she was a hostess for Red Bulls games.

"I'm a very lucky man, and I married a wonderful girl," said the former St. John's star.

That might be the understatement of the year, as Morgan has been a rock for Lade ever since the injury. She stayed up with him at all hours of the night to put new ice on his leg. After her bachelorette party in Las Vegas, she flew back on a red eye to be there for Lade right after his surgery.

"She was the best nurse in the world," Lade said. "She was incredible and helped me set a lot of goals, whether it was walking, strength training or preparing to dance at the wedding. It was definitely a roller coaster of emotions."

That's kind of how things have been for the Red Bulls over the last few seasons. They've enjoyed plenty of regular season success, but they haven't been able to take care of business in the playoffs. So the quest for the franchise's first MLS Cup continues.

This year, Lade and the Red Bulls have set the bar high.

"I think we always set really high expectations for ourselves," he said. "We're all really excited for this year. It's a new opportunity with a clean slate."

For Lade, it's an opportunity to turn the page on last season and having to watch from the sidelines because of the knee injury. He's gone through a lot over the last six months, but he also has what he calls his "eyes on the prize," meaning a return to the pitch and to be able to put the Red Bulls jersey on again.

Please follow Pete on Twitter at @pschwartzcbsfan. You can also follow @clade5 and @NewYorkRed Bulls.