The 21-year-old substituted in the 63rd minute in front of a thunderous crowd. The team was already enjoying a dominant 3-0 victory over the visiting Chicago Stars, which ultimately ended 4-0. King even had a shot on goal in his 27 minutes on the pitch.
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King had collapsed on that same field 10 months earlier during a game against the Utah Royals due in part to an undetected congenital heart defect. She was rushed to the hospital and soon after underwent successful surgery, followed by a lengthy rehabilitation process. Controversially, the league allowed the match to continue, a decision that drew swift and harsh criticism from the NWSL Players Association, who urged the league to change its protocols and order the match to be abandoned in the event of medical incidents requiring life-saving procedures.
On February 14 of this year, Angel City removed King from its season-ending injury (SEI) list, and two days later, made his first return to competition since his heart incident with Angel City in the preseason of the Coachella Valley Invitational.
King’s presence was unmissable Sunday against a stunned Chicago when she swapped places with U.S. women’s national team center Emily Sams midway through the second half. He maximized every minute, starting with a shot that cleared the crossbar and elicited a collective gasp from the Angel City fans. As surprising as it was, given her position as a defender, the moment was an emphatic statement about the type of player she aims to be now that she’s officially back.Advertisement
During Angel City’s post-match press conference, forward Kennedy Fuller called King “the sweetest, hardest-working person I’ve ever met,” and said that his heart condition and absence from the game “really brought the soccer community together, and we all realized that the game is so much bigger than playing 90 minutes on the field.”
Fuller, who scored a goal and had an assist in the team’s victory, said that when she resumed training with the team, King “came back and said, ‘I’m going to play and I’m going to be better than I was. I’m going to be faster than I was.’
“I think this moment is something that has really excited her and to be able to see her come on the field and be so confident, like she didn’t miss a beat,” Fuller added.
King’s performance didn’t stop at a shot attempt. In the 80th minute, he also ran into his own goal to deny Chicago Stars forward Jordyn Huitema a scoring opportunity with a quick sliding tackle, preserving Angel City’s clean sheet.
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“She could have played more today than she did,” Angel City coach Alex Straus said after the game about King’s status. “Savy was ready and wanted to start the game,” she added, noting that she needed to manage her minutes alongside Sams, whose time at the club has been sporadic lately due to his national team obligations. Both players, he said, are working to be in top shape for 90 minutes.
The King incident last year, and the fallout that stemmed from the NWSL’s handling of it, led the league to institute changes to its protocols around serious injuries that occur during games. On September 14, Racing Louisville midfielder Savannah DeMelo collapsed on the field in the middle of a game due to a known heart condition, and the league postponed and rescheduled the game for a later date behind closed doors.
Last week, the NWSL announced an official change to its protocols, defining a “serious injury” as a condition that “significantly disables or otherwise poses an immediate and significant risk to the health of the individual, such as a heart attack or cardiac arrest, a seizure episode, or a serious, traumatic physical injury (e.g., open compound fracture or spinal injury with possible paralysis).”
In such cases, the league maintains its discretion on a case-by-case basis to postpone or reschedule a game, or declare it final if enough minutes have been played.
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King herself has also used her experience to advocate for change. In November he announced his nonprofit Savy King of Hearts to raise awareness about CPR and expand access to cardiac screenings. The organization has also partnered with the NWSL to administer CPR training to the league’s 16 teams.
Angel City’s next test will take them up the California coast to San Jose to take on Bay FC, who also won their home opener, on Saturday, March 21.
This article originally appeared in The Athletic.
Angel City, NWSL, women’s soccer
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