Rose Lavelle said she’s feeling “really good” after undergoing surgery last month on her left ankle, though the Gotham FC midfielder kept mum on when she might be able to return to the pitch.
Lavelle arrived at Gotham FC’s media day in Brooklyn on Monday on crutches while wearing a gray walking boot on her surgically repaired foot.
She doesn’t know exactly when she might be able to play again and is taking her rehab process “one day at a time.”
“Everyone’s always hesitant to put timelines on injuries because sometimes you can crush it, sometimes you can have setbacks, so you don’t want to get tied down to a certain date,” Lavelle said. “But yeah, I hopefully shouldn’t miss too much of the season.”
Lavelle said she knew surgery was inevitable this offseason, after she had been dealing with a nagging foot injury for most of the 2024 season.
She underwent the procedure the month after Gotham was bounced in the semifinals by a penalty shootout.
“I’ve been fortunate enough to not have to get surgery prior to this. So it’s my first experience doing that and I think so far it’s gone smoothly,” said Lavelle, who scored a career-high seven regular-season goals last season. “You obviously want to avoid surgery if you can. But yeah, I think it kind of needed to be done but like I said, I feel in a really good spot. I feel really good about the team I have around me that’s helping me and yeah, excited to keep working back to get healthy and get back on the field.”
Lavelle was sidelined for this month’s U.S. Women’s National Team training camp and won’t be cleared to play for next month’s SheBelieves Cup.
Lavelle returned to Gotham’s training facility in New Jersey three weeks ago to start her rehabilitation program. She said she’s been working on regaining her strength and mobility and is eager to ditch her crutches “soon.”
“I’m getting pretty sick of them,” she said. “But yeah, I feel like I’ve been making really, really good progress and I think our medical team here is great. So I feel in really good hands.”
Lavelle, 29, led Gotham with 28 shots on goal and 55 total shots in her first season in New Jersey.
Though she’s on the mend, Lavelle will join Gotham when the team heads to Spain on Tuesday for its preseason.
Since Lavelle is focused on getting back to full strength, she said it’s too early for her to think of personal goals for the 2025 season.
“What’s always been important for me in this profession is taking it one day at a time,” she said. “Right now, my goal is to crush my rehab and focus on getting healthy. So I think when I get closer to touching the field, that’s when I’ll start looking at that but I think right now, my main focus is just getting this right and getting healthy and getting back with the team.”
Gotham opens its season on the road March 15 against the Seattle Reign at Lumen Field.
