It’s hard to start the season off on the right foot when two of the leaders of Bradley athletics are down with foot injuries of their own.
Junior guard Andrew Warren broke his right foot last week and recently had surgery to have a pin put in.
Warren is expected to be back by the start of the season.
“Andrew has worked really hard this summer and preseason,” coach Jim Les said. “This is a minor setback in this process to get ready for this season.
He has shown he is a quick healer and we look forward to his return to the floor as soon as he is ready.”
With the departure of three seniors from last season, Warren became the active career leader in points for the Braves.
Warren is also the active leader in three-pointers and minutes played.
The optimistic side of this injury is it will give the new recruits the opportunity to step in and show Les their capabilities.
Also suffering from a foot injury is senior hitter Katrina Goncher, who is unlikely to play this weekend.
“It makes me sick,” she said. “Not being able to contribute and take part in what my team is doing is horrible.”
Goncher has been sidelined this season with sesamoiditis, an inflammation of two bones about the size of a dime in the foot, known as the sesmoid apparatus.
“She is right now on a day to day basis based on how much pain she is in with her foot,” coach Sean Burdette said.
The injury is a continuation from last season when Goncher initially broke the two bones in her foot.
The initial injury should have healed within six to eight weeks according to www.podiatrychannel.com.
“I played on it for a couple of months because we didn’t know,” Goncher said.
Playing on the injury made matters worse and caused a build up of scar tissue that eventually led to sesamoiditis.
Goncher said she is in pain whenever she tries to practice, run or do anything requiring extra physical exertion.
“It’s pretty painful, but since it is my senior year ,I hope to push through it and overcome it,” she said.
With her lack of ability to produce on the court, Goncher has used her eyes from the bench to help out the rest of the team.
“I’m trying to teach them how to find shots,” she said. “I can see the things they can’t while they are on the court.”
