- Posted in All University
- Category: AthleticsCampus News
LINCOLN UNIVERSITY, Pa. - What started as a normal Tuesday practice didn't finish that way for women's soccer player Morgan Alverson (Gentry, Ark. /Westville (OK)).
Despite not being able to practice due to an injury Alverson always refrained from answering her phone and chose to stay fully engaged into practice. After declining a call from her mother, a frenzied text was something that she couldn't ignore. On the other end of the phone call, she was informed that her father has been in a horrible motorcycle accident.
The next 48 hours were a display of team work that highlights what it truly meant to be a Lincoln University student-athlete.
"We found out she had to go see her dad, and her original plan was to drive," said junior Kianna Lee (Port of Spain, Trinidad & Tobago/East Stroudsburg North (PA)). "With being in her mental state, distraught, driving to Oklahoma for 20 hours – by herself – would be a bad idea. I knew we could buy her a plane ticket. I could have done it by myself, but I wanted the team to help out. I asked by teammates if they would be willing to help, and they all agreed."
"Once we realized one of our teammates needed us, and we had only known each other for a month, we are so connected at that point," said Parker Moss (Elmira, N.Y. /Elmira), a freshman team captain. "Once we knew one of us was in trouble, we just wanted to help out."
While it may have taken 24 hours to put the plan in motion, her teammates quickly sprang into action. From the time the entire team was told of the plan, it took less than 30 minutes for the team to secure the funds necessary to get Alverson a round-trip ticket back to Oklahoma.
The ticket was more important to Alverson that originally suspected by her teammates when the plan was hatched and executed.
"I wasn't going home," Alverson said due to financial constraints. "I wanted to go home, but I wasn't going to. It was pretty rough. I didn't go to class. I didn't show up for anything. I laid in bed and I stared at the wall. (Her roommate) MacKienzee (Rasheed) would come into the room, and didn't know how to help. MacKienzee was really comforting, but didn't really know what to do."
Not only did Rasheed not fully know how to comfort her roommate, she was withholding valuable information.
"It was tough watching her cry because I knew we were giving her a plane ticket, but I didn't want to ruin the surprise," said Rasheed.
Compounding the situation for Alverson was a preseason injury that has kept her off the field.
"It made it to where I couldn't think straight. It was straight devastation. My dad was going through all of that, and all could think about was going home. And the one thing that could alleviate the stress, I couldn't do."
By Friday morning, however, Alverson was on a flight home to see her father and visit with family.
Over the course of the five days at home, her father was released from the hospital with a few broken bones, but was otherwise okay. She was able to catch up with family, and according to her teammates, returned back to campus revitalized and "back to being Morgan."
Her father had escaped a near-death experience, and Alverson was able to be surrounded by love in Pennsylvania and Oklahoma.
