When she hit the ground, felt her knee twist awkwardly and then heard a pop, Hannah Caldwell knew something was wrong.

That was last season — Sept. 20 to be exact — when the talented attacker on the Prior Lake girls soccer team went down with a season-ending knee injury. Not only did a torn anterior cruciate ligament and a torn meniscus in her left knee end her soccer campaign, it also knocked her out for basketball and track as well.

"I knew when I went down it wasn't good," Caldwell said. "I knew it wasn't normal and it was not just another injury. It was something worse."

Caldwell had surgery a month after her injury. Then she faced nine months of rehabilitation. But like any determined athlete, she met that challenge head on.

It was all about getting back on to the soccer field for her senior year. She was also hoping to play college soccer and she was concerned that she would have to prove herself all over again to college recruiters.

"I was talking to some colleges [before my injury]," Caldwell said. "They'd seen me play and knew what I could do. But did they see enough? Did they want to see more now?"

Caldwell said it was difficult call to colleges to tell them of her injury. But what she found out were ACL tears are not that uncommon and many colleges have to deal with their own players who get them.

"They know a player can come back from it even stronger," Caldwell said.

And that's what Caldwell has done. Wearing a brace on her left knee, she's back on the field for the Lakers. She actually got back to action in August, playing the final four games for her club team. It was there she got comfortable with the brace and confident she could make all the cuts.

Caldwell has also picked her college. She has verbally committed to the University of Minnesota-Duluth to play Division II next year. So now Caldwell can enjoy her senior season with the Lakers and not have to worry about next year or proving herself all over again.

"I'm really excited [about UMD]," Caldwell said. "It was between them and Bemidji. I love the coaches, the team and the players there. I like that location better than Bemidji. I'm looking forward to it."

But first things first, Caldwell wants to help the Lakers erase last year's five-win season, which was the first under head coach Blair Rummel. Prior Lake scored just nine total goals last year in 18 games. Caldwell had four them of before getting injured.

Caldwell recorded two assists in Prior Lake's first three games, while playing a new position.

In her first two seasons, she was on the outside, attacking offensively up the field. Now she's playing a center forward, where's looking to pass more to the outside attackers.

"It's different than than outside," Caldwell said. "It's more distributing than making runs like I was on the outside."

As a sophomore, Caldwell had a team-best seven goals as the Lakers finished 6-5-6 overall.

Caldwell said she will not play basketball her senior year, but will go out for track again this spring. She started to emerge as a strong sprinter for the Lakers as a sophomore.

Caldwell said she's getting more and more confident in her knee with each practice and each game.

"I knew it was going to be a lot work [to come back]," Caldwell said. "[I rehabbed] twice a week for 5 1/2 moths. I had to do it on my own three times a day. I did it before school every morning and sometimes after school.

"I was determined to get back," Caldwell added.