By Nico Mergins / Sports Information Intern

WILLIMANTIC, Conn. – While current Eastern Connecticut State University senior Kylie Gentile was playing in a weekend tournament in Pennsylvania with her club team in the spring of her freshman year in high school, she heard a pop in her knee, but didn't think anything of it at the time. The following Sunday morning, she realized something was terribly wrong. "I woke up that morning and I couldn't walk, I couldn't straighten or bend my knee," said Gentile.  

The following day, Gentile's mother took her to her physical therapist to see what was wrong, after which Gentile made an appointment with an orthopedist. When she got the news that she had torn her ACL, she described going through a "wave of emotions" and feeling like her identity was taken away from her. 

 The following season was then cancelled due to the Covid-19 pandemic. However, the Berlin native described it as a "blessing in disguise" as she could continue building more strength in her ACL. Gentile had a very positive outlook on the recovery process, in large part because there was, as she put it, "still so much time for recruitment for college," as that had been her goal since middle school. 

In the second-to-last minute of her first game back from injury, now in her junior year, Gentile got her foot caught in the grass, buckling her knee, and twisting it to the side when she felt and heard another pop. She had just torn her ACL for a second time, on the same knee. She admitted it was a struggle to keep the optimism she had in her first recovery during her second ACL recovery, as her dream of playing Division I soccer was now put in jeopardy since she'd be sitting out during prime recruitment time.  

Despite her injury-setbacks in high school, Gentile still reached her goal of playing Division I soccer, playing for Central Connecticut State University on scholarship from 2022 to 2023. After completing her senior year at Berlin High School and first year at CCSU fully healthy, it seemed as though Gentile might have possibly put her injury history behind her, and well on her way to a healthy and thriving soccer career at Central Connecticut State.  

The summer going into her sophomore year at CCSU, however, Gentile felt a pull in her knee during a leg workout but didn't think twice about it, knowing that it was normal to have pain from scar tissue after surgery. As she continued to practice with the team more in the preseason though, the pain just kept getting worse. Finally, she went back to her surgeon, who confirmed Gentile had torn her meniscus. For the next month, she was on crutches with a brace that restricted any knee movement, and non-weight bearing, which also happened to be, as she detailed, "during the most brutal heat wave of the entire fall."   

Gentile spent the next couple of months doing everything she could to get back to the game she loves, and once the spring season came around, she was healthy and ready to go compete again. In her first spring season practice, and first practice since tearing it in the fall, Gentile and her teammates were running full-field sprints when she felt her knee give out. She had just torn her meniscus for a second time. 
At this point, she began to question her future at CCSU, as her coaches shared with her that her playing time would be substantially reduced because of her injuries. "It was obviously heartbreaking because since middle school, all I wanted to do was play D1, so that was definitely heartbreaking," Gentile revealed.  
 

After overcoming the initial disappointment, Gentile re-evaluated her goals for the remainder of her soccer career. Her main priority shifted from playing at a certain level of soccer to finding a place where she could play and thrive. "I am already so grateful for [the opportunity to play] that at that point…I had no care in the world if it was D1, 2, 3 or club." She found that opportunity at Eastern Connecticut State University.  

About 20 minutes into her first preseason game as a Warrior, Gentile felt a tweak in her knee, becoming convinced she had just torn her meniscus for a third time. She remembers head coach Sarah Tompkins trying to settle her down as she was "hysterical," recalling Tompkins explaining that it was probably just scar tissue, and that she would be OK, which Gentile said helped calm her down in that moment. Still, she wanted to get it checked out for her own sanity.  

While sitting with some of her teammates in Hurley dining hall one day, Gentile got a notification that her MRI results were ready. "I opened it and I genuinely was just looking at my phone, I didn't even know how to process it" Gentile recalled. She had just torn her meniscus for a third time, and her first season as a Warrior was over before it even officially started.  

By now, Gentile had undergone five surgeries -- all on the same knee -- and began to wonder whether playing soccer was even worth pursuing anymore, since the injuries and subsequent recovery processes
had been, as she described, "mentally absolutely draining" and "exhausting." Her teammates, however, would not allow her to quit on her passion. "I've never, in any team that I've been a part of, have had the most support than I did from all the girls on this team" said Gentile, further adding that prior to her surgery, "every single girl from the team wrote me an individual note talking about how much they love me and how much they support me and that I'm going to get through this." 

As she reflected on where she gets her perseverance from, Gentile mentioned her faith. She grew up in what she describes as a "pretty religious" family, with her mother teaching her religion classes and going to church. But it wasn't until she was at Central where started attending bible studies, and going to church there that she realized it was something she wanted to explore more deeply than she had while growing up. Gentile explained that she now wakes up every morning with the mindset, "Today is a new day, and whatever happens, happens" and that "whatever He (God) has in store and what He has planned for me, I just have to trust it, because His path is the only path I'm meant to walk on."  
 

The support of her family has also played a key role in helping Gentile get through her injuries. "I'm so appreciative of (Melissa and Stephen Gentile) being my parents, because I honestly don't know if I would be where I am today without them" said Gentile. "The amount of emotional support that they gave me and just the amount of encouragement and positivity that they would give me every day, like when they saw me struggling, they made sure to get me out of the house or just do little things with me to [let me] know that it's going to be okay" she added.  

For all the uncertainty she has faced in her soccer career, Gentile is certain that she made a great decision when she decided to join the Eastern women's soccer program and has made the decision to return to complete her eligibility in the fall of  2026. 

Through matches of Oct. 18, the Warriors were 9-3-2 and unbeaten (4-0-1) in the Little East Conference, with three conference matches remaining in the regular season. Gentile has started all 13 matches in which she has appeared – missing one – and averaging 60 minutes per game.

"Transferring here has probably been one of the most amazing, best decisions I've ever made in my entire life. This school, the athletic programs, the soccer program, is more than I could have ever imagined. I am just surrounded by such positivity every single day with all the girls on the team. We all strive to work hard, and we all strive to succeed in everything that we do on and off the field, and I couldn't have asked for a better group of girls to play my last years of soccer with."