Apologies for the delay. Just got back from attending a concert at Kirk Avenue Music Hall, a fine venue in downtown Roanoke. The artist: Chris Knight, an excellent songwriter from rural Kentucky. At the bottom of this post, you’ll find a video of one of his songs, and the story behind it.

First, a story for tomorrow on Virginia Tech women’s soccer player Marika Gray ...

BY DARRYL SLATER
TIMES-DISPATCH STAFF WRITER

BLACKSBURG – Her chest heaved and her feet burned as she ran across the lumpy field. None of it felt perfect to Marika Gray. But on this July day in Alexandria, perfect didn’t matter, because Gray was playing soccer again, nine months after a left knee injury shortened her sophomore season at Virginia Tech.

She had established herself as a legitimate ACC player, before her knee made her start over, back on the lumpy field at home, playing against 14-year-olds from her club’s younger team. The time away from soccer deteriorated her touch and fitness worse than she ever imagined. A ball rolled her way and bounced off her shin. She could barely sprint without sucking wind.

She found joy, that day, in the simpler things, like breaking in her cleats. “I’ve never been so happy to get blisters in my life,” she said. Soccer, which had become routine, now seemed, after the injury, more special. “It kind of brings your passion back,” she said.

Gray eventually regained her touch, got in shape and became, all over again, one of Tech’s best players, while deflecting praise just like she always has. She scored seven goals in the regular season and ACC tournament, including the only one in the Hokies’ 1-0 win over No. 1 North Carolina. Last weekend, she scored three in two games, as Tech beat Murray State and Dayton and advanced to the NCAA tournament’s round of 16.

Winless in two previous NCAA appearances, the Hokies play Friday night at Portland, which is 20-1 and ranked second in the nation. Gray, a forward whose 10 goals now lead the Hokies, will play a major role in determining whether Tech sustains its best season ever.

She has been a difference maker since her freshman year, scoring two goals in her first game and finishing the season with a team-best eight. She had four in the first eight games last season and seemed on her way to another when she pursued a loose ball, for a potential breakaway, in that eighth game, against James Madison.

She took two steps and heard a ripping sound coming from her left knee. She collapsed to the grass. The knee didn’t swell much, so she hoped to avoid the worst case: a torn anterior cruciate ligament. The day after the game, she was sitting on the bench during practice when the team trainer received a phone call with the result of Gray’s MRI. A complete tear, the trainer told Gray. She started crying.

Despite playing recklessly as a kid, she had avoided a major injury. Her dad wouldn’t let her take up soccer until she was 9 because he feared she’d hurt herself. For good reason. In first grade, she came home with a knot on her head after a boy shoved her into the goal post when she scored. Then there were the scars from falling off the jungle gym, the scraped elbows from playing football, always with the boys.

Little changed when her dad finally turned her loose on the soccer field. She wore glasses out there until that game when she got smacked in the face and her glasses cracked in the middle, scarring her nose, but just a flesh wound. “I’ve never really had soccer taken away from me,” she said.

The scar that did it runs two inches vertically up her knee. It is one of the few reminders of her injury. When she runs, her stride is choppier than before. But other than that, she is the same player, gliding down the left side of the field, making the opposing coach yank his right back when she is at her best.

“The best thing about Marika is that she doesn’t actually know how good she is,” said junior midfielder Jennifer Harvey. “She really has no idea.”

When a teammate runs over and tells Gray she scored a great goal, Gray responds by crediting the teammate for setting up the shot – a thankful reaction from someone who appreciates, more than ever, the process of reaching the goal. “There’s always something before that happens,” she said, “that makes the goals happen.”

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The junior forward’s contributions, a year after suffering a season-ending knee injury, have helped Virginia Tech’s women’s soccer team advance to the NCAA tournament’s round of 16.