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12/04/2019 11:00 PMSenior captain Diego Ortiz made a selfless move from forward to defense for East Haven boys’ soccer team this fall. Diego appreciated being out there on the field in his senior season after dealing with injuries to his left knee throughout his high school career.
“My sophomore year, I hurt my MCL and meniscus when I was trying to go for a left-footed pass. My knee gave out,” Diego says. “It’s happened seven times, so I’ve been trying to strengthen my whole quad, but now I play with a brace.”
Diego has had to miss considerable time as a result of his injuries. Diego was diagnosed with left knee tendinosis, which is a chronic condition that involves deterioration of collagen in his tendon.
“I’ve iced it. I go to physical therapy, but I’m told it’s all fine,” says Diego. “I have to play with the permanent brace.”
Diego missed the most time in his sophomore year. After consulting with his doctor and East Haven’s Head Athletic Trainer Marc Aceto, Diego decided it was best to rest the injury.
“The doctor told me I could be back in two weeks, but I noticed I couldn’t keep up with the rest of the players, so I decided to sit out,” Diego says. “Since it was my sophomore year, it didn’t affect me as much, because I knew I had two more years left. When it happened again my junior year, it hit me more emotionally. Luckily, I didn’t have to sit out the whole season again.”
Diego has moved around quite a bit on the pitch during his career. Diego played right back, right midfield, and center midfield in middle school. With the high school team, he lined up at center midfield, striker, and center back. The center back position was a new experience for Diego this season. Head Coach Mike Papantonio moved Diego to defense to help prevent goals.
“Diego was originally supposed to be a big part of our attack, but we ended up using him to sure up the defense. He was the consummate teammate and captain. He did it graciously, never complained, and was willing to do what it took for the better of the team,” says Papantonio. “It was a pretty seamless transition for him. As a center back, Diego was marking the forwards on the other team and would step in and win balls to create possession from the back for us.”
Even though he had never played center back, Diego knew that he had to step up as a captain and do his best at his new position.
“I played through it and, in the end, it was kind of fun trying to stop the goals,” he says. “We didn’t get scored on much after that and I think I and [fellow senior captain] Telmo [Romero] made a good center back duo.”
Diego says that he worked well with his fellow captains. He enjoyed leading the team alongside Romero and Alejandro Sanchez as the trio tried to put the Yellowjackets in a better position for the future.
“We decided to put in the work to push our team,” says Diego. “It’s hard to be a captain. We forced them to do better and give it their all this year. I think it showed.”
While his high school career has come to a close, Diego is still playing soccer at the club level. Diego says that he wants to continue competing for as long as possible.
“I was shaky about coming back to club soccer, because I don’t want to put my knee in a worse situation, because I feel it’s getting better,” Diego says. “But I love the sport. I love playing soccer, so we’ll see how it goes from here.”