Illawarra Stingrays player Tara Cannon has been cleared of any serious injuries following a sickening collision in her team's 5-1 win against Blacktown in the NPL Women's NSW competition.
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The match between the Stingrays and the Spartans was stopped for a lengthy period at Macedonia Park, Berkeley after Cannon and Blacktown goalkeeper Anna Norton collided inside the box, resulting in a penalty for the Rays.
In the end the Stingrays won the match 5-1, but all the focus was on the well-being of Cannon.
Initial fears were that of serious spinal injuries to the Stingrays number two. Cannon was taken to Wollongong Hospital in an ambulance to assess the situation, but was thankfully cleared of serious injury.
Stingrays president Kathy McDonogh said that while Cannon still had to be assessed further, the whole club was relieved to receive positive news from the incident.
"The goalkeeper went in for the catch knees up and she collected her right hip and the pain resonated from her right hip through to her lower spine and she had tingling in her hands and feet," McDonogh said.
"So they didn't know whether to treat it as a spinal injury or a hip injury at that point. So we just went on the safe side and got the ambulance straight out there. She was in a terrible lot of pain either way.
"They got her on the 'green whistle' and she went up to Wollongong Hospital and she was cleared of anything spinal. She's still ongoing though. There is no clear outcome right yet. So we don't really know at this point if she's out long term or just a couple of weeks."
Tara is a 'Cannon'
If anyone knows just how tough Tara Cannon is, it's Stingrays club captain Kaelah Austin.
Austin came off the bench to replace Cannon, going on to help her side win the game 5-1.
"Her last name is Cannon and that's what she is," Austin said.
"Unfortunately it happens in sport and at the end of the day, both of them were OK. The keeper was obviously traumatized by the incident.
"I went and visited Tara at the hospital and she was in good spirits. She got the X-rays back and everything was all good. The girls put that aside and got the result we wanted in the game in the end, but that could have easily went the other way. We could have dug ourselves a hole but we chose not to and we knew that we needed to get that job done.
"Credit to all the girls and the coaching staff. We dug deep and we got the result."
Jordan Warren
Illawarra Mercury sports journalist. Feel free to get in touch jordan.warren@austcommunitymedia.com.au.
Illawarra Mercury sports journalist. Feel free to get in touch jordan.warren@austcommunitymedia.com.au.
