UCI goalie back pursuing her goals

As many as 12 times a game, Annika Nelson douses dreams. As a goalkeeper for the UC Irvine women’s water polo team, it is her duty in fact to deny the aspiration of opposing attackers.

But Nelson also knows what it’s like to have one’s inspiration quashed. She is well-versed in the clinical comfort of darkness, the diametric alternative to her previous predilection for relishing the light.

Nelson’s athletic sunshine was eclipsed in preseason practice, when a shot struck her head and left her concussed.

Nelson, a fifth-year senior who had sustained two concussions earlier in her collegiate career, said it wasn’t the biggest blow she had ever taken. But it proved to be the most damaging, prompting symptoms that lingered for more than five months.

“I was told that most likely, I was going to be out for the rest of the season,” Nelson recalled. “That was really bizarre, because obviously this was my last year and I wanted to have a big impact on this team.

“[The medical staff] said that since each of my previous concussions had been progressively worse [the first sidelining her for two weeks and the second for a month] that if I was to get hit again, the likelihood that it would be pretty bad would be high. It was not necessarily that it would hurt more, but that it would take a longer period of time to recover.”

As one of four fifth-year seniors in a group of seven seniors, three of which has redshirted in 2016, Nelson saw the clock ticking away on a season for which the program had anticipated with great optimism.

“I redshirted my junior year [in 2015], creating a fifth year so that I would have the opportunity to be on this team,” Nelson said. “For me, this year was all about water polo and for all these fifth-year seniors, it was about using all of our experience to help this team achieve.”

But Nelson, whom UCI Coach Dan Klatt called a superior athlete, not only lost her role on the team, but, she said, a large part of her identity.

“I would say I probably did nothing for about a month and a half,” Nelson said. “After a while, I was actually mentally far worse when I wasn’t doing something physical. As an athlete, that’s my way to release some endorphins and kind of feel better. Sitting in the dark by myself wasn’t making anything better. So, they told me I could integrate some movement into my days.”

Nelson said she began participating in practices, first for 10 minutes, then incrementally more as time went on.

“I was doing less-rigorous stuff [than teammates] just to try to stay physically able,” Nelson said. “I just progressed more and more to get to where I am now.”

Eventually, Nelson was cleared to play and made her season debut on April 1 at Cal State Northridge.

“I was extremely nervous,” said Nelson, who started the final six games of the season, all victories, to help the No. 6-ranked Anteaters win the Big West Conference regular-season championship and earn the No. 1 seed for the conference tournament. No. 6-ranked UCI (21-6 and on a 12-game winning streak) faces an opponent to be determined in the semifinals on Saturday at UC Davis.

“I really wanted to be a big impact player on this team, so I was really excited to be back. But there was some fear, because I hadn’t played in a game and I wondered how I was going to perform.”

Nelson made five saves in a 10-5 win over Northridge and averaged 10 saves her next five games, including a 12-0 blanking of Loyola Marymount in the regular-season finale, and senior day, at UCI on Friday.

“[The shutout, the second in program history] was really cool,” Nelson said. “Because of our defensive play, I felt pretty comfortable back there snagging the ones that got through.”

Klatt said Nelson’s return has added to the comfort level of players and coaches alike.

“Our other goalies were doing a good job, but Annika is just a special human being and a really strong athlete,” Klatt said. “She brings the level of confidence up for everyone else.”

Nelson, who will graduate this spring with a degree in psychology and criminology, said she is happy to be back in the water, even in the line of fire.

“It was a bumpy road, but I feel like I got back something that was taken from me,” Nelson said. “Now, I kind of have the feeling that there is nothing to lose. My team was really helpful in trusting me and believing in me. It just seemed like all the old feelings and the muscle memory came back.”

As did her joy, and her inspiration.

“This whole experience has prompted a lot of reflection about overcoming the tough times and appreciating what you have,” Nelson said. “I wrote my feelings down in my journal to try to help me move away from the yucky feelings of being concussed. Going back and reading those entries is kind of funny and kind of sad, because I truly felt in those moments that there was no overcoming this; that all those things that I wanted to do, I couldn’t, and that I would never move on. But the sun really does come up the next day and you just have to keep moving on and have patience with what happens and just keep working for what you want.”

barry.faulkner@latimes.com

Twitter: @BarryFaulkner5