Haddonfield boys’ soccer senior attacker Matt Fell is quickly making up for lost time early in the 2015 season.
Fell missed most of his junior year in 2014 due to a hip injury. This season, he is healthy and already making a big contribution to the Bulldawgs. Fell scored three goals in the first two games, helping lead Haddonfield to wins over Sterling and Collingswood.
Fell has never been as motivated for a season as this year because he missed most of his junior year due to an avulsive stress injury to his hip. Fell suffered the injury during an early season game against Audubon.
“I was running down a ball,” he said. “I planted and felt something in my hip. I knew something was wrong. I didn’t play the rest of that game.”
Fell came back to play the next game against Sterling, but re-aggravated the injury and had to leave the game again. The diagnosis from the doctor revealed he would have to miss the rest of the soccer season.
The recovery from the injury took four to five weeks. Fell said there was some physical therapy involved, but most of his recovery involved resting.
“It was mostly physical therapy and just doing some stretching on my own,” Fell said. “I just had to sit out for awhile. There wasn’t much I could do.”
Fell also plays basketball for Haddonfield and was able to heal from the injury in time to hit the court in December. However, missing most of the soccer season was rough.
“It was a disappointment because it’s my favorite sport and it’s my best sport,” Fell said. “It’s disappointing to sit on the sideline knowing you can only watch your teammates playing.”
Fell’s absence was rough for the team as a whole. Head coach Ryan Nixon said it was difficult losing one of the team’s biggest offensive weapons. Fell managed to finish fourth on the team in goals with five last year despite missing about three-quarters of the season.
“Matt’s a real important player for us,” Nixon said. “We really missed him last year.”
Fell came into training camp in August determined to make up for all of the games he missed in 2014. He was able to contribute right away in the Bulldawgs’ season opener against Sterling on Sept. 9. Fell scored the second goal of the game and his first since last September in Haddonfield’s 2–0 win.
“I’ve been thinking about the first game for awhile,” Fell said. “Scoring in the first game back was a great feeling because I knew I was back to where I was my junior year. It’s definitely an awesome feeling.”
“Matt has been raring to go,” Nixon said. “Naturally for a kid of his ability and someone as talented as him, he was obviously chomping at the bit to get going this year.”
Nixon said Fell’s presence opens the field for Haddonfield’s other offensive weapons such as Jack Dugan, Wyatt Dugan and Sam Decencio.
“Matty is the type of kid who, in certain games, will draw a double team,” Nixon said.
“If they’re going to pay significant attention to a player, you’re going to have two or three other options.”
In 2014, Haddonfield’s season ended in the South Jersey Group II quarterfinals, where it lost to Woodstown, 3–1. Fell doesn’t want the team’s season to end early in 2015. He wants to give the Bulldawgs an extra spark to make a deep playoff run.
“I want to score as many goals as I can, get assists, help my team any way I can to achieve that goal of a championship,” Fell said.
