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How Macy Blackburn became Texas Tech soccer's record-setting gold standard
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- How Macy Blackburn became Texas Tech soccer's record-setting gold standard
Macy Blackburn woke up Aug. 25 a bundle of nerves.
For the second year in a row, Blackburn was about to return to action with the Texas Tech soccer team following a season-ending knee injury. A dislocated kneecap as a sophomore took away most of her season. The following year, Blackburn and the Red Raiders were well on their way to a historic season culminating with the Big 12 regular-season championship and a trip to the Round of 16 in the NCAA women's soccer tournament.
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Blackburn was a spectator for those final grand triumphs, suffering a torn ACL in the same right knee. Familiar with the sidelined routine, Blackburn continued to travel with the Red Raiders, becoming the group's biggest cheerleader as team accolades piled up.
"On the sideline she'd be banging her crutches together, smacking them like she's clapping," Texas Tech coach Tom Stone recalled. "She never took her foot off the gas trying to help our team get that (Big 12) trophy."
More: How Kylie Bahr, Texas Tech soccer plan to build off historic 2023 campaign
With no soccer to play, Blackburn could only focus on rehabbing her knee yet again. As she ramped up her return, trainers told Stone his star defender was stronger than she'd ever been, and Blackburn broke her personal running speed record before she was cleared to play.
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Blackburn got the green light against Utah State, about two weeks ahead of her original timeline for return. Snakebitten from the past two years, she wasn't sure what to expect when she stepped onto the field again. Friends and family texted Blackburn messages of support and love, wishing her the best. All she could do was take the field and see what happens.
The moment came 15 minutes into the contest. Checking in for the first time in 10 months, Blackburn was caught off guard by how normal the whole scene felt.
Texas Tech's Macy Blackburn is introduced before a non-conference soccer match against Oregon, Thursday, September 5, 2024, at John Walker Soccer Complex.
"It was like really, really anticlimactic," Blackburn said with a chuckle. "You kind of think it's gonna be this really big, monumental moment, like slow motion. Obviously my teammates are incredible. They're cheering, chanting. Every parent that was there was loud, but it was kind of like, yeah, this is what you do, which oddly gave me some comfort because it was like, it's another soccer game, yeah? Don't over-complicate it."
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Macy Blackburn was born to be a Red Raider
Blackburn's time at Texas Tech has had its share of complications, a far cry from how she got to Lubbock in the first place.
Her parents, Ryan and Bianca, each graduated from Texas Tech, where they met. Blackburn remembers the Red Raider memorabilia throughout her life growing up in Keller. Her older sister, Mackenzie, is a Tech grad herself. The Blackburns bleed scarlet and black.
"There was a lot of brainwashing in it, which I'm obviously grateful for," Blackburn said, "because they got me here."
Stone remembers seeing Blackburn on the youth circuit, saying she was a "phenomenal 12-year-old," although he wasn't quite ready to recruit her. He did, however, wind up on the phone with Blackburn around the same time.
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Attending a camp in her pre-teen years, one of the coaches asked where the participants wanted to go to college. Blackburn, of course, knew her answer. Turns out, the coach had Stone's number, so he gave the Tech coach a call and put him on the line with Blackburn.
"It was funny because I didn't know he was doing that," Stone said. "We had a conversation. I knew I had to get off, so I was like, hey, great talking to you, you're an awesome player, bye."
Stone began recruiting Blackburn in high school, although he didn't need much of a sales pitch when he met the family at a Tech football game.
"She's like, 'Listen, Coach, I plan on going here,'" Stone said. "'This is where I've been. I've been to more football games than you have probably and my family are Red Raiders and this is where I've always wanted to be.'"
Texas Tech's Macy Blackburn ties the program record for career assists in a non-conference soccer match against Oregon, Thursday, September 5, 2024, at John Walk Soccer Complex.
Confidence exuded early for Macy Blackburn
Stone noticed early on Blackburn was wired differently. He got an up-close look while she was on the club circuit.
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Blackburn's team, Solar Soccer Club, was a national power, winning multiple national championships. At one point, it was decided to split the team in two, Blackburn going with the younger squad. It was assumed the older group would continue their dominance and Blackburn would join them a year later.
"That year gave us the opportunity to see Macy become a leader and a fighter," Stone said, "and one of the most stubborn (players), in the best possible ways."
Stone saw how infectious Blackburn's personality could be. She had a gravitational pull, her teammates following her lead each step of the way as her team was the one to win the title.
More: Macy Blackburn returns to Texas Tech soccer with new perspective
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It's the same tenacity and persistence Blackburn showed when she arrived at Tech in 2021.
"She did not think of herself as a freshman," Stone said. "She thought of herself as someone who's going to help this team win, and she wasn't afraid to speak up. She wasn't afraid to challenge the other players to keep up with her."
Blackburn has the split personality not unlike other elite athletes, Stone said. Off the pitch, Blackburn is a happy, smiley, bubbly ray of optimism. When push comes to shove, Blackburn's intensity kicks up a few notches, and her team benefits from each version.
Her troublesome right knee has forced Blackburn to bottle up the Mr. Hyde of personality much of the past two years.
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"I kind of thrive when I have a lot going on," Blackburn said. "It's the moments, the mundane moments in life, when things are slow that I find myself oddly not getting things done as much as I should."
To counter, Blackburn took on a heavier, more-challenging class load. She also attacked rehab as if a national championship was on the line.
"She likes being in the pressure cooker," Stone said, "and now that she's been released, you see her immediate impact on our team. She just makes everybody better."
Texas Tech's Macy Blackburn prepares to kick the ball during a non-conference soccer match against Oregon, Thursday, September 5, 2024, at John Walker Soccer Complex.
The record-setter
When Blackburn tore her ACL last October, she was one assist from tying the program's single-season record and five away from matching the career record set by Taylor Lytle. Blackburn tied Lytle in the first few minutes of a 5-1 triumph over Oregon on Sept. 5.
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One assist from having the record to herself, next on the schedule was TCU, the team she suffered the injury against last year.
Blackburn initially thought TCU would be her first match back, before doctors approved her for Utah State. The Horned Frogs matchup wound up being another full-circle moment.
A few months removed from surgery in February, Blackburn attended a Fellow of Christian Athletes camp in Glen Rose. Collegiate athletes from across the state attended, one of them the same TCU player who caused Blackburn's torn ACL.
"It was so funny," Blackburn said. "People were like, oh, are you mad at her? Of course not. It was not malicious. It wasn't anything much. It just happened. ... I hold no grudge."
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It would've been a storybook ending to set the all-time assist record against TCU, but Blackburn's career hasn't been quite that perfect. Blackburn finally got the elusive 28th assist of her career on Sunday in Texas Tech's 2-0 victory over 12th-ranked Oklahoma State.
"I think it's really special," Blackburn said earlier this month, "and I'm so honored that I get to be a part of it and that I get to be in the record book and my name will be there."
Stone knew Blackburn was talented when she was 12, but even he admitted he couldn't have foreseen what Blackburn would become at this stage.
Although Blackburn is in her fourth year at Tech, the TCU match was the 44th contest of her career, the equivalent of about two full seasons. She's appeared in 61% of the games Tech has played since she joined the roster.
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Lytle, the previous record holder, played in 74 contests to reach 27 career assists.
"It's not surprising, but it is remarkable," Stone said. "Her ability to set people up to score is as good as I've ever seen."
This article originally appeared on Lubbock Avalanche-Journal: Macy Blackburn's path to making Texas Tech soccer history
