PLEASANTON, Calif. -- Ahsha Smith has a dream, as do many high school athletes. The 17- year-old Skyline High School junior’s hope is to play college soccer like her older brother and sister.

Ahsha’s been a standout on her club team, and was just about to interview for athletic scholarships when it happened to her left knee.

“I just turned and it didn’t. I heard it pop and I fell to the ground,” Ahsha said. “At first, it didn’t hurt, and I walked off the field.”

An MRI showed Ahsha’s ACL -- anterior cruciate ligament -- had torn off the bone in her left knee. The ACL is the smaller of two crossing ligaments that hold the knee together.

It’s a surprisingly common injury in girls who play so-called ‘jump, cut and pivot’ sports, including soccer, basketball and volleyball. In fact, a studies show that in those sports, compared to boys, girls are up to seven times more likely to tear their ACL.

Orthopedic surgeon Jo Hannafin of Cornell University says girls’ knees, on average, have narrower notches for the ACL, which stresses the ligament; girls have wider hips that add a bending stress to their knees, and girls have a tendency to jump and land more ‘knock-kneed’ adding even more stress.

Ahsha had ACL repair surgery last year, and began an aggressive sports rehabilitation program at Children’s Hospital Oakland Sports Medicine Center for Young Adults, where director Michelle Cappello could really relate. Cappello is a former competitive soccer player who tore the ACL in both of her knees.

“It’s about a year long setback,” says Cappello, “but motivated athletes who’ve had good surgery and retraining, can come back even stronger than before their injury.”

Cappello says retraining is crucial, since part of the problem for young female athletes is the lack of proper sports technique. She says learning the habits of proper jumping and landing can significantly reduce the risk to the ACL.

Hannafin also says cross training, and taking breaks from the main sport, can help reduce overuse injuries. Parents should be wary, Hannafin says, of coaches who push athletes to the point of fatigue, where injuries become much more likely.

After six months of rehabilitation, Ahsha got a notice from UCLA. Even though she’s still a junior, the Bruins have enough faith in her surgeon, her trainer and in Ahsha’s own motivation and ability, to offer her an athletic scholarship. Despite that horrifying ‘pop’ Ahsha’s dream is about to come true.