Hitting the Goal She Hoped to Find Again
Fout is back – and better – after a season of mental and physical recovery
Mike Brohard
The lenses from which they take in the view are different. They have to be for a player and a coach, tinted to their own perceptions and perspectives. What they see may differ, but both parties are looking for the same tell-tale sign.
Confidence.
Teammates want to see it for themselves, too, but there’s an emotional element they are allowed to factor into the landscape.
“It's kind of inspirational to see somebody … I mean, to see her step up and score a goal in every game we need her to, it's a buzz,” Kate Dunne said of Olivia Fout. “It gives us energy to be better.”
Neither Keeley Hagen nor Fout found what they were hoping to see in 2024, but both of them being realists, they weren’t expecting to, either. Not with Fout coming off a major knee injury in the final game of a magical 2023 campaign.
Hope and reality rarely intersect on a soccer pitch. Besides, Fout had been through this before, years earlier. She was just a sophomore in high school, her soccer career still in front of her. A rush in a club tournament, a hard tackle and a pop. She screamed toward her father, tears unstoppable.
It slows down the recruiting process. So does a global pandemic, but she found her way to Auburn for her first collegiate season, coming to the realization she needed to keep searching. She found Hagen rebuilding a young program at Colorado State, and her first season as a Ram was history.
No. Scratch that. Historic.
Fout introduced herself by scoring goals in the first three games, and by the end of an All-Mountain West season, she tallied a program-record 12. Her production was instrumental in the program reaching previously unscaled heights, qualifying for the Mountain West tournament for just the second time since the team was created in 2013, a run which carried the Rams to their first appearance in the championship match.
Facing Utah State in a tight game, Fout was taken down again late in the tilt, ending her season and putting the next in a holding pattern as the team fell 1-0 to the Aggies.
No one questioned her return. The only query was to what degree. Knee injuries are tricky in that regard, however, Fout had done it before. Instead of recovery being a nightmare, it became a process. Something manageable. The steps forward, The steps back. She had a plan for it all.
She appeared in the first four matches, playing just marginal minutes. Then came the setback which kept her out of the lineup for a month, coming back just prior to conference play. Then there was the slow build up of minutes, eventually tallying a pair of goals and adding an assist in league play, earning her second-team honors in the conference.
She just never felt like her true self.
“It was hard mentally, but it was definitely more of a struggle physically. I wasn't feeling good,” Fout said. “I would come back and I was just, my knee hurts and that's just a bummer. It's just things that I just can't control. I went and got surgery and they fixed what they could, but it's hard. But mentally, I tried to stay as strong as I could. I obviously had moments where I was crying in my parents' arms, but I tried to stay as strong as I could.
“I had been through it before. It wasn't a nightmare. I would say it was honestly better than the first time because I had this huge family to lean on every single day. The first year it was COVID and it was like club soccer, so it was different. But my teammates supported me every day. The assistant coaches, the support staff, just every single day were there for me. Through my highs and my lows.”
Hagen understood. She knew from personal experience. She did her best to reassure the person, knowing she was trying to be the player she was before. Surgery can fix ligaments, but not magically.
There is a rehabilitation process. Swelling must go down, muscles retrained and rebuilt. Speed isn’t reinstated with the removal of stitches.
“I think that's just being in the game for as long as I have and also experiencing that as a player myself. There's highs and lows in your career,” Hagen said. “And it's certainly never going to be how you want it to be, right? Because everybody's going to have to compete. You've got to ride the waves. So, we had a conversation.
“I said, ‘hey, listen, you've got to be steady. Not get too high, not get too low. Just control what you can control. Work as hard as you can. Energy after attitude.’ And she's really, really just taking that and running with it. And for me, the growth of her as a human has just been awesome. And I really think she's just starting to have so much joy. And that's what you want when you're playing. You want to have fun. You want to have joy. You want to love and care about your teammates.”
The numbers weren’t the same, and fans noticed as much. So did Fout. What outsiders failed to see was clear as day to Hagen, and to a degree, Fout. She was still a threat to mark, especially for Mountain West foes. No team wanted to be the one who became absentminded with her on the field and feel her wrath.
Fout knew she wasn’t moving the same, didn’t have the extra gear. She still had grit and determination, and that made her valuable, as was each minute she played. Her best stretch came over three games, breaking through for a goal against UNLV. The next match, she assisted on the lone goal in a 1-0 victory over Nevada, the only match where she played 90 minutes. An outing later, she found the net against New Mexico, drawing even more attention down the stretch.
Every minute played was a step closer, she just never felt her best. She entered the spring looking for that reassurance. Then again when camp opened in preparation for 2025, her final collegiate season.
Then it came. The announcement. It wasn’t her making the statement to the outside world, rather her body to her mind during the grueling test known to the Rams as the 120s.
I just want to win. I don't care if I score. I don't care if Kate Dunne scores. I want everyone on this team to score, and I just want to win the Mountain West.Olivia Fout
It’s a fitness test they all have to pass. It’s 120 yards from one end to the other, covered in 18 seconds, then 30 seconds back, 30 seconds of rest. Then do it again – 10 times.
“For me, that’s hard, because I had been here the entire summer working my tail off,” Fout said. “The day that I passed 120s, I felt like me. It was preseason. It felt like the first time I passed 120s, I was just riding it strong, my knees weren't hurting.
“I think just the first training with the team, I was like, ‘you know, I'm back.’ I don't have to hit the ball as hard because I'm stronger than I was before. It just felt like I was back and we're getting in a groove.”
She’s grooving alright. Better than ever. In ways no other Ram had done before. Well, except herself, and even that she’s exceeded.
The only player in program history to have tallied a goal in three consecutive games, Fout did it again to open the 2025 stage, then extended it to four. The unassisted artistry in the opener against Utah Tech, followed by the give-and-take with Michaela McGowan at Stetson, each assisting the other’s goal. The brutal strength of the howitzer blast which torched to upper cage to top USF on a rainy field. The early marker off deft touch to move the team to 4-0 with a home win over UTSA.
Hagen had waited for her sign. Fout had her at her season hello.
“I think just knowing her for as long as I've known her, I think it was probably after she got her first goal. You know, because I think that's the thing,” Hagen said. “You know, as a goal scorer, they always talk about getting the monkey off your back. So, for me, it was just her getting on the board. It was kind of like, ‘OK, first game, she's just going to keep rolling.’
“And again, she's got some really good pieces around her, too. So, whether she's getting goals or assists, she's hungry and they're all competitive to get on the board, which I think is just fantastic.”
Stunning, really. The team has come to expect these types of things from Fout, and they fully expected to see them again. But even this run she’s on carries a major “wow” factor, even for those who know her best.
Dunne understood the frustration her friend felt. She also witnessed all the work. They both knew it would require time, patience and persistence, but Fout was sweating through it trying to cut the wait time down.
Those were the days – at practice, which bear few witnesses – which were the most impressive of all.
“I'm so proud of her. I mean, every time she’s scored, I just feel like I'm prouder and prouder,” Dunne said. “She's one of my best friends, so seeing her persevering through all she's been through, I knew she would come back better than ever. It just sometimes takes time, and I feel like she's been there for me coming back from my injury, and it's just amazing to see her do so well and do what we need her to do. I mean, she's doing her job.
“I just told her, ‘you know you can do this. You know how good of a player you are. You're not defined by this injury. This injury isn't going to set you back forever. It's just a little baby step back.’ She's worked harder than anyone I know to get to where she is now, so credit to her.”
What Hagen understands better than anybody – probably even Fout – was despite the numbers not being the same a season ago, there was still production. Just her being on the pitch created opportunities for others. Her desire to help her team win, her drive to make a difference, can’t be tracked in a box score.
She made the most of what she had to offer in the moment, which her coach applauded. She’s applauding those same things again, the goals an extra bonus.
“Everybody's really worried about her, so, at that point, we've already got a massive asset,” Hagen explained. “I think it's getting back to the fact of managing your expectations positively. It's not like she didn't have an injury and then had a down year. There's actually something that happened. So, you've just got to take it one day at a time. Take it in stride.
“And it's going to come. It never comes as fast as you want. I think that's the part that every individual who's going through an injury is not going to know until you go through it. You've got to work for it. And she's done that. And again, it's highs and lows. She's obviously doing fantastic. And the thing is -- I've said this about other players -- it doesn't matter the fact that she's producing all her goals. She's doing all of her little things right on the field. She's finding herself in the right positions. She's doing those little process things that's setting her up for her strengths. And again, the outcome is the goal. So, I'm just really proud of how hard she's working in the details and the process.”
Fout will carry her current run into Thursday’s game with Northern Colorado, one which has put her on the doorstep of a couple of career marks with 14 more games remaining in the regular season. Caeley Lordemann holds the marks for goals (19) and points (44), for which Fout is shy by the count of one and two, respectively.
Without question, Fout is undoubtably thrilled to be back in the mix in such a profound way. She didn’t sweat out every rehabilitation session she undertook to come back average. In many ways, she’s improved, having assisted on a pair of goals, and her gritty demeanor in action is welcomed, as she can serve as enforcer and executioner in the same match.
The four goals are not the numbers she was after. Not why she gutted out the 120s. The four she wanted can be found in the win column. And if she never catches Lordemann in anything, as long as the Rams eventually get what they’re after, every bead of sweat will be paid in full.
“If I miss, OK, next one. You just gotta think that mentality,” Fout said. “I'm just thankful to be here and be able to play soccer with my best friends. I don't think about goals. I don't think about records. Because that just slows you down.
“I just want to win. I don't care if I score. I don't care if Kate Dunne scores. I want everyone on this team to score, and I just want to win the Mountain West.”
It’s good to be back – to feel like she is really the player she was destined to become. What she really sees – most clearly and in the same tint of all who surround her – is a vision of a team. Winning. Time and time again.
Support Colorado State Athletics: Tickets | Ram Club | CSU NIL Marketplace