Daniel Lovitz was on top of the world at the start of the 2016 Major League Soccer season.
After struggling to earn regular playing time over the course of his first two MLS campaigns for Toronto FC, Lovitz was in the starting line-up in the season opener on March 6 away to the New York Red Bulls. It was a very big moment in the youngster’s professional career—a starting assignment on opening day.
TFC won 2-0, but Lovitz had an uneven game, as he was subbed out in the 68th minute, and then he floated in and out—mostly out—of the line-up over the next three months.
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He appeared to be back on track when he made his third start of the MLS season on May 28, and started both legs of TFC’s Amway Canadian Championship semifinal vs. the Vancouver Whitecaps. However, bad luck struck when he picked up a knee injury that, while not requiring surgery, kept him on the sidelines for another two months.
Lovitz, though, is healthy again, as he recently returned to full training, and he could see his first action since June for TFC when they visit the Philadelphia Union on Saturday night.
The road to recovery for Lovitz, a 22-year-old native of Wyndmoor, Pennsylvania—a small town just outside of Philadelphia—was a long and arduous one, featuring weeks of individual rehab work before he could even train with the team again.
“It’s certainly been a roller coaster. Getting the start in the season opener was great; then it was a little spotty in terms of getting appearances and then finally getting back into the swing of things. The Canadian Championship was a great opportunity for me to get a longer stretch of minutes consistently. I felt really good about my play and I felt the best [I’ve felt] since I’ve been here,” Lovitz said this week.
“Then the injury, it was just one of those freak things that you can’t really account for; I didn’t really see it coming, and then the next thing you know you’re out for nine weeks, and just sitting here waiting to go again.”
Not being able to play tested Lovitz’s mental strength. He admitted that was far more difficult than the physical obstacles he had to overcome. Trying to stay positive was a daily challenge.
“After a little while you forget what it’s like to play, and you start re-watching all the old games that you played in. You try to focus on the positives and not dwell on the fact that you got a big brace on your knee, and you’re icing it and doing all this stuff everyday and not getting to run around for six weeks. That was the hardest part,” Lovitz said.
“I don’t think I’ve ever sat that still in my life for that long of a period of time. It was crazy.”
It helped that he’s been through this before, both in the NCAA ranks during his senior year at Elon University (he suffered a tear in his meniscus that kept him out of the MLS combine, but it didn’t stop him from being drafted by Toronto), and again last year (a foot injury ruled out for the last two months of the MLS regular season).
“That was certainly a test for me at such a young point in my career; to get through something like that was so substantial. I think it really stuck with me and I used that experience to get me through this one. This one was much easier,” Lovitz admitted.
That’s all behind him now. After watching from the sidelines, he’s ready to go, and he has been cleared to play.
“I feel great. I’m definitely through the worst of it, and I’m just elated to be back out here,” he stated.
Lovitz has already enjoyed a small taste of game action—he came on as a substitute and played the final 30 minutes of a recent match for TFC 2, Toronto FC’s farm team that competes in the third-tier USL.
“All the reservations I had, the doubts, they [disappear] as soon as you take to the field. After a minute or so, it felt like I hadn’t skipped a beat. …. With the brace off my knee I feel like a free man,” Lovitz said.
If he does play on Saturday in Philadelphia, it’ll likely be off the bench, as coach Greg Vanney isn’t expected to hand the youngster a spot in the starting line-up after such a lengthy absence. Vanney lauded Lovitz’s attacking ability on the flanks and his fearlessness in taking on opposing players when going forward. But reading between the lines, the youngster will have to work on his defensive game if he has any hope of once again earning playing time as a starter.
“Danny gives us a lot of outside presence. In terms of our guys who are comfortable attacking on the left side that are left-footed, he’s right up there among the top. In terms of defending, that’s something that Danny continues to understand, and progress at and work hard at every day,” Vanney said.
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