Back From Injury, Wood Plays with Newfound Appreciation, Confidence

The play was the result of pure hustle. A hunger for the ball, coupled with anticipation and execution.
 
Junior forward Izzi Wood broke toward the passing lane, intercepted the ball at the top of the 18-yard box, took one touch with her left foot, whipped her right leg, and buried her first goal of the season en route to App State Soccer's first win of the season on Aug. 25 against UT Martin.
 
For the fans in attendance at The Valley that night, it was exactly the excitement they came to see. For Wood, it was the culmination of months of hard work and perseverance; a validation of sacrifice.
 
A native of Hickory, N.C., Wood grew up in a family that often made the short trip up the mountain to Boone to cheer on the Black and Gold on the gridiron. Wood even played football at Hickory High School, becoming the first girl in program history to score when she kicked an extra point on Sept. 13, 2019. Soccer was her primary sport, and during her high school career, she spent hours each week commuting to Charlotte to compete with her club team, Charlotte Soccer Academy.
 
When the time came to choose her college destination, Boone was the perfect fit for her personality.
 
"It's a very loving community," Wood said. "You can walk down the street and see people you know. Everyone here is very friendly. The mountains are so beautiful, there are fun things to do, not just soccer, but also outside of soccer. There's no other place like it."
 
Selected to the Charlotte Observer All-Area First Team her senior year of high school, Wood wasted no time making an impact as a freshman with the Mountaineers. She played in 14 matches, earning nine starts, and scored two goals while adding an assist in her first collegiate season.
 
Wood was poised for a breakout sophomore campaign, and in preparation for that, she decided to compete for a WPSL summer league team in Charlotte.
 
She vividly remembers a game she played in June of 2021. She was running, pressing the ball, and all of the sudden she took a wrong step. Pop. The next thing she knew she was being carried off the field.
 
The next few days went by in a blur. A consultation, an MRI, a torn ACL diagnosis, and then surgery. And just like that her sophomore season was over.
 
But the hard work was just beginning. Wood stayed in Boone over the summer in order to have all of the resources she would need to make her comeback: BreakThrough Physical Therapy's rehab center, athletic trainers, a strength and conditioning coach, and a sports psychologist – a team of people to help her get healthy.
 
"It was a lot of ups and downs. One day might be super good physically, another day might be really hard mentally," Wood said. "Each day I got a little bit better, and I think just trying to keep that in the back of my head, that 'I'm getting better' is really what helped me get through the process."
 
But nothing could quite prepare Wood for having to watch her team from the sidelines that fall.  
 
"That part was really hard," Wood said. "I think I learned a lot about how to be a good teammate, how to be supportive; I took a different role. I wasn't scoring goals or defending, or out on the field, but I was trying to support my teammates and get the best out of everybody."
 
Her teammates reciprocated the support, showing up to Wood's rehab appointments just to cheer her on and let her know that they couldn't wait for her to join them back on the field.
 
In December, Aimee Haywood was announced as the fifth head coach in women's soccer history, bringing a different intensity and competitive nature to the program, and a very similar mentality to that of Wood.
 
"I think they've just come in and totally turned the program around, and we are very, very thankful for them and super excited to see what the future holds," Wood said of the new staff. "They've been here for less than 10 months, and it's already amazing the changes that we have. I think we've found our style of play."
 
One element of that style is a press in which the Mountaineer forwards hound opposing defenders, looking to force turnovers and win the ball in threatening areas.
 
"We're not the biggest team, we're not the strongest team, we're not the fastest team, but with our press we will score goals, we will transition, and we will win games because of our press," Wood said.
 
Flash forward to Aug. 25 and the match against UT Martin. Wood was back on the field and App State was playing under the lights. Wood intercepted a pass and fired it into the back of the net. Wood had her first goal of the season, and the press had paid off. A moment of serendipity.
 
Wood first returned to the lineup two weeks prior, for the Mountaineers' first exhibition match of the season against UNC Asheville on Aug. 7. Not only did Wood play, she scored — twice.
 
"It was pretty emotional for everybody out on that field when she got in," Haywood said. "She really had to work hard for a long time in order to earn that right to come back into the mix. She's been fantastic since coming back."
 
For Wood that return was validation for all the hard work and sacrifice she put in.  
 
"Just getting back on the field is something that I'll never take for granted," she said. "My freshman year was COVID, so we didn't have a full season, and then sophomore year I was out, so I think through those two years I've really learned, 'Don't take anything for granted,' and I'm lucky to be able to be back on the field."
 
When asked about her growth as a player, Wood describes increased confidence as helping take her game to the next level. On Sept. 8 against ETSU, Wood calmly buried a penalty kick to notch her second goal of the year. Her third came on a sensational free kick against Radford a week later, bending the ball into the top corner from 30 yards away. She would score a second goal moments later in that contest to give her four goals in the team's first eight games.
 
Wood ranks among the top-10 leading goal scorers in the Sun Belt. She helped lead the Mountaineers to the team's first 2-0 start in conference play since 2018.
 
Not only has Wood found her role on the field, but she's right at home off of it. Boone has everything she loves; good local coffee shops for her to do her homework, trails to hike, a river to float on, and a group of teammates – her best friends – to go with to the parkway and eat dinner while looking out at the beautiful skyline.
 
"Being a student-athlete at App State is just an amazing experience," Wood said. "I wouldn't want to be anywhere else."