By Boyd Hayes | @KernelHayes

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Seemingly no one’s ACL is safe anymore.

The NFL’s Adrian Peterson and Robert Griffin III, MLB’s Mariano Rivera, and the NBA’s Derrick Rose and Rajon Rondo are just a few of the top-level athletes to fall victim to ACL tears in recent memory – not to mention UK’s own Nerlens Noel.

Last spring UK women’s soccer player Arin Gilliland suffered a much less publicized ACL injury, keeping her from playing with the U.S. National Team U-20 side over the summer of 2012.

Barely a year later, the national team has come calling again, this time to the U-23 camp.

“It’s really surreal,” Gilliland said. “Having an ACL injury is sometimes career-ending for people and for (the national team), at that level, to have that much faith in me to come back and be just as good and want me out there on the field is something that I don’t even have words for.”

The 12-month recovery is impressive by any standard, but Gilliland said it has been her goal from the beginning.

“It was my goal and it drove me through my rehab,” she said. “A year is usually minimum for people coming back, but that was actually my goal: to be back in a year.”

Gilliland has used the past year to showcase her improved abilities on the field, even in the face of rehabilitation.

“I’m really excited to go out there and represent the state of Kentucky and the University and show them that I’m better than I was before,” Gilliland said.

As UK completed a record-setting season under fourth-year head coach Jon Lipsitz in 2012, Gilliland led the team with seven goals and seven assists.

The Cats won their first ever NCAA Tournament game, while Gilliland was named to the NSCAA All-South Region Team, as well as receiving first-team All-SEC and third-team All-American honors.

A national team call-up may be just another way for forward to contribute to her team.

“It will be good for recruiting. I know (Lipstiz) will sell it to younger players that we do have players reaching this level and it’ll be inspiration for others to come here,” Gilliland said. “I think it will also make us better as a team for this coming year because I can bring back things I’ve learned at camp and show it to other players on our team. It’ll just make us all around a lot better.”

Gilliland, who has found success both as an attacker and a defender, gives much credit to Lipsitz for her strong recovery.

“He’s been pushing me to get back into full,” she said. “I wouldn’t have been here if he hadn’t pushed me in practice and in preseason. That’s gotten me back here.”

Though the chance to participate with the U23 squad is an exciting step in her career, Gilliland says there’s a greater scheme to the matter.

“At these camps, the (U.S. senior) women’s coaches are watching all these different players, so the more you keep getting called into the camps just bumps up your chances of getting called into the (senior) women’s team,” Gilliland said. “Ultimately that’s the goal in going to these camps. I’ve met the goal of getting called in, and now the next goal is being seen, and that’s the next level.”

For Gilliland, the ACL comeback, the success at UK, the national team call-up, are just a series of completed goals. For the Lexington, Ky., native, many more goals (and many more accomplishments) sit on the horizon.

“It was my goal to get back, and I’ve reached it,” she said. “I’m going to keep setting goals and trying to reach them.”

The U-23 camp will be held in Carson, Calif., on April 13-20, and UK starts its 2013 season on Aug. 23 on the road at Wake Forest.