Tampa, Florida – The USL Championship announced Tuesday that Louisville City FC midfielder Elijah Winder was named the 2022 USL Championship Comeback Player of the Year, presented by Shift4. Conference title winner after a devastating injury a year ago.
Winder, the first player from the club’s academy to sign professionally for Roux City in late 2020, suffered a season-ending injury the following pre-season and was ruled out of the entire 2021 campaign. Winder, who returned from two surgeries and extensive rehab this pre-season, went on loan to USL League One club FC Tucson, where he made 12 appearances, but lost out to Louisville midfielders. Field was recalled mid-season due to an injury to his group.
Winder made 13 appearances for Roux City, scoring his first two goals as a professional. The second was an overtime winner in the Eastern Conference Finals of his 2022 USL Championship Playoffs, provided by Hisense, as Roux City defeated Tampa Bay his Rowdies to clinch their fourth Eastern Conference title in club history. .
“It’s been a long time, and it means a lot because of all the work I’ve had to put in,” Winder said. So it was a great feeling to be back on the field, and it was my first overseas loan trip of the year, and we ended the season in a much better way than I expected. We’ve proven a lot and I feel there’s a lot more we can do to help the team move forward.”
Winder is one of five current Lu City Academy graduates to sign a professional contract with the club. After a difficult early season with major setbacks just weeks after signing his first professional contract, Lu City head coach Danny Cruz has a brighter future with Winder back on the field. The mental strength he showed to resume his path was outstanding…many.
“It was a bad injury and timing for him,” Cruz said. “But the effort to rehabilitate and get back in good shape, not just physically but mentally, was impressive. Seeing how he finished the season here, he’s done a lot. There was a lot to be proud of because of what he had been through.His talent was never a surprise that he was playing well.It was to get back to where he believed he could be. , he certainly did it.
“What is important to him is that he is using the offseason to continue working on the improvement areas that we talked about at our year-end meeting. Believe and look at the way he finished the season, he needs to accept that and do it in preseason.
Winder won the award with 38% of the vote, edging out San Antonio FC’s Santiago Patiño with 31% as the Colombian overcame a string of season-long injury setbacks to help SAFC win the 2022 USL Championship. Helped me win the title. New Mexico United’s Amand Moreno made a late-season comeback from a torn ACL in the 2021 season, helping United reach the postseason and earning a recall to the El Salvador men’s national team, finishing third with 14%. ended in
