Casey Werkheiser endured two significant knee surgeries to deliver an award-winning college field hockey career.

                Despite suffering similar ACL injuries in her left knee during high school, Werkheiser recently capped her career by helping Limestone College capture the inaugural ECAC Division II Field Hockey Championship Tournament in November.

                A resident of Virginia Beach, Va. with familial ties to the Upper Perkiomen Valley, Werkheiser was recently named to the Synapse All-American Team. The midfielder also represented the Saints in the NFHCA Division II Senior Game hosted by the University of Louisville. 

                "I felt like I went out with a bang … I worked real hard and met all my personal expectations," said Werkheiser.

                Casey's athletic ability shouldn't come as a surprise.  She is the daughter of former Upper Perkiomen High School four-sport athlete and Bloomsburg football standout Kurt Werkheiser.  She is also the grand-daughter of retired educator and Upper Perkiomen and Perkiomen Coach, Dick Werkheiser, a Hall-of-Famer at Palmerton High School and Carbon County who played on the only undefeated team with the 1951 Muhlenberg Mules. 

                Of her collegiate accolades, grandfather Werkheiser remarked that, "To get an honor like that is something to be proud of."

                But Casey Werkheiser may owe her opportunity to play at the small private school in Gaffney, South Carolina to her brother, Cole. A volunteer field hockey coach at James Madison University, Cole Werkheiser knew the coach at Limestone College and made a phone call, according to their father.

                "Cole did the marketing," said Kurt Werkheiser, a 1978 produce the results."

                According to Kurt Werkheiser, who was inducted into Upper Perkiomen's Athletic Hall of Fame in 1996, field hockey has always played an integral role in his family.

His wife Mary -- a Lower Moreland native who played on Lock Haven's first national championship team in 1982, who later coached Perkiomen School's program -- currently serves as the head coach at Norfolk Academy in Virginia.

                Casey Werkheiser suffered both injuries, complete ligament tears, playing soccer. She decided to focus on field hockey after the second incident, which occurred in the early months of 2009.

                Faced with a second nine-month rehabilitation in three calendar years, Casey said she considered giving up all sports.  "The surgeries had taken their toll on me," she said. "I was going to hang 'em up."  However, Casey Werkheiser changed her mind, deciding that she didn't want to let her friends down or give up on herself.  "I didn't want to just sit around," she said. "Sports have always been a big part of my life."

                Later that year, as a junior at Salem High School, saw limited action. She said tendinitis, arthritis and inflammation in the repaired joint limited her speed and her confidence.

                In the fall of 2010, during her senior season and the knee fully healed, Casey Werkheiser said she felt good enough to display her ability to college coaches.

                Besides earning the school's Scholastic Excellence Award, she received an athletic scholarship from Limestone College.

                Casey Werkheiser said her skills improved gradually with the Saints. As a junior, she started 19 of 20 games. This season, she registered three goals and assist, while helping her team post nine shutouts.

"Casey is a very smart player," Kurt Werkheiser said. "She's good with the ball, and knows how to utilize all of her teammates. She probably didn't shoot it enough. She would rather make the pass that leads to a goal than score the goal."

                Casey Werkheiser says she is on track to graduate in the spring with a four-year degree in sports marketing. She wouldn't be opposed to relocating to southeastern Pennsylvania to work for the Phillies, Eagles or Flyers.