ORONO – Laura Martel’s body was telling her something, and she would literally stop on the field in the middle of the game and let it have its say.

It was her back doing the talking.

“It would get stuck. I’d be on the field and I’d have to stop running and wait for it to click,” she said.

Martel wasn’t going to keep waiting for that click to allow a promising soccer career at the University of Maine to proceed. She missed half of the Black Bears’ conference schedule last year, and still managed to lead the team in scoring with six goals and an assist as a sophomore. The Bears were only losing two starters to graduation, so Martel wanted to be a part of their re-emergence in America East, even though it ultimately meant spending more time in the waiting room than on the soccer pitch over the next year.

“I saw so many doctors, so many D.O.’s,” she said. “It was something different every time. They were all, like, ‘It’s this. It’s that,’ and nobody could pinpoint it. They think it was because I broke my tailbone in seventh or eighth grade, and I’ve been compensating over the years.”

Treatment from a chiropractor back home helped get the former Lewiston High School star’s spine in order. Yet more physical problems lay in store.

She was slated to play U-20 soccer for the Boston Renegades this summer, but 15 years of playing the game with abandon continued to catch up to Martel. She had to have microfracture surgery to restore torn cartilage and remove bone chips in her left knee

She was on crutches for five weeks and couldn’t run for another four. She spent the whole summer in Orono, rehabbing four hours a day, plus working out with her teammates in the weight room

“It was tough. It really got strenuous,” she said. “A couple of my roommates were up here and that helped because they helped get me up in the morning and get going. Knowing I couldn’t run full-out was hard because I can’t sit around and do nothing, and I had to force myself to do just that. I was actually on the underwater treadmill a lot.”

Martel started running on solid ground in mid-July and was cleared by doctors to play on Aug. 5, a couple of days before the Black Bears’ first practice.

“It was kind of cutting it close. I wasn’t sure if I was going to be cleared. I was sweating it,” she said.

“It was a really small window,” said Maine coach Scott Atherley,” and everybody I talked with about whether or not she’d be ready said it would really be contingent upon how diligent she is. And boy, I’ll tell you what, she couldn’t have been more responsible and diligent with getting herself in the position she’s in today.”

Martel’s absence last year was noticeable, Atherley said, particularly in the way opponents reacted to not having to worry about Maine’s biggest scoring threat.

“She started to show greater stretches of consistency last year,” he said. “The only thing that affected that was her health. There were stretches where she was putting it together back-to-back until she really encountered her problems.”

The only one having problems this season will be oposing defenses if the Black Bears’ season-opening win over Sacred Heart last Saturday is any indication. Martel scored all three of Maine’s goals within the first 17 minutes of the game. That already gives her half as many goals as she had all last season, when she was an All-America East Second Team selection. The conference named her its player of the week this week for her first career hat trick.

Martel said wins are more important to her than goals, but Maine has lacked a major scoring threat the last few years, That’s a niche she wouldn’t mind filling.

“If we can just go out there and win games, it doesn’t matter who’s scoring the goals,” she said. “Of course I want to produce. Everybody wants to produce, and I think everyone will in their own way. We need to put the ball in the back of the net, and hopefully I can help with that.”

She credits Atherley with expanding her understanding of the game and giving her more confidence. Combined with the toughness that Atherley sees, it’s clear it will take more than nearly a year without soccer to keep her from fulfilling her potential.

“Her will matches her potential. She’s willing to be that player she’s capable of being,” Atherley said. “A lot of kids want to be that player. Laura’s willing to become that player.”