There have been times when Pat Harris had the urge to be at the soccer field and times when he’s wanted to stay away.

It’s all been part of a season that wasn’t for the Mountain Valley senior.

“There’s a hole there – after being able to play something for 13 years that you love and then you have to stop,” said Harris. “I’m very anxious. I’m ready to get back on the field.”

The standout midfielder/defender lost his final season to a knee injury suffered playing lacrosse last May. He hyper-extended it and tore his anterior cruciate ligament.

He’s been seen kicking the ball around at some Falcon games recently, sparking talk that he would be back this season. He would have liked nothing better, but that wasn’t going to happen.

“I wanted to, but I need the doctors consent before my mom would consider it,” he said.

He likely won’t be ready to play until December when he’ll suit up for his Odyssey Sport Super Y-League team.

So he’s been relegated to working the sidelines this fall. Early in the season, it was hard for him to be at practice or at games. He’s tried to be there consistently in recent weeks.

“It’s so hard to watch them when they’re playing,” said Harris. “You want to be out there and help them out and the only support you can give them is from the sidelines.”

He’s tried to be as much a part of the team as possible. He’ll talk to players regularly, offering them advice.

“It’s been really hard,” he said. “It’s been a huge obstacle. Sometimes I’ll go down to the field just to run and work out a little.”

It’s been an adjustment for the Falcons as well. Harris is a two-time All-State player and would have been one of the states best this year. His presence on a young Falcon team could have been immense.

“He was going to be the guy at stopper in the middle of the field that would have controlled everything in the middle,” said Mountain Valley coach Wade McLaughlin, whose club is 5-6-2 and chasing a final playoff spot in Western B.

It forced the Falcons to revamp its lineup and fill the void left by Harris. He was such a staple in the backfield, it took time to adjust without him.

“You could see they were looking around and standing around and realizing that I’m supposed to be there,'” said McLaughlin.

His experience was missing on the field but utilized on the sidelines. With a new coach and a young team, he’s served as the program’s elder statesman.

“His soccer instincts are the biggest thing that I used,” said McLaughlin. “He had instincts that the younger kids didn’t have yet. He could help them with anticipating plays and how to react emotionally as well as physically.”

The injury put a damper on his college search. It cost him a significant period of time in which colleges could have scouted him.

“I couldn’t play in the summer too and that’s when college coaches can start scouting you,” he said. “I always think its good to be able to show what I can do. I do think it kind of hurt.”

He hasn’t gotten any scholarship offers and is now basing his college choices on academics, hoping to be a premed student. He’s looking at Division I schools like UCLA and USC, being originally from California, and places like Boston University. He’s expecting a 100 percent recovery. If his knee responds well this winter, playing soccer in college may play a role in where he goes.

McLaughlin says any school would be remiss in not looking at a player of his caliber.

“Even with the injury, I had a couple of colleges still calling about him,” said McLaughlin. “The word is still that Pat is going to be a player and is a player. It’s a credit to him as a person, having an ACL tear and being out for the season, that people still want him.”