FRISCO - It was the return Ryan Hollingshead has waited five months to make - stepping back onto the field at Toyota Stadium and into a match for FC Dallas.
“It felt so good,” Hollingshead said after his first minutes of action in 2017. “There's nothing like just playing the game so I enjoyed the couple minutes at the end there. I wanted to do more, try to get something and change the game, but it just went by too fast.”
Inches from being paralyzed or worse after being struck by a car and flying an estimated 30 feet through the air while helping a stranded motorist on icy Dallas roads back in January, the midfielder, now fully healthy, said the emotions hit him with a standing ovation when he entered the match in the 88th minute.
“The crowd and the whole FC Dallas family has been so supportive to me and my family through this whole process,” he said. “They showed that tonight when I subbed on which meant a lot to me. I can't believe it's May and I'm already out there.”
128 days after the accident and it felt amazing to get back on the field with my first minutes. Thankful for all the support to get back! https://t.co/mva8gQHktj
— Ryan Hollingshead (@rmhollingshead) May 15, 2017
Hollinghshead almost made a storybook return too, nearly putting home a game-winner just seconds into his debut finding himself on the end of a loose corner.
“Right when I came in it was on that cross from Kellyn on a free kick,” Hollingshead said. “I was like ‘I’m not going to get on the end of this in the air, but hopefully it gets knocked around and I can get on a rebound,’ and it almost did. It squirted out right next to me, just a little out of reach.”
“I’m happy to see him back again,” head coach Oscar Pareja said. “The game was asking for him and he was close to scoring, so that will be a great story tonight.”
