'She's made unbelievable strides': Duxbury soccer captain returns following health scares

DUXBURY — Parker Metzler began running on her own, off to the side, as soccer practice progressed at Duxbury High. She'd then hop into the action for a bit, until notifying the coaching staff that she's spent.

Determined to leg out 15-minute shifts on game day, the senior captain is learning again how to catch her breath.

All while her parents watch from the sideline and hold theirs.

“We can’t believe this is happening," Metzler's mother, Jess, said of her daughter's return to the field.

In the past 19 months, Metzler underwent a series of heart exams and autoimmune tests, including a triple endoscopy, following three instances of collapsing on the field of play during soccer and hockey games from May to September last year.

Doctors at Boston Children's Hospital first diagnosed asthma as a leading cause. They added a vocal cord disorder to the diagnosis, then theorized it could be costochondritis, a sternum inflammation that inflicts pain similar to that of a heart attack, according to the Mayo Clinic .

Still uncertain, Metzler attended over five treatment centers in the past year. As part of one procedure, she received five rounds of injections to the chest that left her bedridden for two weeks, to no avail. A chiropractor at Beth Israel Hospital then revealed scar tissue shifted Metzler's rib cage a few millimeters, which in turn disrupted her breathing.

Ultimately, a doctor at Brigham and Women's Hospital diagnosed Metzler with an autonomic nerve dysfunction, though the family is still in search of definite answers upon further testing later this month.

“All of her involuntary mechanisms were out of whack," said Metzler's father, Dirk. "As far as breathing goes, all of her secondary muscles were helping her breath rather than the primary ones. So, in her whole body, the nerve signal was off. Her throat was closing on her."

“She never had an injury (prior to this), which is what doctors were looking for," he added. "Now they're telling us that all things are pointing towards a viral infection, that maybe COVID was a player in this.”

Metzler first collapsed on the field during an offseason soccer game in March last year, just weeks after scoring goal in the fourth quarter of the Duxbury High girls hockey team's Division 2 state championship win over Canton at T.D. Garden.

“She went from peak fitness to suddenly not being able to do anything," Dirk Metzler said.

Metzler collapsed a second time during a Duxbury summer league hockey game that June, then a third time in the Duxbury girls soccer team's season-opener against Notre Dame Academy that September.

“I was trying (to play)," said Metzler. "It didn’t go so well when I tried.”

She missed the ensuing soccer and hockey seasons last fall and winter, respectively.

Duxbury High girls hockey coach Dan Najarian said Metzler served the team in a liaison-like role while sidelined last season after contributing on the power play and penalty kill, in addition to playing spot minutes on the first line, as a sophomore in the 2022-23 title run.

"Sports are such a big part of her life, I don't think it ever crossed her mind to give up," Najarian said. "It's who she is. She's an athlete who was going to get back out on the field."

Making her return again

Metzler was recently cleared to suit up against Scituate on Sept. 26 and make her first start in two years. She was eager to share the pitch with her younger sister, Grey, the team's starting sophomore goalkeeper, and put her stamp on Duxbury's 7-1 start to the season.

"I couldn’t believe I was actually playing on the field," Metzler said. "It didn’t feel real. I was so grateful to be out there."

Metzler, who was unable to run a lap on the track during the early days of practice this fall, is still finding her wind but has made "unbelievable strides in the past five weeks," her father said.

The family, as well as Duxbury head coach Rob Jones, is following Metzler's lead in managing her workload. They've bumped the self-imposed minutes restriction up in increments to its current cut-off of 15-minute shifts. Jones signals for a substitute just as the clock strikes.

Metzler scored her first goal of the season on a penalty kick in the Dragons' 5-0 victory over Quincy on Wednesday.

“We’d take her on the field for five minutes of a half just because she’s our emotional leader," Jones said. "Her going in means the rest of our team plays better. That’s what she does for the program. She’s so important to us.”

As a starter during her two underclassmen years, Metzler was described by Jones as "the energizer of all energizers," insinuating that every move came at a sprint's pace. This year, though, Metzler recalibrated her playing style to accommodate for her conditioning level, an admittedly frustrating process at times.

But, hey, it beats not playing at all.

“She contributes in every moment for us, still, because of who she is," Jones said. “She’s just a remarkable kid, the way she never looks down. While not being able to play, she was there for every preseason session, the one to hype the girls up. She’s our emotional leader. She’s our maturity. She’s our everything.”

"I’m still looking forward to being my best self over the next couple of weeks," Metzler said. "That’s what I’m aiming for.”

This article originally appeared on The Patriot Ledger: 'She's made unbelievable strides': Duxbury soccer captain returns following health scares