Orlando Pride Defender Cami Levin Undergoes Emergency Appendectomy

On the heels of her first appearance for the Orlando Pride, defender Cami Levin battled a bad appendix this week. She successfully underwent appendectomy surgery Wednesday morning at Orlando Regional Medical Center the club announced today. A native of Newport Coast, CA, Levin is expected to miss approximately four weeks and has been placed on the 45-day Disabled List.

"Cami is doing very well after having an appendectomy at Orlando Regional Medical Center," said Daryl Osbahr, M.D., medical director for Orlando Pride and chief of sports medicine at Orlando Health in a club press release. "We'll continue to monitor her progress as she works hard to return to the field as soon as possible."

Levin, 26, earned her first appearance for the Pride in Sunday’s 2-0 win over Seattle Reign FC, coming in as a second-half substitute at right back in place of Josee Belanger in the 64th minute. She played well in relief of Belanger in her 26+ minutes. This surgery is a setback for Levin, who Head Coach Tom Sermanni has said he’d like to get more minutes in anticipation of losing his entire back line for international play in the Rio Olympics.

"We're obviously upset about losing Cami for this time, but we're happy that this was caught before the situation could have been worse," said Sermanni. in the press release. "We wish her a speedy and smooth recovery and look forward to having her back on the field soon."

Levin was drafted fourth overall by Sky Blue FC in the 2012 WPS College Draft before that league folded. She played eight games with Pali Blues in Los Angeles in 2012 and 14 appearances with Kopparbergs/Göteborg FC in Sweden from 2012-2013. Levin spent the 2013-2014 season with the Western Sydney Wanderers in Australia, making just four appearances. Additionally, She spend this past off-season on loan to Fiorentina FC in Italy.

The 5-foot-3 defender came back to the U.S. to play for Sky Blue FC in the NWSL, where she made 42 appearances from 2014-2015. The former Stanford star was a member of the Cardinal's national championship team in 2011 and captained the U.S. U-23 Women's National Team, leading the squad to the Four Nations Tournament championship in 2012 and 2013.

The Pride have made no comment if they will add a replacement player to the roster until Levin comes off the Disabled List.