BUTLER TWP — Haley Michel has concerns about her knee.

Her future, however, looks pretty healthy.

The Butler senior signed a letter-of-intent this week to continue her academic and soccer career at the University of Akron. She missed all of her senior season while healing from a torn ACL.

She had surgery on the knee in January of 2015.

“I decided to sit out my senior season to give the knee more time to strengthen,” Michel said. “I came back and played club soccer (for Beadling) in November.

“I still feel like I have some issues with it, but I think I’ll be fine for next season. If it’s still giving me problems, I can always red-shirt next year.”

Missing a season is nothing new to Michel. Besides not playing her senior year at Butler, she missed her sophomore season due to a broken leg suffered on the third day of preseason camp.

Ironically, it was Akron coach Noreen Herlihy — while at Slippery Rock University, where she won 250 games in 20 years — who convinced Michel to keep playing.

“Yeah, I thought about giving it up after I hurt my knee,” Michel admitted. “I figured, what was the use in working so hard to get back? I was going to miss the recruiting season and no one would see me play.

“I talked to her and she made me realize I shouldn’t give up now on something I’ve been working so hard for, for so long.”

A center-midfielder, Michel scored seven goals and made all-section with the Golden Tornado her junior year. She considered joining Herlihy’s program at Slippery Rock.

“She contacted me and I checked it out. It’s a great program and they won a lot, but it was only 15 minutes from home,” Michel said. “That was too close for me. I felt like I had to go farther away than that to attend college.”

Herlihy took the Akron job prior to the 2015 season. The Zips were 6-13-2 in her debut season, 3-7 in the Mid-American Conference. Akron has not had a winning season since 2009 and is 13-37-4 in league play over the past five years.

None of that mattered to Michel, who carries a 4.3 grade point average at Butler and plans to major in chemistry.

“My original plan was to go down south, to Virginia Tech or North Carolina State, for soccer,” she said. “Then I called Coach Herlihy to tell her I was interested in her program. I visited Akron and fell in love with the place.

“They have what I want academically and I know the coach (Herlihy) will build something there. It’s where I want to be.”

Michel will become the second Butler girls soccer player to be actively on a Division I roster. Macy Stalnaker, a forward, was a red-shirt freshman at West Virginia last fall.

“I’ve talked to Coach Herlihy and she is thrilled to get Haley,” Butler coach Steve Perri said. “She is the type of player she’s looking for.

“They are getting a great kid, a hard-working kid. Haley’s work ethic is her biggest asset. She hates to lose and she is always striving to get better.”

Getting an opportunity to play Division I soccer despite missing two of her past three seasons with injury “is something I didn’t see coming,” Michel admitted,.

But Perri isn’t surprised.

“They see the potential in her,” the coach said. “Haley hasn’t scratched the surface yet.”

Michel said her biggest goal on the soccer field at Akron is “to help improve the team.

“Academics are the main purpose for going to college,” she added. “I want to eventually go to graduate school and become a forensic scientist.”