Ben Hunter played three years of injury-free soccer at the University of North Carolina. He performed well enough that the Columbus Crew of Major League Soccer drafted him.

All seemed right in Hunter's world.

Then, Hunter's world turned upside down.

"I had a sports hernia and tore two ligaments in my ankle," Hunter said after a recent Richmond Kickers practice. "I wasn't fit for much of the year.

"It was very frustrating. You're not used to being limited by your body. You take being healthy for granted."

Hunter will take nothing for granted tonight when the Kickers (3-2) serve as the hosts for the Wilmington Hammerheads (0-4-1) in a 7 p.m. game at University of Richmond Stadium.

When the 2007 MLS season ended, Hunter had no job. The Crew released him, and Hunter had a decision to make. He could stay on the Crew's developmental squad, but that is a tough existence.

MLS developmental players do everything regular roster players do, except play in games. Developmental players also earn paltry pay checks.

"I decided to leave and hopefully get some minutes under my belt and get back to where I was before my injuries," Hunter said.

That led him to Richmond.

Hunter is an outside forward with a powerful left foot. During practice, when the Kickers are scrimmaging, shouts of, "Well done, Benny. Nice finish, Benny. Nice ball, Benny," ring out on a regular basis.

"He understands the game," Kickers coach Leigh Cowlishaw said. "He combines well with the other players. And he's the type of player who, when he's in front of the goal, nine times out of 10, he's going to put the ball in the back of the net."

In his formative years, Hunter put the ball in the back of nets in England.

He is a native of Doncaster, in the northeast part of the country near Sheffield. He was playing in a showcase-type tournament in Ireland, the Milk Cup, with a number of American college soccer coaches in attendance.

The coaches from the University of Rio Grande, an NAIA school in Rio Grande, Ohio, liked what they saw in Hunter. He went there for a year, then transferred to North Carolina.

"For exposure, really," Hunter said. "The ACC is one of the strongest conferences in the country."

Hunter did not spend his time only on the soccer field. He left Chapel Hill with a degrees in biology and sports science. A career in physical therapy might await him when his soccer days are done.

Hunter, 22, hopes those days will be plentiful and filled with success.

"I'd say my goal is to get back to the MLS," he said. "But my first and foremost goal is to perform well and get my confidence back. If that turns into the MLS, great. If not, I want to just do well for Richmond."

Hunter already has overcome two blips on his Richmond screen. He had an abdominal strain that slowed him for several weeks. And late in a Kickers game against Western Massachusetts, Hunter drew his second yellow card of the evening.

In soccer, two yellows equals one red card, and Hunter was ejected for the remainder of that game, a 1-0 Kickers victory, as well as the Kickers game May 24 against Charlotte, also a 1-0 victory.

"I'm really laid back off the field, but on the field, I try to raise my intensity levels," Hunter said. "A frustrating call got the better of me. I cost my team in that game, even though we still were able to win. And I wasn't available [the Charlotte] game.

"There was definitely a learning curve, and it won't be happening again."
Contact Paul Woody at (804) 649-6444 or pwoody@timesdispatch.com.