A Pittsford Sutherland Athlete Trains Smarter at UR Medicine's Fitness Science Center

Presley Imburgia walked into the UR Medicine Fitness Science Center in June knowing exactly what she wanted to avoid. She had watched the injury patterns in women's lacrosse. The Pittsford Sutherland junior spent her summer there working through data-driven training designed to identify movement risk before it becomes a season-ending injury. She left, by her own account, more confident, more ready, and more prepared for the next level than she had ever been.

What UR Medicine's Fitness Science Center Does Differently

What UR Medicine's Fitness Science Center Does Differently

The program doesn't begin with a workout. It begins with a movement and performance assessment — combined with injury history and individual goals — that produces a personalized movement profile for each athlete. The point is to find muscular imbalances and movement patterns that create injury risk before an injury does the finding.

Director Conner Lorenzo runs the program, which partners with eight school districts and local universities across the Rochester region. Every athlete who enrolls moves through five structured phases: movement prep, speed and agility, plyometrics, strength, and conditioning. The structure is the same for everyone; what changes is the profile underneath it. Teams in the program have averaged a 13% improvement in athletic performance measures over a school year — a result that shows up in competitive performance, not just injury logs.

Imburgia started the summer with clarity about what she was working against. "In the women's game, it's becoming more and more common to have those ACL tears, meniscus tears," she told 13WHAM. She wanted to get ahead of it.

By the end of summer, she described the result plainly: more confident, more ready, and more prepared for the next level than she had ever been. That's a high school junior describing a physical change she noticed in herself — one she carries into this fall's season. The investment happened in June, not in February after an MRI.

Why Female Lacrosse Players Face Real Injury Risk

Why Female Lacrosse Players Face Real Injury Risk

Imburgia's concern is backed by the data. According to the AOSSM Sports Medicine Update, female athletes sustain ACL injuries at two to eight times the rate of male athletes. Women's lacrosse has an incidence rate of 0.112 per 1,000 athlete-exposures — among the highest of any sport for female athletes.

The numbers compound after a first injury. Female athletes face four times greater second ACL injury rates and six times greater risk to the other knee. Going back on the field without addressing the movement patterns that contributed to the first injury raises the odds, not resets them.

Neuromuscular training programs offer a documented counter. A 2026 AOSSM prevention framework found that high-compliance participants showed an 88% reduction in ACL injury risk. Peak injury hazard falls between ages 16 and 20 — exactly the high school window.

How Pittsford Athletes Can Get Started

How Pittsford Athletes Can Get Started

Every athlete starts with a movement and performance assessment before any training begins. The program recommends starting weeks or months ahead of the season.

For fall sport athletes — soccer, field hockey, cross country — that window has already closed for this year. For winter and spring sport athletes, including lacrosse players like Imburgia's future Sutherland teammates, the calendar is still open.