There were so many times Gayla Foster could have said she was done.

After the first anterior cruciate ligament knee tear, and subsequent surgery. After the second ACL tear, and subsequent surgery. After the third ACL tear — that’s right, three — and, everyone together now, subsequent surgery.

Yet she never did, instead pressing on every time.

This afternoon’s season-ending match at home against UL Monroe, however, finally will mark the end for Foster, a senior defender for the Ragin’ Cajuns women’s soccer team who has spent six — count ’em, six — years at UL.

"It’s bittersweet," she said.

"It’s just crazy that it’s finally here," added Foster, a product of Edwardsville High in Glen Carbon, Ill. "I never thought I’d see my Senior Night game."

Certainly not after all the four-time Cajun captain has been through.

Foster started each game of her true-freshman year at UL, then tore her right ALC — and the knee’s medial collateral ligament as well — in preseason practice prior to what would have been her sophomore season.

Nine months later, during a summer-league game two weeks before preseason practice prior to her third year here, she tore the left ACL.

But she didn’t stop then.

"I was out, and we won only two games," Foster said. "I was captain "» but I couldn’t help them on the field. I could be vocal, but what do you tell your teammates after you’ve lost 14 in a row?

"It was hard. I just felt I couldn’t help like I wanted to help them."

So she returned for her fourth year, her second on the pitch, and it was another full one.

She played, started and anchored the Cajun defense through all 20 games of a year that featured a school single-season record seven shutouts.

Then came a re-tear of the right ACL during spring practice in April 2011, followed by quickest rehab of them all — just three-and-a-half months, boosted by twice-a-day strength training — to be able get in 11 games that year.

"I thought about quitting, but, I mean, I just love it," said Foster, who graduated in four-and-half years with a management degree and now is studying marketing. "I had to rehab (anyway), and I wanted to play again, so I was like, ‘I may as well go out on a good note.’

"I wasn’t ready to give up soccer yet. I wanted to quit when I was ready to quit. I wasn’t ready to quit yet."

So she kept going.

And going.

How Foster was able to, Cajuns coach Scot Wieland can’t imagine.

"To play a sport that is so pounding on knees," he said, "and for her to come back "» How many kids will go through three surgeries?

"That’s not easy. One’s tough. Two, sometimes kids will hang it up. But a third one? That says a lot about her character, that says a lot about what this university means to our athletes. It really does.

"Those are the kind of kids, when you bring them into your program, that’s the kind of character and work ethic "» you look for," he added. "She’s been a special kid."

Yet Foster did have some doubts along the way.

She managed to chases them all away, but the third rehab really was the toughest of all.

She thought, " ‘Again? Really? Maybe I’m not meant to play soccer.’ "

"But you get into it, and you’re used to it," Foster said, "so you’re like, ‘I’m just going to do it.’

"My first one, I didn’t know what to expect. I didn’t know what pain was good pain, what pain was bad pain. The third, it was just like, ‘Let’s go. Let’s get it done.’ "

And after being granted a medical hardship waiver by the NCAA, Foster was able to play this season too — No. 6 at the school — for a Ragin’ Cajun team that is 7-10-2 overall.

But today’s game really is the last for not only Foster but also the Cajuns this season, because at just 1-6-2 in Sun Belt Conference play they will not qualify for the eight-team postseason league tournament.

Still, through all those tears in the knees, and probably a few tears from the eyes too, Foster feels it’s more than worth it to have stuck for as long as she did.

"(Teammates) definitely helped me along the way," she said. "I couldn’t do it without them, or my coaches. The strength coach, my trainers — everybody played a part.

"For sure, I would do it all again — just because it’s made me who I am," Foster added. "It definitely made me a stronger person, and made me appreciate the game of soccer and the support system I’ve created down here."