Four teammates on the Augustana Women’s soccer team discuss what challenges and advantages they face having their sisters as teammates.
Anna and Molly Fank are both starting center backs from Wheaton IL. The younger Fank is starting as a first year. “(Starting is) super stressful. I went into it with the mentality of ‘I have to work hard every second,” Molly said.
She comments that having a sibling as a senior team member allows her to feel more comfortable on and off the field, “(Anna) has been so good about teaching me how to be the best I can be and having her there has given me extra support,” Molly said.
As a senior majoring in Secondary Education and Spanish Anna has been a committed member of the soccer team for over three years. Before Molly began her college career Anna admits that she did not expect her sister to attend Augustana, let alone be playing soccer together here, “I was a little shocked at first but once she decided I knew we could be playing side-by-side.”
Anna states how much stronger their relationship has been since the start of the school year. Each sister agrees that living on the same campus, not necessarily under the same roof, have only made their bond stronger.
Two soccer players who do room together are sophomore twins, Gabriela and Marcela Arreguin. The twins   have always had similar hobbies and friends growing up, “I don’t mean this in a ‘braggy’ way but everyone likes twins. I feel like people wouldn’t like me as much if I weren’t a twin,” Gabriela said.
Before the sisters started playing soccer at the collegiate level, they talked about how beneficial it is playing with someone who has always had the same coaches and experiences as you, “Back home we are ‘the twins’, here at college we are ‘the soccer twins’,” Gabriela said.
As they began their college career, each twin stated how much easier it was to have each other there during the first few weeks of school. Homesickness is not something either Gabriela or Marcela have had to experience since the start of school.
In the time that the twins spend together, Marcela stated just how different it feels when Gabriela is not around, “Sometimes I forget that I have to introduce myself when I’m not with Gabbi. When I talk about something I’ll say ‘we’ instead of ‘me’ and keep referring to myself as ‘we’,” Marcela said.
As identical twins they often get confused for one another but Marcela explained that the similarities are not just physical, “When we go to the CSL we’ll walk separately to the different stations and come back to sit down with the same food,” Marcela explained. Of course the twins have their differences and disagreements but they would not want to experience life without each other.
With the season ahead of them, each one of these players have the opportunity to continue to lead their team to victory. With a record of 5-0-2 the Vikings have set themselves up for success. The team will continue their season with a game on Sept. 28 against North Park in Chicago, IL.