Athletes often refer to their teammates as brothers and sisters. It's something we hear all the time in sports, because of the strong bond and shared experiences formed by spending so much time with a single group of people.
The Penn State women's lacrosse team has taken that mantra somewhat literally this season, as two different sets of sisters are on the team.
Senior Delaney Muldoon and sophomore Sophia Triandafils are no longer the only ones in the family in Blue and White, as both now share a field with their freshman sisters.
For Triandafils, this is relatively old news, as the one-year age gap between Sophia and her younger sister, Erin, has meant that they have been on several of the same sports teams together.
"It's funny because Erin and I have literally played every single sport together for our entire lives," Sophia said. "It's crazy because at home when we played sports, I'd see her 24/7, but here I only see her at lacrosse, so it's kind of a nice thing for us to have where we can always see each other at a set time of day and catch up."
For the Muldoons, it's a slightly different story. Growing up three years apart, Delaney and her younger sister Mary were infrequently on the same team. But they did overlap for a year in high school, and Mary made sure to make the most of that limited time.
"We played soccer and lacrosse my freshman year of high school," Mary said. "I was a novice, I had actually just started playing lacrosse so we would play in the backyard to get me ready for tryouts. I really looked up to her and she kind of just told me what to do. That's obviously a lot different now that I've been playing the game for a while."
In addition, Mary was grateful that Delaney was at Penn State because it allowed her to familiarize herself with the program and made her decision to come here that much easier when the time came.
"Coming in, it was really helpful because I was able to know teammates and I knew the coaches because I would see them more frequently. I'm close with the older girls and that's been really nice, along with just having a piece of home here. Especially coming here into a completely new environment."
She added that, although she considered other schools for a time and wanted to create a little different identity for herself, seeing how well Delaney was thriving at Penn State really pushed her to this side of the aisle.
"I visited here first out of all the schools and she was already going here. I almost wanted to pick another school just to spite her," Mary joked. "I didn't want to come here and say I was only coming here for Delaney. But her being here and already having a great experience just pushed me a little more."
The Triandafils had a similar experience in that regard, with Sophia serving as a natural bridge for Erin to come to Penn State, furthering her bond with the team before she even got to campus.
"I'd like to think I made the decision easier for her," Sophia said. "Every time she had a question, she wouldn't text anyone but me. Even questions I had no idea about. She would reach out for a lot of things, and I didn't always have the answer, but I think in that aspect I did help her out. She also knew everyone in my recruiting class, she had some extra visits that other people didn't and she did get to know the team a little bit better."
The sisterhood works both ways, with Sophia still leaning on Erin sometimes despite her seniority.
"She's someone I can always talk to and she really is that extra support even though I'm older."
Playing on the same team now, both sets of sisters love to see their siblings grow. In addition to pride, sibling success really pushes the sisters to be better versions of themselves.
"It certainly provided a motivation, you want to do just as well as they were doing," Sophia said.
Both Sophia and Mary agreed one of the best ways to grow is to see how the other sister is playing and see what she is doing particularly well. Both were eager to heap praise on their sisters.
"(Delaney) is really good at dodging behind the crease and she's a really strong passer," Mary said.
"Erin has always been a little bit faster than me," Sophia said. "So she's usually ahead of me. She's scrappy, good in transition and she's really unselfish. She moves the ball a lot and she does a really good job on all the hustle plays."
The sisters will have no shortage of quality time to spend together as the Nittany Lions hit the road for their next three games. First up is a trip to Ithaca, N.Y. today to take on Cornell. Face-off is set for 1 p.m.
