UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa.- When twin sisters Ally and Jordyn Lipkin were younger, they played many sports, but soccer was their favorite.
Their dad played high school lacrosse and pushed the girls to start playing for their town's club team. At first, they weren't huge fans of the sport. It wasn't as fast-paced, as competitive as soccer. But, after being encouraged to play club lacrosse for a season instead of playing for their town's team, everything changed.
"We both enjoyed it so much more (than soccer)," Ally said. "Just the speed of the game and how competitive it gets."
"Once we started to play, we realized it was the sport that we wanted to continue to play," Jordyn added. "And now we're both playing in college."
The sisters grew up playing on the same teams regardless of the sport. But now, for the first time in their lives, college freshmen Ally and Jordyn play on different teams. Ally is an attacker at Penn State, while Jordyn plays midfield at Maryland.
When the sisters were deciding on where to play college lacrosse, they knew that they weren't destined to be on the same team. Ally and Jordyn agreed that it would be best if they played on different teams and went to different schools.
"We've done everything our entire lives together, so we kind of knew we had to have something different… We've never been independent. We've always had each other for everything," Jordyn said.
While they're similar in many aspects, they still have their differences. They knew that it was unlikely they would feel at home at the same college, Jordyn added.
On the field it's been weird not playing together, Jordyn said. As they've played together their whole lives, it's easy to predict what the other will do and understand what is going through their mind. For the first time in their lives the twins saw that understanding on the other sideline, as they played against each other on April 7, when the Nittany Lions traveled to College Park, Maryland to take on the Terrapins.
Their family traveled down from Short Hills, New Jersey to watch them play. While they were excited to see the twins, they weren't excited for the game, Jordyn said. No matter the outcome, one twin would be on the losing team. Falling to Maryland, Ally and the Nittany Lions were unable to best Jordyn's Terrapins.
"It's definitely really weird because you grow up always being on the same team… It's hard because you're on the field and want your team to win, but at the same time you want your sister to do well," Ally said. "It was just different. I'm not used to it."
The adjustment to playing lacrosse, and doing life, without each other has had its positives and its negatives.
On one hand, they've learned a lot about themselves as individuals. Coming to college without her sister, Ally said had to learn how to navigate situations that she would typically lean on Jordyn for support. As they have different strengths, being apart from Jordyn has given Ally the opportunity to grow her "weaknesses," that were her sister's strengths.
"When you're a twin – we're going to practices together, we're traveling together, we're going to the same school, we're in the same friend group, we share the same best friend. We don't really get that much space from each other, so we're always with each other. You always have each other to rely on, so it was kind of good for us to become more independent," Ally said. "Even though we miss each other a lot, it's better for us to be able to go through these experiences individually to make sure we're doing what's best for ourselves, not what is best for each other.
"At the end of the day it's just helped us both grow as individuals."
