Girls soccer: Siblings making an impact all around Fox Valley

It sounds so simple, but if you just be yourself, you're different than anyone else.

Now imagine trying to do it on a high school girls soccer team where your older sister has been a star, and since you share the same last name, some expect the same things from you.

The Fox Valley area has several teams this spring where such a dynamic exists. Some of those sisters will play together. Others will make a name for themselves now that their older sisters have graduated. And coaches will try to avoid developing false expectations because sharing the same last name does not mean that someone possesses the same skills.

West Aurora junior Audrey Stephens learned how to be a leader from her sister Katharine, who now plays for Loyola-Chicago.

"Playing with her freshman year was a lot of fun and now I have been able to take over that leadership role that I learned from her," Audrey said. "We both play forward, but I like to play the target role. That's my main thing and that's different from my sister."

West Aurora coach Laura Wagley recognized a key difference between the sisters and has utilized their best strengths.

"They play the same position but are different," Wagley said. "Kat was so direct that she wanted the ball at every instant. Audrey is way better moving off the ball and we've formed our offense knowing that."

St. Charles North's Sami and Hailey Rydberg and Gia and CeCe Wahlberg have played together for years, but while Sami's a junior and CeCe's a senior, Hailey's now playing at Iowa and Gia's at Michigan State.

"We've all grown up playing together so I don't feel any added pressure, it just kind of goes along with not wanting to disappoint any of my teammates," CeCe said. "It's more me striving to fill (Gia's) shoes a little more than me comparing myself to her, because it's different positions and you can't compare to another player. But she's still a role model to me."

Harvest Christian freshman Becca D'Alessandro gets to play with her sophomore sister Maggie this spring.

"It's really just more comfortable with her being on the team and knowing I can just be myself and show my skills and have fun," Becca said. "And it's been easier since I knew some of the girls on the team already because of Maggie."

Although just in her second season with the Lions, Maggie likes being a young leader.

"It's fun to be a part of her development," she said. "I love helping push her to be more competitive and to be able to see her play and have fun on the field."

St. Charles East junior defender Alondra Carranza plays a much different role than older sister Chantel, who is now at Grand Valley State. Chantel was one of the area's top offensive weapons the past few seasons before sustaining a knee injury and graduating last year. Alondra's on the back line.

"I think Chantel set a pretty high bar for both her brother (Sebastian) and her sister," Saints coach Vince DiNuzzo said. "As for Alondra, I know she looks up to her sister, but she is self-motivated. They play two different positions so it is not easy to compare them other than the fact that they have very similar soccer IQs. I see similarities in their competitive spirit and work rate which is attributed to her family and club staff."

Elgin senior Emily Graves founded the Best Buddies program at Elgin with her sister Kylie (2018) who proceeded to be named valedictorian last year and was also the 2017-18 Daily Herald Fox Valley Female Athlete of the Year.

"Being so close in age we've been super close and been able to play sports together our whole life and she's been a huge inspiration with how competitive she is," Emily said. "She's been such a great example for me. We're similar on the field, but different, but watching her style, her approach and her lead has inspired me and made me a better player. I'm very proud of her and I'm definitely her biggest fan in that regard."

The collective message is to just be yourself. It doesn't matter if you grew up idolizing Brandi Chastain, Mia Hamm, Abby Wambach or anyone with the USA women's national team.

It doesn't make a difference if you're a big-time scorer like Larkin sophomore Kelly Leon (34 goals last year) and your older sister Amy is a junior defender. If you're a sophomore like Jenna Stayart (14 goals as a freshman) at Cary-Grove and your all-state sister Kelly Stayart (15 goals, 10 assists as a senior in 2018) is now playing at Missouri. If you're senior twins like Kaneland's Erin and Emma Ball (66 saves, 8 shutouts last spring) and Emma can use her hands to stop shots as a goalkeeper while Emma cannot as a defender. Or if you're Sarah Erickson and made the Elgin varsity as a freshman and you're older sister Hannah was a fantastic goalie who graduated two years ago.

Or even if you're Westminster Christian junior Kylee Siers and your sister Johanna graduated last year but your dad, Dave, is still your coach. Whoever you are, just be yourself.

"It is always a cool experience when two of your children get to compete together, but there is an added blessing to be able to be their coach," Dave said. "As much as this is about the sport of soccer and competing, the environment and relationships the girls have created at Westminster through soccer is definitely a highlight."

The same certainly could be said for all of the other schools where sisters are also teammates.