by Jessica Carrera ‘13

From left, freshmen Lauren and Tiffany Woods work on their ball skills before the start of practice. photo by Jamie Langbein ‘13

When passing by freshmen Tiffany and Lauren Woods in the hallway, one could easily get them confused. This is not the case, however, after attending one of the varsity girls’ soccer games. Besides their difference in hairstyles (Tiffany wears hers down while Lauren’s is up in a ponytail) and the different numbers on their jerseys, their talent and passion for the sport will make their names and faces hard to forget.

The identical twins have been playing soccer for most of their lives, starting at the early age of three. They began playing in Prince George’s County with their first team, the Tigers. The Washington Area Girls Soccer (WAGS) League is a very competitive league in the metropolitan area. The Woods sisters play in the first division of the U-15 age group, with their team, Thunder Extreme. “We started playing WAGS in sixth grade. Yeah, sixth grade,” said Tiffany.

Making the transition from WAGS to Sherwood was not that difficult, according to the sisters. “[We’re] learning different things. [John Vukovich, the varsity girls’ soccer coach] has a different coaching style than my WAGS coach. It’s mostly the same formation, just the girls that play [at SHS] are bigger,” said Tiffany.

Playing with older girls must not pose much of a problem to the twins as they have already managed to get starting forward wing positions as freshmen. Not only that, but they are piling up impressive statistics while they help their team advance to a 2-1 record. In the season opener against Wootton, Tiffany had one goal during regulation and Lauren scored the game winning goal in overtime. In the game against Rockville on September 12 , Tiffany found the back of the net once again and contributed to their 5-0 win.

Their teammate, junior Becca Dunwoody, said that since Tiffany and Lauren have been on the team, “the front line puts a lot more pressure up top and we have much more fire. We are so amazingly fast and [the Woods sisters] can get any ball.”

Not only do they contribute immense talent, but their presence also had a very positive effect on the rest of the team. “I think everybody stepped up because of the level of play that they’re at,” said Vukovich. “Their presence on and off the field is definitely different. They’re young, but they’re playing as if they’ve been part of the high school program for a while.”

The differences in the Woods sisters’ personalities are one reason that they stand out so much. They are perfect complements to one another, each bringing out the best in the other as well as the people around them. “Lauren’s really good and fast. She’s always happy and she makes me smile a lot,” said Tiffany.

“If you get on Tiffany’s bad side, that’s not something you want to see,” Lauren joked, “I guess she’s pretty good at soccer.”

Playing soccer at the college level is in both Lauren and Tiffany’s future plans, and surprisingly enough, they both aspire to see that possibly happening at the University of North Carolina.

Of course, they also have future plans for themselves that do go beyond playing soccer. Without the slightest hesitation, Tiffany says she would like to be an astrophysicist, while Lauren said she would like to pursue a career in legal criminology.

For now, the twin sisters want to focus on improving their skills; Tiffany wants to work on her left foot and Lauren on finishing plays with goals. They seem to be content with where they are both on and off the field. “You got Lauren on the left,” said Tiffany, “and me on the right. There you go.”