Taryn VanThof took a pass and was looking to dodge when she was thrown off by the sight of her defender.
It was her younger sister, Taylor VanThof.
“I looked up at who I was dodging against and I almost laughed,” Taryn said. “I didn't really realize who was in front of me at the time when I received the ball to turn and go, and it was her. It was just funny. You don't really think about it until you force yourself to think about it. It's a game and we're both too competitive to let our last name and our sibling rivalry interfere with the game.”
The season opener of the Women’s Professional Lacrosse League pitted the sisters from Livonia, N.Y., who both graduated from Loyola University, against each other for the first time in their careers as players.
“It was really exciting,” said Taylor, who graduated this year, four years after Taryn. “I hadn’t gotten to play with her in so long. It was exciting. We brought more energy to the field knowing we were going against each other and competing.”
Fueled by a 4-1 second quarter advantage in an otherwise even game, Taryn’s defending champion New England Command pulled out an 11-8 win over Taylor’s Philadelphia Fire on June 1 in Foxborough, Mass. Katie Hertsch was named WPLL Player of the Game after causing four turnovers and scooping up three ground balls for the Command. Kristen Igoe had three goals and an assist to lead the Command offense, and Katie O’Donnell, Kara Mupo and Taylor Hensh had two goals apiece. Kelyn Freedman had three goals and Haley Schweizer had three assists for the Fire, who got 13 saves from Gussie Johns.
Taryn had four draw controls and a caused turnover while Taylor caused two turnovers, one ground ball and a draw control that she won in a head-to-head battle with her sister.
“It's just as frustrating,” Taryn said. “She does great things. She does great things when I play against her; she does great thing when I coached against her. I think it was in an awesome experience for the two of us. The last time I played with her was I was a senior in high school and she was in seventh grade, so to come full circle and still not playing on the same team but playing in the same league and on the same field at the same time because we were just a year shy in college was awesome. I'm so excited and so proud to see her out there.”
The VanThof sisters had met on opposing sides in each of the past three years when Taylor’s Loyola team faced Florida, where Taryn just completed her third season as an assistant coach. The last time the two played against each other came in an alumni game at Loyola in the fall of 2017.
“I think it was cool for me to open up my first pro lacrosse game to open against my sister and be a little more comfortable knowing she’d be on the field,” Taylor said. “We’ve never had to compete against each other because we’ve had that age gap. I’ve always looked up to her. Playing against her was the best weekend of my summer.”
There are five years difference between the two, who share more similarities than differences. Both are midfielders that focus their play between the 30s. They each wear No. 18 for their teams, just as they wore 18 at Loyola.
“When Taryn left us and Taylor came in, we’d have to catch ourselves from accidentally calling them the wrong name,” said Loyola head coach Jen Adams, the WPLL commissioner. “Luckily for me, they were on opposite teams and different colors this time.”
The VanThofs sit atop the Greyhound program record books in draw controls. Taryn set the single-season and career records for draw controls at Loyola. Taylor broke those marks and added the single-game record for good measure.
“We’re now 1 and 2,” Taryn said. “She kicked my butt. She came in and she had goals and we talked about her never living in my shadow and just because the number that she wore happened to be the same as me, it didn’t make a difference. She’s still a different player and a different person and I think she's gone out and made that a true statement. She stands in the record books as a true statement.”
Taylor credits Taryn for much of her development. In the summers when Taryn was home from Loyola she helped to coach Taylor’s Lady Roc Lacrosse club and worked with her in their backyard.
“She was my club coach all the way up until I went to college and then I followed in her footsteps,” Taylor said. “We played together when I was in seventh grade and she was a senior in high school. We’ve never played against each other.”
Their first time was back and forth. Taryn’s team won, and Taylor was introduced to a new level of play.
“I thought they both did a great job,” Adams said. “Taylor being new to the pro game, it’s a different speed, so getting her feet wet was one thing. Taryn had some experience and that helped her.”
Taryn is in her fourth professional season. After two years that brought two United Women’s Lacrosse League championships with the Long Island Sound, she came to the Command and won another title in the debut season of the WPLL. The sisters had hoped to play on the same team just as Florida grads Sydney and Shayna Pirreca were reunited on the Pride this year, but the Fire selected Taylor with the 14th overall pick in this year’s draft.
“She went quick so we didn’t get to snag her,” Taryn said. “The staff had talked about it beforehand that if it worked out, it would be great, but if it didn’t, that’s OK too because my mom was at the game in Boston and she was win-win no matter what. No matter who won or who lost, she was still winning. It’s an awesome experience. Not many people get the chance to play pro, so just because we’re on separate teams doesn't mean it's not still an awesome experience to be out there with each other.”
Their mother supported both by sporting a Loyola shirt for the matchup between her daughters.
“Usually she favors Taylor so I'm shocked it was a neutral choice,” Taryn said. “When we played each other every year when I was at Florida and she was at Loyola, she always wore Loyola gear.”
Taylor almost did a double take the first time she lined up on the draw against her older sister. For a moment, they just wanted to laugh. It hit her then that they had both reached the pro level.
“I think she thought about it more than I did,” Taylor said. “She’s been graduated so long. I feel like it snuck up on me. The opportunity to play in the pro league came so quickly. She’s been waiting to have the opportunity for us to be together on the same field.”
The sisters won’t have the opportunity to face each other again this summer until the playoffs. Their first meeting was for some bragging rights, although the question of ability has been raised before.
“People always ask me who was better,” Adams said. “It’s like splitting hairs with the two of them. They each had unique bits that were impressive and valuable to us. They both left their marks. Taylor came in and had to establish her own VanThof name. Taryn had established it. She was always proud of her.”
When they finally faced each other, Taryn was hoping to use her experience to give her an advantage while Taylor was hoping that coming right off playing a full collegiate season would be a benefit.
“Specifically on the draw, I worked all season on quickness in hands,” Taylor said. “Fitness wise, she works hard, but being five years younger, I have a little advantage in that aspect.”
Said Taryn: “They have that lacrosse shape edge. We obviously all work our butts off to get into shape but it's not the same as playing. You can do so many runs and so many workouts but once you're on the field and it's the actual game, it's a little bit different and it takes a bit to get back into it.”
Taylor followed Taryn to Loyola and now into the pro ranks, and she is hoping to continue to follow her once more, this time into coaching. She’s been putting her name in for assistant coaching job openings in college.
“I’m interested in staying in lacrosse and not giving up that part of my life yet,” Taylor said. “She’s helped me a lot so far with who and where I should be talking to. I do try to listen to her and try to pick her brain. She is so much older than me. I value all the things that she tells me.”
Adams says that Taylor has one of the best sticks that she’s ever coached and believes she could bring that expertise to a team. Taryn also sees big potential in her sister.
“She already has that individual side where she can grab someone and have a conversation with them and tweak their game individually,” Taryn said. “And I think that's huge because players buy into that. You can have that one-on-one conversation and really buy in and invest in them. They grow and they really want to listen. I think she can do that easily walking into any coaching position. She, on the other hand, is a little more reserved vocally than I am so that'll be the one piece where she'll have to open up a little bit more and be ready to address and speak to bigger groups.”
Taryn continues to look out for openings for her sister that could be a good fit while she prepares for her fifth year of coaching collegiately.
“I've loved it,” Taryn said. “I just finished my third year here in Florida, I did one at Rutgers before that, and I love it. I've grown to love the kids and the desire these kids have, and I just want to give more to them to better their game. They're willing and they want to learn and you just have to keep pumping it in.”
Adams had the pleasure of coaching the sisters over the better part of a decade. For the first time since 2010, she will have a program without a VanThof in it. Taryn entered Loyola in 2011, redshirted in 2012 and graduated in 2015 as Taylor started her career that fall. Before she returns to mold the VanThof-less Greyhounds, Adams is enjoying another year as WPLL commissioner job.
“I couldn’t ask for a better group to work with,” Adams said. “The management crew is incredible. They’re headed in the right place to help the players expose themselves and help take the game to the next level. I’m proud to be a part of it.”
The VanThof sisters are happy to be a part of the league. Taylor and Taryn loved the chance to be on the same field together as professionals, and they might like it even more if they could play on the same team eventually.
Said Taryn: “I don’t think it’ll pan out this season but next year I definitely need to get something in the works.”
Notes
Defense Delivers
Kelsey Gregerson earned the Player of the Game honors in Game Two of the first WPLL weekend after making eight saves in the Fight’s 6-4 win over the Pride on June 2. The goalie out of Hofstra enabled the Fight to play with the lead the entire game.
The Fight featured an attack that could not have been more balanced. Their six goals were scored by six different players. Katrina Dowd, Kayla Treanor and Taylor Cummings scored the first three goals of the game and the Pride never could catch up. A goal by Halle Majorana cut the Pride deficit to 5-4 before Lindsey Ronbeck scored her first professional goal for the final margin.
Top Picks Playing
Sam Apuzzo, Dempsey Arsenault and Kenzie Kent were teammates in the third straight NCAA Championship game appearance for Boston College, but the top three picks from the 2019 WPLL draft will all be in action for different teams when they make their professional debut.
Apuzzo, the top overall pick, will suit up for the Fight at 5:30 p.m. Friday in Richmond against the Brave, which made Arsenault the No. 2 selection in the draft. Kent, the No. 3 pick, will join the Command for a 7:30 p.m. draw Saturday in Richmond against the Pride, which now have No. 4 pick Erica Evans from NCAA champion Maryland.
Safe Travels
Also joining her team this weekend is Ai Hirose, the first player from Japan to play in the WPLL. The lightning quick midfielder/defender from the Japanese Senior National Team will play for the Brave. Last year the Brave had Hui Ka Hei from Hong Kong, and Australian Abbie Burgess played for the Fire.
Hirose played at Sophia University in Tokyo, Japan, and drew the attention of the WPLL during its Draft Camp in Tokyo as part of WORLDCROSSE. The WPLL has nine international programs represented this year. CROSSECROSSE Director Sachiyo Yamada is traveling with Hirose to serve as a coaching associate in the WPLL.