Beat the forward to the soccer ball. The player that stands between you and the goal looks like the player you just ran past with the ball. Are your eyes playing tricks on you or are they two different players?
For any player or team that has played a soccer game against Texas A&M University-Commerce, they know exactly what happened – you just met twin sisters Bailey and Tamara Geels.
The Geels twin sisters are starters for the Lions, and came to A&M-C after their high school days playing soccer at McKinney North High School.
Entering their senior seasons, both sisters realize the difference playing at A&M-C compared to their playing days at McKinney North.
“There different styles, it’s a lot quicker. Its more physical than how it was in high school,” Tamara said. “Being a defender, going against the other team’s best players who are the forwards, so I like the challenge.”
“It’s a lot more challenging, more fun,” Bailey said.
The biggest adjustment, according to Tamara was ‘gradually getting into the flow of his (Head Coach Neil Piper) style of play and understanding it.’
During their careers at A&M-C, the sisters have proven to be an asset in various ways. Since the 2004 season, Bailey & Tamara have combined to score 34 out of 140 goals for the Lions (as of Oct. 8).
Bailey has led the team in goals both last season, and so far this season. Of the 26 goals that the Lions have scored, Bailey has accounted for 10 of the 26 (as of Oct. 8).
Last season, Tamara was part of a defense that had a 10 game span, in which there were five shutouts, and only one goal scored on the Lions.
Not only did Bailey lead the team in goals during the 2006 season, but she ranked in the top-10 in the Lone Star Conference for shots (4th with 58 shots), points (tied for 7th with 19 points), assists (tied for 9th with five assists), and goals (tied for 10th with seven goals).
Also in 2006, Tamara was named to the First Team All-LSC team, while Bailey was named to the Second Team All-LSC team.
During a 2-1 win over #2 Metro State, Bailey and Tamara scored both goals, and helped the Lions pull an upset over Metro, which was 12-0 coming into the game.
Looking at this year’s group of freshman, Tamara reflected on the potential that they have.
“There are some freshmen I hope, that will step out of their comfort zone, and will be the player hat they can be. There are girls on the team, that don’t use their size and height, and they just need to let go and use their strengths, because that is what we need. The other freshman, I am so glad that they came into shape and skill that they did,” Tamara said.
Both Bailey and Tamara are graduating in May 2008, and are planning on pursuing careers in health-related fields. Bailey plans on working as a personal trainer.
“Being in human performance and working on peoples agility, but on the side, still try to play soccer, for a club professional team,” Bailey said.
Tamara plans on pursuing a career in dental hygiene. In pursuing a goal of dental hygiene, Tamara has a year of chemistry classes to take, as well as two years of dental hygiene school.
“I would like to pursue dental hygiene, but at the same time, I still want to play soccer. My mom works in the dental hygiene field, and I looked at that, and thought it would be interesting to do.
Having siblings can be stressful to almost anyone, but the Geels find it is helpful to have each other around, both on the field and off.
“We play different positions, so we can’t really compete in who scores the most. For us, we compete in fitness, like running faster, and stuff like that. In school, we usually try to help each other, so we can both pass our classes,’ Bailey said.
“I think in soccer, like she said, its hard to compete, but during practice, when the defense is going against the offense, we try to help each other out … I just want her to do the best she can, she has a lot of goals she wants to accomplish,” Tamara said.