"We love each other!" Double trouble for opponents of Dominican's soccer team with twins on the field!
WHITEFISH BAY (WITI) -- Opponents of the Whitefish Bay Dominican girls soccer team are often in for "double trouble!" Because they are rivals, Mary and Abby Mansker might not seem to like each other -- but that couldn't be further from the truth!
Mary Mansker
"It means a lot to play for your high school, but I kind of think about how close my team's gotten, and just like the relationships that I've formed and I will just kind of build forward from that," Mary Mansker said.
That tells you something about Mary Mansker -- a four-year starter for the Whitefish Bay Dominican High School girls soccer team who had made a difference in ways that go beyond the game.
"Everybody really looks up to Mary. They care what she thinks. They don't want to disappoint her. When they're on the field, they go all out. She's kind of a leader by example, so when she does say something, they all listen," Coach Patrick Connell said.
"It just means a lot to have the underclassmen look up to me and come to me when they want advice. It's not necessarily just on the soccer field. They'll come to me with stuff related to school and it just means a lot to be able to learn from them and me to know that they're looking up to me like that," Mary Mansker said.
Coach Patrick Connell
The same holds true for Mary Mansker's classmates at Dominican High School. She was a key player in putting together a beauty pageant at school for charity.
"We have about 11 of 12 gentlemen from Dominican -- different ages, and they're gonna, you know, show their stuff on the stage, and each one of them represents a charity. The guys do a talent portion and a sportswear portion and they have an escort that they all pick and it's been really fun to like, work with them," Mary Mansker said.
On top of all that, Mary Mansker is the salutatorian at Dominican High School. She will go on to further her academic and athletic careers at UW-La Crosse.
"She's brilliant. She's brilliant on the pitch and off. She's a great player and a great young lady that I've been privileged to work with these past four years," Coach Connell said.
Coach Connell is the first to tell you that he's also privileged to have Mary Mansker's twin sister Abby on the same team. They aren't identical twins, but at times, they think and act as one.
"I look for her on the field. She looks for me on the field. We just know where each other are going to be. I don't know how to describe it. It's crazy," Abby Mansker said.
Mary and Abby are close both on and off the field -- but as you might imagine, there's a little sibling rivalry involved.
"Oh definitely sibling rivalry. We yell at each other so hard -- our dad has to sit us down after games and it's like 'you played good, and you played good. You play different positions,'" Abby Mansker said.
"On the field, if anyone watches, like sometimes, you know, we feel like we can yell at each other a little more because we're related, so if anybody pays attention, they'll see us kind of like, getting onto each other -- but that kind of like, just fuels our fire," Mary Mansker said.
True -- the fraternal twins' healthy competitiveness brings out the best in both -- but there's no doubting how much they care for one another.
"We love each other. We kind of like, started the college search together and we kind of knew that we were going to go to separate schools. It was kind of scary at first but I'm very proud of her and I know that she's going to do amazing things at Cardinal Stritch," Mary Mansker said.
"She's a great soccer player. She's always looking out for people. She's always looking out for me. She takes care of me. She takes care of our family. She's just a good person. I love her so much," Abby Mansker said.
Abby Mansker wants to be a dentist, while Mary Mansker hopes to go into physical therapy.
