Reunited and it feels so good.

Senior captains Paige Bable and Danielle O’Brien  of the Varsity girls soccer team have been playing high school soccer together for the past four years.

What makes this tandum different than most high school teammates is that the following four years they will continue playing soccer together at George Mason University. 

“My favorite part about getting to play with Paige for four more years is our friendship and our ability to be able to push each other to make each other better,” said O’Brien. 

Babel and O’Brien started as freshman on Varsity and have enjoyed many successes together throughout their four years of high school. They know how each other plays and that knowledge propelled them into being back to back patriot district champions in their freshman and sophomore year.

While Babel and O’Brien are very familiar with each other’s style of play, they also know several other committed freshmen as well, making the future of the George Mason women’s soccer team very bright.

“I actually know four girls on the team and have played with them since I was young, so I definitely think that will be helpful because I know how they play, how fast they are, and where to play [the ball] to them so they can be successful, ” said O’Brien. “It will also be a lot easier to adjust to the team already knowing four other girls.”

Even though starting as a freshmen on a collegiate team is very difficult to do, with the amount of chemistry on the team in terms of the incoming freshmen the likelihood of O’Brien and Babel getting ample playing time is not out of the question.

Both Spartan captains possess the experience and the drive to pick up some playing time as freshmen. They are known on the high school squad as players with the work ethic and mindset needed to get the job done.

“I think we will be a big impact, because we both have a high work ethic and hate to lose,” said O’Brien. “I know we will both work really hard for a starting position, and if we don’t earn one for the first game, it will make us work even harder in practice to be one of those starting eleven.”

Both Babel and O’Brien are excited about getting to play together at the next level and they hope to be able to contribute and bring as much success to the Patriots as they did to the Spartans.

“I’m excited to play with new girls and create a new soccer family,” said Babel.