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HIGHLAND, Utah (AP) — It's senior night at Lone Peak High School as the girls soccer team takes on Herriman in its final home regular season game. Seniors and their parents are announced and given flowers as the crowd cheers. The announcer pauses and announces three names in a row and a trio of fiery red-haired girls walk to the center of the field and hug their parents.
Meet the Smiths, Cassidy, Jessica and McCall, the senior triplets that started for the Lone Peak Knights. It's easy to confuse the Smiths when you first watch them play.
The girls understand how special this season is. Not only did the team finish second in the state with a 19-1 record, but this is also the last season the triplets will play soccer together.
Cassidy is off to her dream school, BYU, as a walk-on goalie, while Jessica and McCall will be playing soccer for BYU-Hawaii. The feelings are mixed about going their own paths.
Jessica said she is excited about the chance to get away and go someplace new and meet new people. McCall is more unsure.
"I went to Bolivia for a month ... Jessica and Cassidy had to stay for a camp and that was hard," said McCall about being apart from her sisters.
People have been confusing the Smiths most of their lives and even classmates still get the trio mixed up. Students will constantly call Jessica, Cassidy, or check with a friend to make sure McCall is Jessica.
While Cassidy was on the student council, the president accidentally called her McCall while announcing she was going to play soccer at BYU.
It's easy to confuse them at first glance, but if you spend time with them you realize each girl has her own unique quirks and traits. Jessica is the most outgoing and carefree of the three. She is a fury of energy who can be seen dancing in pregame warm ups or overly celebrating after winning a game of thumper with her family.
Cassidy is the team's vocal leader, yelling encouragement and adjustments to her teammates. She is quieter at home but still brings the same sense of focus she brings to the field while working on AP calculus with her sisters.
McCall keeps to herself before games and is the least vocal of the three. At home, she opens up to show a goofy and carefree side while filming a music video with her younger siblings. The triplets are the oldest of eight, all girls.
They are like any group of siblings. Jessica will jokingly mock Cassidy when getting the right answer to a math problem only to have the realization she has the wrong answer when McCall points it out. They radiate a loving and warm energy, just in different ways.
It's what makes watching them leave the field after their final high school game, a 2-1 loss to Davis in the Class 5A state finals, so hard. The three happy and fun-loving girls are now silent with the rest of their team, their freckled cheeks stained with tears.
Cassidy hangs her head, while McCall stares blankly into the distance with her other teammates. Jessica looks up to the crowd and asks, "Where are my parents?"
She finally finds them and cries into her dad's shoulder.
The Smiths will now become etched into Lone Peak's athletic lore. Fans will speak of the triplets who led their team to a state final with determination and hard work.
The Knights will be different next season without the Smiths taking the field.
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Information from: The Daily Herald, http://www.heraldextra.com
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