When Ava Scott scored the second goal of Severna Park girls soccer’s state championship victory last November, she screamed, tugged her jersey and pointed rapidly to her number.
Above her, the announcer called: “Goal, Emerson Scott.”
Peals of laughter rippled through the Falcons sideline as the announcer added, “Wait, it was Ava. Ava Scott!”
“They’re wearing the same cleats,” the twins recalled the announcer saying, “and they have the same hair.”
“That’s why we had to change shoes,” Ava joked.
They don’t mind when people mistake them, even though they don’t think they look much alike. Before games, Emerson, a defender, dons pearl earrings and rolls her sleeves up. Ava, a midfielder, shoots finger guns at her midfield unit before the game.
When it comes to actual soccer, Emerson claims Ava is the more creative of the two, but to their teammates, the twins are equally artistic — just in their own fashion.
“Emerson comes across a little more flashy. She’s willing to take space, take people on and break shots from anywhere,” senior midfielder Abby Cover said, “and Ava’s consistent. When she’s in the midfield, you sometimes don’t notice her doing all these good little things.”
Opposing teams can’t pick apart Ava and Emerson’s unique traits the way their teammates can — often, to their own doom.
The more unfamiliar foe, the better. Enemy backs cling to Ava while she nurses a ball between her feet, just for what seems like another Ava to flash by and claim a near-invisible pass from her twin.
“That’s why we can perform so many flying switches,” Ava said. “People are trying to mark us and they get confused.”
Ava and Emerson fell “mutually and simultaneously” in love with their sport after starting it at age 3, toddling after their soccer-devoted father, Derek. They quickly discovered it wasn’t just a passion, but a gift, too.
It wasn’t their skill that made their father know they’d be “special,” but their confidence.
“Their genuine joy from being out playing with a ball on their feet,” he said, “whether a game, team practice or in our front yard getting touches.”
Now, that gift translates to pure magic on the pitch. The two flick passes to each other without a word, let alone a look, generating not only their own goals but the 57 goals Severna Park’s tallied this fall.
“You keep building a type of chemistry you can’t get with anyone else,” Emerson said. “Even on a team with such a strong bond, there’s something that more special. I know her mannerisms, her tells. I know what she’s going to do.”
Ava’s delivery tends to sneak up on opposing defenses the same way as covertly, such as during Saturday’s county championship game. Chesapeake backs hunted Severna Park forwards, dribbling passes to each other casually, just for Ava to pluck the ball loose and slam it against the back of the net. Her teammates and coach described it as a “rocket, a banger.”
It’s funny, too, when you consider Ava (four goals, four assists) claims Emerson (two goals, three assists) is the one with the “rocket shot.” The defender doesn’t have to deploy it as often; she’s busy corralling this year’s opponents to five total goals and 10 shutouts.
Most defenders will rush the ball, Falcons coach Rick Stimpson said, but Emerson’s goal is always to spark the attack.
“Her composure brings a calming effect to those around her because they know she is always available and won’t turn the ball over,” Stimpson said. “She dribbles and shoots better than most attackers and has the best passing range I have seen at this level.”
While it had always been a concerted effort of theirs to bond with an entire team – not just each other – the sisters’ voices pepper across the pitch to one another, correcting a move here and there. They try to talk less, they said.
Little do they know how much their teammates are absorbing it all.
When Cover and senior midfielder Bella Van Gieson sprint through the midfield with Ava, they’re studying her off-ball work and other little details. No Falcon has the chance to fall crestfallen over a mistake, either, even after Severna Park suffered its first loss in two years to Notre Dame Prep on Oct. 2.
Every practice, the Scotts arrive with soccer-tracked minds and a good mood radiating from them like the first sun after a week of rain. They’re not even capable of staying mad at each other, the sisters said. If one bickers with the other, she appears in her doorway a few minutes later, holding a soccer ball.
“No matter what day it is, no matter the weather, no matter if we’re losing or winning, they’re so incredibly positive,” Van Gieson said. “It affects all of our energy.”
Severna Park coach Rick Stimpson remembers meeting the sisters as middle schoolers at a scrimmage, cheering Severna Park girls as equally as they applauded the opposing team’s achievements. It’s a selflessness, Stimpson said, that bleeds into their style. Any Falcon milling around a Scott dribbling the ball knows an opportunity to shoot might be coming their way.
“The difference between good athletes and great ones is great ones make the other players around them better,” Stimpson said. “And they do that with a smile on their face.”
The Scotts and Severna Park (13-1) begin the hunt for their second consecutive state title with South River in Saturday’s 3A East I region semifinal.
Have a sports news tip? Email Katherine Fominykh at kfominykh@baltsun.com, or DM @capgazsports on Instagram.
