Senior defender Meghan Mack didn’t have to look very far to make eye contact for Lockport.
Before stepping up for a crucial penalty kick, Mack connected with a familiar presence on her teams since she started playing soccer — Abbey, a midfielder and her identical twin sister.
“We’ve been playing together our whole lives,” Meghan said after the Porters’ celebration. “We definitely push each other. We’ve always been competitive in nature, and we have that chemistry.
“We know where and how we’re going to play.”
After regulation ended Saturday with a 1-1 tie, Meghan was the opening shooter who launched a perfect stretch for the host Porters in a thrilling 5-4 shootout victory over Lincoln-Way East.
In beating the Griffins for the second time this season, Lockport (21-0, 4-0) maintained its status as the state’s only undefeated team and stayed on top in the SouthWest Suburban Blue.
Senior defender Emma Czech scored in regulation and also made the winning penalty kick.
Interestingly, another twin combination forced overtime and the shootout with a goal in the 70th minute. Senior midfielder Bre Herlihy converted for the Griffins (12-5-1, 3-1) on a header off a free kick by her twin sister Emily, a senior defender.
Meghan Mack, meanwhile, showed steely nerves to get the shootout started on the right foot.
“It’s a mindset,” she said. “I just needed to have confidence in myself and definitely make that first one. If you start thinking about it, you’re going to miss it.”
An outside back and team captain, Meghan has five goals and three assists this season. Abbey is back in the lineup as well, playing on a minutes restriction after suffering an ankle injury in March.
“It just gives us that edge because we have this almost unspoken communication where we just know where the other is going to go,” Abbey said.
Moving between the central or outside midfielder, Abbey has scored one goal. Last year as juniors, Meghan had nine goals and 11 assists, while Abbey added eight goals and nine assists.
The twins were born four minutes apart, with Abbey being the older child.
Their future also is linked, having committed to play at Cumberlands, an NAIA program in Williamsburg, Kentucky. Their innate connection has only deepened over time.
”The Mack twins are the closest siblings I’ve ever met,” Lockport coach Todd Elkei said. “Rarely are they ever apart. They will answer for each other if one is asked a question, and the answer is usually correct.
“They know what the other is thinking 100% of the time.”
Elkei said Abbey is now slightly taller than Meghan. The only previous way to identify them was from their different colored headbands.
Senior defender Brinlee McNabb, a team captain with Meghan, has been playing with the twins since they were 4 years old. She confirmed that words are superfluous between the two.
”They have that twin thing where they connect without talking,” McNabb said. “Their ability to pass to each other is really amazing.
“Their personalities are pretty similar, but their style of play is different, with Meghan being more aggressive and Abbey more calm. We are really lucky to have them as teammates.”
Abbey believes their shared passion for soccer was inevitable.
”I think being raised in the same environment and being exposed to a lot of the same things, you grow to like that thing,” she said. “It’s interesting because if I find something I like, I’ll share it with Meghan and she’ll like the same thing.
“We have that commonality off shared interests.”
Naturally, the two have the same response to what they like best about being a twin.
”It’s having a built-in best friend,” Meghan said.
Patrick Z. McGavin is a freelance reporter for the Daily Southtown.
