Editor’s note: This is the second in a five-part series that features female athletes at Iowa State.

Two freshmen on the ISU women’s soccer team are giving new meaning to the expression double trouble.

Twin sensations Amy and Sarah Kovarik are set to make waves on the soccer field and in the ISU community.

The Kovariks are from Overland Park, Kan. where they helped lead Olathe East High School to the Sunflower League Championships two straight years.

The twins also led Olathe East to a state runner-up finish.

On the soccer field, they can be seen as two blonde-haired prodigies, flying around the field, wreaking havoc on opposing defenses.

Off the field, they are helping give young soccer players a female athlete that they can look up to.

Along with their Cyclone teammates, Sarah and Amy help to mentor future Cyclone hopefuls.

Each has a partner on one of the Ames youth soccer teams.

Amy and Sarah work with the kids to teach them the game of soccer.

They also communicate with them through letters that they write to each other.

Amy said female role models like that can be hard to find.

“When I was little, I never had anybody like that to look up to,” she said. “When I was young, I always had to look up to, you know, guy soccer players. I never had girls to look up to.”

Sarah said she had male role models growing up, too.

When she was a kid, Sarah said she followed her brother around and hung out with him and his friends.

“I really looked up to my brother,” she said.

“He taught me to play lots of games. We played, you know, backyard sports.”

Sarah and Amy said they hope that helping young kids will help to make women’s sports bigger in the future.

Amy said women’s soccer at Iowa State has some growing up to do, but she likes the direction it’s headed.

“Girl’s soccer is just new to the program,” she said. “It’s grown up a lot, but it could grow a lot more.”

But both on and off the field, the twins’ close bond to one another helps to make them a force to be reckoned with.

“We’re best friends. We hang out all the time,” said Amy, who plays midfield for the Cyclones. “It’s awesome to have Sarah around. It’s great that we can get together and hang out when we miss home.”

Sarah said they are so close that they sometimes finish each others’ sentences.

“We’re closer than a lot of twins,” Sarah said.

“We were best friends all the way through high school, and now, it’s nice that she’s right here with me. I mean, I got to go to college with my best friend, and not a lot of people get to do that.”