Sarah, left, and Allison Frye are double trouble for the opponents of the Nashua High School North girls soccer team. (Telegraph photo by TOM KING)

NASHUA – It’s a bright, sunny and warm day, and the Nashua High School North girls soccer team was going to have a light yoga and stretching workout on the school’s upper field following a grueling win over Goffstown the day before.

North coach Jacqueline Thompson was grinning when a visitor was wondering which of the Frye twins, Sarah and Allison, were which.

“We may have switched the jerseys,” Thompson said with a laugh. “Or maybe not.”

But finally the secret was revealed. “The hair!” Thompson said. “C’mon, you should know that.”

And that’s the way opposing coaches have to differentiate between the two, as Allison wears her hair in braids. Plus, “Alli” as she is known, is usually up front on the field, on the wing and then moving all over with speed and skill. Sarah will be in the middle of the field as a facilitator, possessing a booming, accurate kick but also defensive prowess.

Rarely, if ever, is there a game in which at least one of the two don’t figure in the scoring.

They have taken Division I high school soccer by storm the last couple of years especially, helping the Titans to the Division I semis last year and teaming up with a strong group to keep the Titans title contenders this year.

The success is something the two have been building toward for the last few years, and they credit the Titans program they’re a part of.

“If you were to ask me when I was in seventh grade about (success) I’d have definitely been surprised about it,” Alli Frye said. “But looking back now, I’m not surprised at all, just because of the way the program has developed throughout the years.

“We’ve gotten a lot better as a team. North never used to make any of the playoffs. They never used to make it as far as we went last year, winning as many as we have this year. Looking back at it now, I’m not surprised at the success we’ve had just because of the community that we built and the team that we’ve had.”

That success reached a pinnacle when Sarah’s booming free kick was headed in by Alli in overtime to beat rival South in the first round of last year’s Division I tourney. Sarah then scored the game-winner during the overtime penalty kick phase in the dramatic quarterfinal win over the Titans’ other city rival, Bishop Guertin, whom they will see later this coming week at Stellos Stadium as the regular season enters its final couple of weeks. And Alli had the game-winner late in the Battle of the Bridge triumph this year over South again.

Big games, big goals.

THE BEGINNINGS

The two, since they were little, have gone together in all kinds of weather.

“We do a lot of the same activities and stuff,” Alli said. “Ever since we were little, we’ve been doing a lot of the same things.”

The Frye twins’ parents, Pete and Kim, enrolled them in the Nashua Youth Soccer League (NYSL) when they were old enough to start, around the age of 5 or 6. Then they went into the NYSL travel program, then the Aztec Club in Tyngsborough, Mass. In other words, the Fryes moved up the youth soccer chain in a normal fashion and also played in middle school.

Thompson knew of them, got to know them when there was a gathering of the high school and middle school programs, but then knew she’d see for them “how it would translate with (Division) I and the speed of play.”

Soccer’s been their main “ball” sport since they can remember.

“I really loved the competitive atmosphere,” Sarah said. “You have to work hard for everything. That’s really what drew me to the sport. Honestly what kept me was I love the community, all the parents, we’ve known a lot of the people on our team and South. Everybody’s connected. It’s how good of a community it is.”

“You’re so little at that age, you don’t even know what you’re doing,” Allie said. “It was just fun.”

And it’s been fun ever since.

If there’s one athletic constant with the Fryes, it’s running. Also in the fall, they have from time to time run cross country, and did that in elementary school. But oh, those meets.

“I never liked them,” Alli said chuckling, “because Sarah would always beat me.”

That’s one of the reasons Allie likes soccer, because the two aren’t competing, they’re working together, “instead of against each other.”

Sarah has dual sported cross country with soccer at North, running in a couple of meets. But Sarah says soccer has an intangible.

“I really like soccer because we can push each other to get better,” she said, “and work together on that.

“We’re so competitive. It’s like we push each other to be the best version of each other we can be. Sometimes on the field we’ll get mad at each other, but we know it’s not real. We want each other to be the best version of each other we can be.”

Ironically, the two don’t really compete against each other in anything away from the field. In track, Alli sprints – she has been on North relay teams that have won titles the last few years – and Sarah is a jumper. They’re a little more serious about track now, but in middle school Alli admits “it was just something to do.”

But oh, they could not wait to get to high school. Sarah Frye remembers when the middle schools came to North a practice and meet the varsity players, etc.

“We knew a lot of girls on the team, and I remember being so excited to play with them,” Sarah said. “And just looking forward to going into high school and playing with so many of them.”

And the thing is, they were on varsity right away at North. Was that intimidating?

“I think when I was a freshman I really didn’t know what was going on,” Alli said. “I was kind of scared, but it was kind of like the team brought us in, made us part of the team, they were really including and made us feel welcome.”

Which is what the two try to do now with the younger players.

Thompson said the first day of tryouts the Fryes immediately stood out.

“I’ve had a lot of talented players,” she said. “But never have I had two players that have such grit … It didn’t matter what was happening around them. If one person wasn’t running, they didn’t drop their level. They always wanted to push themselves to be better.”

The Fryes would ask to meet on off days to go over drills, etc.

Nashua North’s Alli Frye tries to maneuver against a near triple team vs. Nashua South earlier this season. (Telegraph photo by TOM KING)

THEIR GAME

Alli Frye is known for her speed and scoring ability down low; Sarah Frye, who also had to play some at center back last year, is know for her insane accuracy on long kicks.

“For the free kicks, it’s kind of just like lights out for me,” Sarah said. “It’s like muscle memory. I’ve probably done it a thousand times between practice and games. I know where I want to put it, placement on the ball. I don’t want to say it’s automatic, but it’s muscle memory.”

Sarah doesn’t even know how she’s gotten that ability. “It’s just over the years I’ve gotten better and better and better at it,” she said.

Alli meanwhile is zipping downfield, “and that’s always been my style of play, someone makes a through-ball and I run on to it because I’ve found I can run wild (against) the defenders.”

But the two always know where the other is on the field. Is that because they’re twin sisters or because they’ve been teammates for so long?

“I think it’s both,” Sarah said. “We’ve been teammates for so long, we’ve been practicing playing together for so long, that we kind of just know where the other one’s going to go most of the time.”

“It definitely helps that we are twins,” Allie said, “but also that we’ve been playing together for so long on the same teams. You practice all the passes that we make in games.”

How would Alli Frye defend Alli Frye? With two people, she said.

“I’d have one person step up to try to pressure the ball, and the other person has to drop back,” she said. “That’s the style that South kind of plays. They have one defender back, that stops the through-ball and getting me the run ahead. And it also puts pressure on because I don’t have space to dribble.”

And Sarah? “That’s a tough question,” she said. “Honestly, pressure from multiple sides, so I can’t make the through balls. I think my biggest strength is being able to find Alli. So if you can cut off the pass between me and Alli, that’s probably the best way to defend me.”

Thompson says Alli’s “composure and confidence on the ball” are keys, along with her determination. “If she missed a shot, the hands aren’t up,” she said. “And having the ability to recognize when she can do it or her teammate has the better opportunity and lay it off to them is what makes her really great.”

And with Sarah, it’s that long-range shot. “I love it when she hits that 20-30-yard shot,” Thompson said. “It’s her sweet spot.

“She’s definitely a player that gives me calmness. I know I can definitely rely on her composure on the field. Anytime the ball’s at her feet, I never worry where it’s going to go. … you never saw any panic from her. Her technical skills and composure is what sets her apart, I think.”

TEAM PLAY

There is no apparent internal problem with the Fryes being such a dominant part of the Titan offense, because of how close-knit the Titans are.

“Everyone is super understanding,” Sarah Frye said. “There’s no drama on this team, we all love each other, we all care about each other. That’s one of the things that separates our program. We’ll all say hi to each other in the hallways, we’ll all go out for lunch together. I remember being a freshman and loving the stuff the upperclassmen did to make us feel welcome. That was honestly my goal for this season was to make sure everybody on the team felt welcomed. Everybody supports each other no matter what; we get so hyped when other players score and they get so hyped for us when we score. When one person wins we all win.”

Allie concurred. “That’s the goal of the program, to win.”

“They always want to make their teammates better,” Thompson said. “I think that’s a large part of our success. They realized it couldn’t be a two-man show, they needed their teammates. It’s going to be fun as well, fun on the field if you have that bond with your teammates. I think they’ve done a phenomenal job with that leadership. … They know they’re talented because they want to support their teammates.”

That’s how Sarah Frye led the team in assists a year ago; that’s how the Titans beat Goffstown recently because Alli gave up the ball to Maja Ray-Hokanson, who got the game’s only goal.

Thompson also says the twins have been driven to get better, so they didn’t let a couple of lean seasons when they were underclassmen deter them. “Instead it was ‘How do we get better, how do we get driving’ which you don’t see a lot of in high school sports,” Thompson said.

North’s Sarah Frye goes up to head a ball off a corner kick earlier this season vs. Windham. (Telegraph file photo by TOM KING)

THE FUTURE

The sisters are 17, but their days of playing soccer together appear to be winding down to a precious few weeks.

Sarah has verbally committed to Worcester Polytechnic Institute (WPI) and does plan to play soccer while studying civil engineering. Alli, meanwhile, isn’t sure of where she will go yet but is approaching the idea that she won’t play college soccer.

“I’m still deciding,” she said, noting that she’d either like to study economics or environmental science. And as for soccer, “I’m not sure.”

Sarah was considering different schools at different levels, but for the two academics is the prime thing. “What appealed to me the most about WPI was the engineering program,” she said.

Allie is looking at the NESCAC schools, and is non-committal to coaches who are trying to recruit her for soccer. Thompson understands, as she says the twins are very academic oriented and she remembers her playing days in college when she had to drop out of a med program in order to keep playing soccer. “I respect it and I completely understand,” she said. “I hope they do stay in the sport in some way.”

The one thing, though, is for the first time ever, the Frye twins will most likely be apart a year from now. Hard to imagine, right? They do have an older brother and a sister; older sister Kaitlyn plays college field hockey at Simmons – she played field hockey at North – , and the oldsest is Andrew, who attends SNHU but does not play a sport.

“I think we’re really trying to soak up as many moments together as we can right now,” Sarah said. “I think it’ll be a real good experience for us to be separate and have our own experiences. But at the same time, we’ll really enjoy our experiences together.”

Away from the games, they enjoy hiking and skiing together. As for track, Alli loves it because in the relays “what you do affects other people too. And what I love about track is the amount of work you put in is what you get out of it.”

For Sarah, her favorite event is the triple jump; but for her it’s about the track community and the team. “You really get to know other people, which is awesome,” she said.

Thompson says they may be twins, but their personalities give them a good dynamic. “They’re both talented in different aspects, both technically and tactically on the field,” she said. “To have that in their personality too makes them even greater as individuals as twins who are so tight-knit.”

THE HOME STRETCH

How much fun was last year? “Really fun,” the twins say in unison. But, at some point in the next few weeks, the referee will blow the whistle twice, signfiying not only the end to the soccer season but also to the Frye era.

“You know I’ll probably cry,”Alli said, “because the last four years this is what we’ve been doing. But I mean it’s also moving on to new things, which is good. But I’ll definitely miss this program and all the girls we’ve been playing with.”

“I think we’ll see when we get there,” Sarah said. “I know I’ll be sad. Hopefully we’ll be so excited (with a championship). We all want (a title) bad.”

Alli said the Titans’ play proves that.

“I think as a team we’re really driven, you can see that from our past few games,” she said. “The Goffstown game was a good example, we came out with a lot of energy. If we can do that, we can go far.”

“I’ll be crushed,” Thompson said of that final day to come. “The memories that they have provided this program is just one that is near and dear to my heart and I want to hold onto it. I don’t what that last day to come.”

Because that’s when the Fryes won’t be confused with one another; they’ll be an entity that will have left its mark on North girls soccer as one.