For the first time, the Double-A Zone will have sisters writing joint guest blogs, as North Carolina women’s lacrosse standouts Kelly and Kristen Taylor will be checking in with us throughout the season. Enjoy the inaugural post!

Hi everyone! Our names are Kelly and Kristen Taylor and we’ll be keeping you up-to-date with our season this spring. We are both members of the University of North Carolina women’s lacrosse team as well as members of the U.S. Developmental team.

We grew up in Syracuse, N.Y., in a “lacrosse family” with both of our parents playing lacrosse at Cornell University. Our dad works for Nike Lacrosse and our mom was our high school lacrosse coach. We also have a brother who is still a junior in high school and also loves playing lacrosse. The three of us grew up playing together in the backyard and our passion for the game has grown throughout the years.

We were fortunate enough to have the wonderful opportunity to play together again in college and be on one of the top teams in the country. 2008 is going to be a great year for our team; we have set high goals but we have been working hard all fall and preseason to make these goals a reality. A big part of our team’s belief is surrounded around integrity and doing what you say you’re going to do. With preseason coming to an end, the excitement is growing for our first game this Friday against Loyola. Preseason started back in mid-January and consisted of a lot of running, weightlifting, and practice to get us ready for the long and exhilarating season ahead. Just this past weekend, we hosted the annual South of the Border tournament and started off the season on a very positive note as well as having a ton of fun!

Our team here at Carolina is like a family. Although we are actually sisters, we feel as if we have 27 other sisters every day at practice. With goals of playing until late May in the postseason, we are bound to have a long journey of ups and downs and we are thrilled to have the opportunity to share them with you because as we’ve learned, “The journey is the destination.”

Until next time…GO HEELS!