Junior forward Olivia Baggerly grew up playing soccer with her siblings in the backyard. Her younger brother, Cade Baggerly, played goalie as Olivia and her older sister Karley Baggerly played one-on-one.
“We would always make my little brother play goalie,” Karley said. “To the point that, he’s a baseball player, but he got goalie gloves for Christmas we would play so much.”
The three would play every day in the backyard, with tiny goals and big dreams. Both sisters planned on playing college soccer.
“It was always, ‘Hey, what college do you want to go to?’” Olivia said. “It was never, ‘I don’t want to play.’ It was always, ‘Which one are you looking at?’”
They played together on their high school team, club teams and have played against each other several times in college.
When Idaho met Gonzaga in the spring, the Vandals lost 1-0 on the road.
Friday’s match up ended in a tie after two overtime periods. Karley scored one goal for the Bulldogs.
Karley, a senior forward at Gonzaga, was excited to play Olivia.
“I’m always pumped to see her,” Karley said. “Then my parents get to come and it’s kind of nerve-wracking for them.”
Olivia said her parents stayed neutral for Friday’s game and went without gear from either team.
Karley and Olivia both admitted to being nervous.
“Definitely had nerves this game,” Olivia said. “I hate losing to my older sister but you know I’m proud of her. When she scored, I gotta have a little pride.”
Karley started every game of last season. She was named to the second-team All-West Coach Conference and honorable mention Academic All-WCC. The forward was ranked second in the conference with an average of 1.47 shots on goal per game.
Idaho head coach Derek Pittman was working with the Gonzaga women’s soccer team during Karley’s recruitment. He took the head coaching job at Idaho in 2014, Olivia’s freshman year.
He knew Olivia had signed to Idaho and was excited to coach her.
“We knew that (Olivia) would add just as much quality to our side,” he said. “It was a pleasure to get to see them play against each other and watch them compete.”
Olivia is currently seventh in Idaho program history in goals, 11 and assists with 12. She is in fifth for total points scored with 34. The forward earned All-Big Sky Second Team honors and started every game last season. She received All-Big Sky Honorable mention during her freshman year, appearing in 18 games and starting in seven.
Cade is attending Chemeketa College and playing baseball.
Olivia said she never considered pursuing a spot on the Gonzaga roster with Karley.
“I think it’s really good for her and me to go to separate schools,” Olivia said. “We both have different talents and putting me and her together would have been a really cool experience but I’m really glad we got different talents.”
Soccer has never gotten between Karley and Olivia.
“Me and my sister are close as can be,” Olivia said. “We’re best friends.”
Preparing for a high-emotion game can be difficult.
“I really was a little more amped up than normal,” Olivia said. “My stomach was turning. I know how good she is. It’s hard to tell somebody to shut her down. But you gotta do what you gotta do. It’s hard not to crack jokes.”
Pittman said Olivia settled in during the second half.
“Any time you’re playing your sister and competing in that environment it can cause a little bit of anxiety,” he said. “She wore that a little bit in the first half. She did a good job today.”
Friday’s game was the last time the sisters will be at odds on the pitch.
“It’s a little bittersweet just cause I’ll never set foot on the same pitch with her again,” Olivia said. “That was a little bittersweet but it’s so fun.”
The Vandals play Hawaii 10 p.m. Thursday in Honolulu.
Tess Fox can be reached at [email protected] or on Twitter @tesstakesphotos