Junior forward Lauren Brooks and freshman midfielder Megan Bupp were field hockey and lacrosse teammates at Hempfield High School in Pennsylvania, but that didn’t mean they were always working together.

Something as simple as baked goods could turn them against each other.

“One time, we had a cupcake-eating contest, and that’s kind of a funny memory,” Brooks said. “We each had like almost a dozen cupcakes.”

But as No. 5 Syracuse (8-1, 0-1 Atlantic Coast) enters the middle stretch of the 2013 season, Bupp and Brooks are on the same field once again, reunited as teammates and good friends. Brooks is the team’s leading goal scorer this season, while Bupp is still waiting for her Orange debut.

“It’s definitely cool to have her back with me,” Brooks said. “We go way back. We played sports growing up, all the way.”

Even at Hempfield, where they nearly won a state championship together.

As team captain, Brooks led the Black Knights to the state playoffs during her final season in 2010.

A sophomore at the time, Bupp took note of the way Brooks commanded the team.

“She was really good, and she was always just a hard worker and trying to be better than everyone else,” Bupp said.

Ultimately, their run ended in a loss in the state semifinals, which forced Brooks to leave the squad empty-handed.

However, Bupp had two more years to finish what her teammate had started.

As it turned out, she only needed one. She scored the game-winning goal in the Pennsylvania State Championship game in 2011, and the Black Knights took home the title.

The friend in Brooks was very happy for her close pal, but the competitor in her still remembers what happened the previous year.

“I’m a little bitter I didn’t win a state championship,” she said.

Now, they are both working toward a national championship in college.

A newcomer to the Orange, Bupp said she wants to develop into a midfielder that the team can count on. If she needs help with something in the meantime, she turns to Brooks.

“Around the team, it’s good because we both came from a team with the same values and everything,” Bupp said. “If I have ever have trouble adjusting to certain things, it’s nice to have her to talk to.”

Head coach Ange Bradley said Bupp and Brooks, who are both from Lancaster County, are just two of the players from that area that have had a positive effect on the team’s overall performance.

Jordan Page, Alyssa Manley and Karlee Farr hail from the region, as well.

“We call them the ‘Amish Mafia,’” Bradley said.

Because girls start playing the sport at a young age in that area, Bradley said it’s one of the best places to recruit young talent.

“They have a tradition, and now with the national training center going up there that just opened, it’s going to be even better,” she said.

Of course, Bupp and Brooks are more concerned about what lies ahead.

They have two more chances to win a championship together in Syracuse, but they also have something that’s more important — a friendship that will only grow in the years to come.

“I think we’re going to be a lot stronger because we had two years apart, so we lost a little bit of the touch there,” Bupp said. “But now, we’re going to have a lot to talk about.”

Published on September 30, 2013 at 9:53 pm

Contact Tyler: tfpiccot@syr.edu