Jackie DePetris had narrowed her college search down to just two schools: Syracuse and its bitter rival Loyola. Her sister, senior Jill DePetris made the decision easy for her.

The two played on the same lacrosse team for just one season – four years ago at Archbishop Carroll (Pa.) High School. When the No. 15 Orange takes the field for its first scrimmage of the season tomorrow at No. 6 Princeton, they will be teammates once again.

‘Whenever I said I liked a school, Jill would tell me, ‘The coach yells too much,’ or ‘That team runs a lot,” Jackie DePetris said. ‘She kept saying how much she would hate it if I went to Loyola.’

Jill DePetris learned the game from her oldest sister, Jen, who played at Monmouth (N.J.). Jackie learned it from Jill. The senior admitted she wanted the freshman to join her at SU, but maintains she didn’t put too much pressure on her younger sister.

The recruiting process started early for Jackie. Jill called home after practice to tell Jackie what she had learned and things to work on. While Jackie was coming into her own as a high school star, Jill came back to work with the team she had starred on just a few years before.

So Jill has always been learning, and that hasn’t changed at SU. The sisters have worked together all spring in and out of practice to get ready for the season. Having gone through three seasons already, Jackie is the demanding one. Jill listens and absorbs. She said Jackie is like another coach – sometimes the toughest coach.

For SU head coach Lisa Miller, it’s been strange watching Jackie develop. The two sisters are similar on the field in their goal-scoring abilities and off the field with their seemingly eternally positive outlook.

‘I remember when Jackie was little coming to watch her sister play,’ Miller said. ‘They’re both almost always happy and they help each other grow. But they definitely had some wrestling matches around the dinner table at home.’

Their competitive nature shows on the practice field. Sometimes the two are pitted against each other in intrasquad scrimmages, and the intensity is a little bit higher. Jill hasn’t forgotten that Jackie seriously considered Loyola, so she will give her some physicality.

But they like playing together even more. The rest of the team laughs when one sister assists the other in a goal, but those plays are a result of a bond formed over years of watching each other play and catches in the backyard.

‘I always know where Jackie is going to be, what she’s gonna do, when to pass to her,’ Jill DePetris said. ‘We’re always looking for each other on the field, but she’s always going to be an annoying little sister.’

That bond will be on display tomorrow for the first time at the collegiate level. Because Princeton is only an hour away from the DePetris’ hometown of Raynor, Pa., family and friends are making the trip to see the sisters on the field.

It may be their best chance. Everyone will play in the Orange’s only tuneup before the regular season begins on Feb. 24 at Dartmouth.

Jill was one of four players to start every game last season and is expected to improve on her 21 points. Jackie will use her playing time this season to establish herself as a viable replacement at attack when Jill graduates at the end of the year.

They aren’t rushing this season. Both stressed how excited they are to play together at such a high level and how their relationship has only improved since Jackie started at SU. But that doesn’t mean they don’t get on each other whenever the opportunity presents itself.

‘They always look for each other because they’re so comfortable together, but of course they rag on each other,’ Miller said. ‘What sisters don’t?’

Published on February 15, 2007 at 12:00 pm