Morgan and Kaitlyn Manalili are identical twins who play soccer on different teams — Morgan wears No. 4 for Western Washington University and Kaitlyn is No. 22 for the Colorado School of Mines.
They grew up in Shoreline playing on the same high school team and PacNW Soccer Club. On Sunday, Sept. 22, their two teams faced each other at Harrington Field. Mines won, 2-0.
Morgan and Kaitlyn could have done the obvious thing and sought the same college and team to play on. “We’re super close,” said Kaitlyn, a midfielder. But Kaitlyn wanted to major in engineering. They made a pact to do their college recruiting separately.
“We spent all our time together our [whole] life,” Kaitlyn said after the game. “We’re like, ‘We should do something apart.’ But we FaceTime every day.”
That gravitational pull was evident when both lined up on the field. Morgan, a midfielder/forward, can choose her side of the field. She chose Kaitlyn’s. When both were on the field, they were often in each other’s orbit, and let the other know. “I got number 4!” Kaitlyn would call out, making Morgan laugh. They traded smiles and looks. At one point, Morgan cleanly slide-tackled her sister.
“My competitiveness kicked in,” said Morgan, who scored an early goal in the 2022 NCAA Division II quarterfinal win against Mines. Western would go on to win the national title that year. So far this season, Mines is ranked No. 3 nationally; Western is unranked.
“At the end of the day, you just want to see a good match, an even match and that they just played their hearts out,” said their dad, Craig Manalili, carefully dressed in a Viking hat and Mines T-shirt.
The twins, both juniors, agree it’s weird to compete against each other. But in going their separate ways, Morgan and Kaitlyn brought a lot of people together — parents and relatives who tailgated to watch them play on Sunday’s special occasion, along with teammates who have become friends with them both.
Not surprisingly, the sisters have another pact.
Said Kaitlyn: “We’ve always said after college we’re going to move to the same spot.”
Volleyball ends skid; student section back at Carver
One of the best things so far in Western Athletic Director Jim Sterk’s tenure is free admission to Viking sports events for students. Classes started Wednesday, Sept. 25, just in time to fill some seats at Carver Gym for Western’s young volleyball team when it plays Simon Fraser Friday, Sept. 27. With a come-from-behind home win against GNAC foe Alaska Anchorage Saturday, Sept. 21, the Vikings (2-6) halted a skid of six-straight losses going into the match, four to nationally ranked opponents. Headed into the season, Western had a remarkable record of 71-8 at Carver since 2017. Here’s hoping a raucous student section will help spark more success.
BY THE NUMBERS
4 – top-ranked cross country teams squaring off in the Bill Roe Classic Saturday at Hovander Park in Ferndale — West Region No. 1 Western’s women vs. No. 2 Chico State; No. 2 Western’s men vs. No. 1 Chico State
2 – teams leapfrogged by Western’s men’s golf squad on the final day of the True North Classic at Riverway Golf Course in Burnaby, B.C. in the Vikings’ season debut tournament Tuesday, Sept. 24. Western finished third in the eight-team field, behind host Simon Fraser and the University of Fraser Valley
1 – golfers who beat Western’s Peter Dionne-Yahr from Kent, who tied for runner-up in the 47-person field, shooting a 2-under-par 214 over 54 holes
90 – holes of competition played by Western’s women’s golf team in five days as the team finished fifth and fourth, respectively, in the first two tournaments of the season, the SMU Grisham Memorial and the True North Classic
3 – goalkeepers (Abigail Trengove, Grace Wales, Ava Courtney) utilized by Western’s women’s soccer team in going 0-2-1 over three games prior to its Thursday, Sept. 26 GNAC opener at Simon Fraser University in Burnaby, British Columbia
13 – total Western’s national champion sports teams, all of whom to be inducted into the WWU Athletics Hall of Fame in 2024–25, starting with the 2016 and 2022 women’s soccer teams Saturday, Oct. 5
0 – goals scored by the men’s soccer team since leaving Harrington Field last week. The Vikings are 2-2-2 after the season’s first road games, a 1-0 loss to Westminster Thursday, Sept. 19 and 0-0 tie with Regis Sept. 21, both in Salt Lake. The Vikings next play Thursday, Oct. 3 at Western Oregon in the GNAC opener
THIS WEEK IN VIKING HISTORY
Oct. 1, 2004 – Western’s fourth-ranked player, junior Luke Bennett, shook off an injured shoulder from earlier in the tournament to fire a day’s best final-round five-under-par 67 at Bellingham Golf & Country Club and finish fourth overall of 60 golfers in the 33rd annual Western Washington University Invitational. Western’s men’s team shot one of its best rounds of the year to finish second, unable to catch the University of Hawaii at Hilo. Five of 11 schools in the field were nationally ranked. “When you shoot 8-under-par and you don’t pick up any ground, all you can do is tip your hat and say, ‘Job well done,’” Western golf coach Steve Card said.
BEST BETS
Thursday, Sept. 26, 6 p.m. – Women’s soccer at Simon Fraser, Burnaby, British Columbia (GNAC opener)
Friday, Sept. 27, 7 p.m. – Volleyball vs. Simon Fraser, Bellingham
Saturday, Sept. 28, 10 a.m. – Cross country at Bill Roe Classic, Ferndale, Hovander Park; noon – softball vs. Edmonds College, Bellingham (fall schedule); 7 p.m. – women’s soccer vs. Seattle Pacific, Bellingham
Tuesday, Oct. 1, 8:30 a.m. – Men’s golf, WWU Invitational (final day), Bellingham Golf & Country Club (home opener)
Thursday, Oct. 3, noon — Men’s soccer at Western Oregon (GNAC opener), Monmouth, OR; 7 p.m. – women’s soccer vs. Saint Martin’s, Bellingham
Saturday, Oct. 5, 2 p.m. – Women’s soccer vs. Western Oregon, Bellingham
Tickets. See wwuvikings.com/Tickets or in person one hour prior to game time.
Parking. Free for sports. For volleyball, lot 19G for general audience; 9G for season ticket holders. For soccer, C lots on south campus. See the map at wwu.edu/parking.
Can’t make it? Stream it
All home games are streamed via a live and free YouTube webcast. Find links online at cascadiadaily.com.
If you have a smart TV, search for “WWU Athletics” on YouTube.
We want to hear from you: Have a WWU sports-related news tip or interesting item for this notebook, or a good story idea? We’re all ears. Send it to newstips@cascadiadaily.com, subject line “WWU sports notebook.”
Meri-Jo Borzilleri is a freelance journalist and former 20-year sports reporter.
