Emily and Emma Sonnett have opponents seeing double on the soccer field this season.
The twin sisters are junior All-State candidates for Fellowship Christian, which is off to an 11-0-1 start and No. 4 ranking in Class A.
"They are quite possibly two of the best players in the GHSA," Fellowship Christian coach Trip Hughes.
The twins received around 60 scholarship offers to play college soccer. Emily, one of the state's more heavily recruited prospects, made an early commitment to Virginia, while Emma pledged to Georgia.
"Yes, it will be the first time they won't be playing soccer for the same team," said their father, Bill Sonnett. "As they went through the recruiting process, different things appealed to each of them. It will be interesting to see how they do when they split up for college."
Right now, however, the Sonnett twins are together in high school for this season and next, turning the Roswell private school into two-year contenders for a state championship. Fellowship Christian has outscored its opponents 65-5 this season.
Emily plays striker and is a scoring machine, averaging nearly two goals per game, with 28 for the season. Meanwhile, Emma plays sweeper, directing a defense that has secured eight shutouts.
"I have never been around a player who understands the game as simply as [Emma] does," Hughes said. "Emma is always calm and under control. Emily, on the other hand, forces panic. Her speed of play puts other teams on their heels and creates chaos that results in scoring opportunities."
The sisters are fraternal twins and looked so much alike in kindergarten and elementary school that they got away with switching classes a few times without the teachers noticing. They still resemble each other, with a few minor differences.
"Emily is about an inch taller than me at 5-foot-7, and I have brown eyes while she has blue eyes," Emma said. "When people first get to know us, they can't tell us apart at all. Then they find out our personalities are a lot different. Emily is a little bit more of the risk-taker, while I sort of go with the flow."
Their father joked that their unique personalities were foreshadowed at birth. "Emily was born quick and to the punch. Meanwhile, Emma was born slowly but surely about 45 minutes later, very comfortable in the defensive position."
They tried many sports throughout childhood and settled on soccer. Emily has gotten so good that she is in Costa Rica this week playing with the Southeast's Region III Olympic Development Program.
"Emily's a very special player, both technically and tactically," said Dave Smith, executive director of the North Atlanta Soccer Association. "In all my 11 years of coaching, I have never seen a player with the ability to control the tempo of a game like Emily."
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