Being able to play collegiate athletics with your twin is something that is a rare occurrence. Iona women’s soccer juniors Sali and Safi Ayinde have this special opportunity.

Before Iona, Safi played for the East Meadow Express and won the Northwest Region Premier League, as well as being a State Cup Finalist in 2011. In addition, she was a five-year starter at Wellington C. Mepham High School, earning All-Conference, All-County, All-Class and All-State Awards.

As a freshman forward at Iona College she appeared in 19 games and made three starts. In her sophomore year, she appeared in all 19 games and made 12 starts. Safi scored her first collegiate goal in a win against Niagara on Oct. 7, 2012.

As for Sali, she also played in the East Meadow Express Premier League and was a five-year captain, helping her team win various tournaments including FC Delco Cup, Columbia Invitational and National Elite Women’s Soccer Showcase. Furthermore, she was a two-year player for the Rough Riders of the Super Y League and was invited to US Soccer Club ID Camps in 2007 and 2008.

In her freshman year at Iona, Sali appeared in 19 games and made 18 starts. In her sophomore year, she played in 16 games and made 12 starts as a defender.

“Growing up together was a great experience because I always had a friend by my side,” Sali said.

Both sisters could agree that they were more supportive in soccer than being competitive against each other.

“Sali is my best friend and I always knew someone whenever I was trying anything new in my life,” Safi said.

Their parents would try to get them to compete against each other, but they never cared to do that. Safi explained that sometimes their parents would get confused when they were on the field at the same time in different positions. They would think that the girls were just one person, who was really fast at running around the soccer field.

Their parents wanted their daughters to stick together when it came to college.

“I don’t think our parents would have even let us go to separate schools even if we wanted to,” Safi said. “We got recruited by Iona and we liked the small campus, its proximity to our house, the team’s overall personality, and the programs that the school of Arts and Sciences had to offer.”

It seems as though Iona College was a great choice for the North Bellmore, N.Y. natives. Not only is it a good school that met all their requirements, but they were also going to be together.

Playing a college sport takes a lot of dedication and time, but it also means that sometimes the workload gets difficult to manage.

“At times I would be overwhelmed, stressed and fatigued, but I always manage it somehow,” Safi said.

Sali explained that in her sophomore year she struggled with a hamstring pull. She said it took her a while to get focused on getting stronger because she felt useless to her team. The combination of school, work and soccer became overwhelming, but she always found a way to balance it out.

Being on the same team since the age of seven, both Safi and Sali can concur that playing soccer together has been a great experience and would not want to change anything about it.