Kristen and Samantha Mewis, rising stars on the national scene

by Robert Ziegler 12/20/2007

To an onlooker it may have seemed like something of a watershed moment at the December ODP Girls Interregional in Florida.

With the U15 Girls National Team facing the Region I 91s, the tall midfielder for the national squad advanced with the ball into the center circle, only to be met with a hard challenge from her counterpart on the Region I side. After a heavy hit the two girls battled fiercely for the ball until one of them was finally whistled for a foul.

What made it noteworthy is that the same scene had been played out countless times in the family yard.

The older player was Kristen Mewis, and the younger was her sister Samantha. Both are top-level midfielders from the Boston area. While the format at ODP pitted them against each other, they have more recently been on the same side, competing for the U16 Girls National Team on a recent trip to Brazil.

The odds against 2 sisters representing the same youth national team in international competition are pretty long, but Kristen and Samantha have made it pretty evident they possess a special level of talent. Most recently the sisters were both named to the U16 Girls National Team for its trip to Brazil. That team was selected by Kazbek Tambi, who will be coaching the U17 Girls National Team beginning in January, a group that will attempt to qualify for first FIFA U17 Girls World Cup.

Both Kristen and Samantha said the December trip to Brazil was an eye opener.

“It’s a whole different style than what we are used to seeing,” Samantha recalled. “In the U.S. it’s a very physical game. A lot of times it is almost just kick and run. With Brazil, they like to keep the ball on the ground and it seemed like every touch of the ball they had was good, so it made up for their lack of fitness or speed or whatever.”

Kristen concurred.

“They just look at soccer so much differently than we do,” said. “It means so much more to them. When we played the U16 or 17 Brazilian team, even though they had only been together for a week and were not as fast and physical as us, they were so smart and technical, and that just goes so much farther. The mental and technical part of it was impressive. It showed us bigger and faster isn’t always better.”

The girls cut their teeth playing recreationally for their father Bob, who with their mother Melissa has logged a ton of miles getting to training, tournaments and camps over the years. Their club soccer is played with South Coast Scorpions in the Boston area.

While their competitiveness has buoyed both girls in their pursuits, Kristen admitted it sometimes has gotten in the way of sibling harmony, if only for a little while.

“She tries to keep up with me,” the older Mewis sister said. “I’m not as competitive as her in things between us. That doesn’t matter to me. If I win, she gets mad and I just laugh about it.”

Samantha doesn’t disagree about the friendly rivalry, but adds that her sister’s ability has always been a motivator for her.

“I always looked up to her and tried to copy her. She kind of like cleared the path, so I knew how to handle everything like missing school and getting in shape and stuff,” Samantha said. “Her going through has helped me so much.”

Both girls list continuing improvement, top-level college play and the full national teams as major goals, along with possibly playing professionally someday. Given the success each has achieved thus far, it’s not a far-fetched list at all.