Sister Sister: Soccer Edition

Most siblings play together at the YMCA, and then in middle school, maybe even high school, but siblings playing together in college? Macy and Margo Matula know a little bit about that. 

The dynamic duo from Houston make up one half of the Aggies’ stout backline. Macy leads the team in minutes played while Margo ranks fourth, just 22 minutes behind her older sister.

Even though Macy and Margo are two years apart, they went through the recruitment process together.

“Well, it was a long time ago when Macy was in high school, but Margo was just in the eighth grade,” head coach G Guerrieri said. “When they came on a visit together, Margo kind of came along as the little sister.”

But Margo was more than just the little sister. She was there to be recruited as well and wanted to be an Aggie. 

“When we both came to A&M, we fell in love with it. We pretty much decided together, but of course she committed first. After she committed, it was like she was an advanced scout and had the opportunity to check everything out two years ahead of me.” 

In those two years, Macy saw the growth in her game that has her starting 14 of the Aggies’ 15 games on the season, missing one game with illness.

“My first semester was really hard coming in,” Macy said. “I didn’t know anybody, and I wasn’t playing as well as I had hoped. So, I just worked hard after practice by myself and worked really hard over the summer. When I got back, it all started coming together and my confidence started building.” 

With her sister in Aggieland for support, Margo had a much easier time adapting. She has played in every match, including 13 starts. She started the season in the midfield, but has since become a stalwart at center back.

Macy and Margo have been playing together their whole lives. Since they were little, through club ball, high school, and now at Texas A&M. For the Ole Miss game, they played next to each other for the first time this season. It’s comforting to have your sibling playing next to you.

“We were next to each other in the spring,” Macy said. “I really enjoyed playing with her because it’s that sibling connection and that confidence you have being right next to each other. But I think it was really exciting to see her right beside me and it’s just comfortable for me.”

The strengths that Macy and Margo bring to the field are special – but they are markedly different.

“Macy is one of the best individual one on one defenders that we’ve had,” head coach G Guerrieri said. “I can’t remember her being beaten one versus one. She’s really sneaky in the way that she can just kind of stick a foot in and poke a ball away from somebody when they think they’re going to get past her. It’s really remarkable because almost anybody can get around somebody, but she really doesn’t get beat one on one. She’s the most improved player since arriving on campus.”

“Margo is a ball hawk. She’ll snuff out a play on the ball before a person even gets their first touch on the ball. She’s great at anticipating the flight of balls. Obviously, she’s a very good individual defender and they both have become really good playmakers.” 

They get the highest praises from their coaches and captured the attention of everyone throughout the league, but there’s no better compliment than a compliment from your sibling.

“General defending for sure is one of her strengths,” Macy said about her younger sister. “When she gets comfortable, she’s really good at communication.” 

Margo had a couple of good things to say about her sister as well.

“She has stepped into more of a vocal role this year,” Margo said. “She’s very dependable, you can always rely on her. She’ll be there for you no matter what.” 

Macy and Margo have been a part of the backbone of the defense this season. With the Matulas helping form the brick wall, the Aggies have posted seven shutouts and own a 1.07 goals against average.

Now all siblings fight right? Your sibling is the person you’re supposed to fight with, and Macy and Margo know what it’s like to fight from time to time.

“We do fight,” Margo said. “I don’t know if she mentioned this, but last week we forgot to put our parents on the game list. So, it was a little bit of an argument, and we were trying to figure out who was supposed to put them on the list. But we never agreed, and we just moved past it.” 

It’s very special to have sisters talented enough to make such a huge impact at the Division I level. But this is a tradition for Texas A&M soccer. Ten sets of sisters have come to Aggieland. Taylor Pounds’ sister Haley played at A&M, though they missed each other by three years. Most recently Taylor and Tera Ziemer roamed the midfield for A&M in 2019. So even though this may sound unusual for sisters to play together at a Power 5 University, it’s just the Aggie way.