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From 7-year-old friends to starters for top-10 SLU, these hometown Billikens are living out a dream

Groark and Lawler started out as St. Louis kids with a dreams of playing at the next level. Now, they're reunited, and helping SLU soccer reach new heights.

ST. LOUIS — Something special is brewing over at Hermann Stadium for the SLU Women's soccer program.

SLU was ranked 10th in the country in the last NCAA Division 1 coaches' poll and is now 15-1 on the season, with just two games left before the postseason arrives.

The Billikens are doing it thanks in part due to a pair of hometown redshirt seniors.

Incarnate Word's Emily Groark and Rockwood Summit's Anna Lawler have been playing together since just about either one could kick a soccer ball.

Groark and Lawler have been together on the pitch since they were seven years old, but when college came around, they ended up going their separate ways...at first. That is until the road eventually led them back home to St. Louis.

“Once she was in the portal obviously, we talked about it and maybe I had some sway in her decision and maybe tried a bit to convince her to join me at SLU," Lawler, a midfielder, said.

And on the field, these two have the connection you might expect from two childhood friends.

“It’s just a natural chemistry between them when you watch them play. They know what the other one’s gonna do," Katie Shields, SLU head coach, said.

“I just think we know what each other is going to do and we bounce off each other and can see it on the field," Groark, a forward and midfielder, said.

From the Scott Gallagher fields to the Hermann Stadium for the upstart Billikens, the duo of Groark and Lawler is a St. Louis success story and it's one SLU embraces.

“They’re both playing the best they’ve played at SLU, and to do it in front of their hometown crowd and friends and family is why this place is special. It’s why our program is special and why our program is special to create opportunities like this," Shields said.

Now the pair has one more thing they'd like to do together and bring SLU a national championship.

“We’re roommates now too so we live together now too. It would just be awesome to add another thing we’ve done together throughout the years," Groark said.

“5th year senior season here would be really cool for us two to lead a team where we haven’t been before and represent St. Louis," Lawler said.

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