VIRGINIA BEACH (WTKR) — Twin sisters Summerlin and Molly Ryan Gates are used to doing everything together.
"All my friends, all my teachers are always like, 'So what's it like to be a twin,'" Summerlin said. "I'm like, 'It's great. We help each other out with everything.'"
The Ocean Lakes juniors use their identical look to their advantage when they're playing lacrosse, the sport they grew up loving more than any.
"If we're on the field and one of us is going to score, we'll kind of flip the ball to each other," Molly Ryan said. "Try to trick out the defense, see if they're paying attention to who they're on."
The duo is part of history at the school as they play for the Dolphins' first ever varsity girls lacrosse program. They've wasted no time in making a good first impression, going unbeaten in ten Beach District games with the lone loss on the season to Cape Henry.
"That's something really special that I get to be a part of that," Summerlin said. "I was part of that first team and we had this great season, we'll be recognized for that."
The family affair for Ocean Lakes doesn't stop with a twin tandem, however. The person calling the shots for the team, Lauren Logan-Gates, is their mom.
Lauren has poured into the growth of the sport in Virginia Beach, from coach to starting the Coastal Crush Lacrosse League in 2017 which now has 55 youth girls teams playing.
"I've been coaching lacrosse for ten years and to see it go from a club sport to a varsity sport has been amazing," she said.
That passion was passed onto Summerlin and Molly Ryan at an early age.
"She's been our coach since we were about six and we started playing," Summerlin said.
"It's just something that we've been able to bond over," Molly Ryan said.
So it was only fitting that in the first chance to play and coach varsity lacrosse, the mother-daughters tandem would team up again.
"We all love this sport so much," Molly Ryan said. "She pushes us to be better in the sport, pushes us to put ourselves out there for colleges, and it's just been great."
"I find myself going and watching the games a couple time just to watch them play when I'm not in the moment of trying to watch the game," Logan-Gates said. "So I can sit back as a parent and be like, 'That was nice.'"
As postseason games approach, the trio hopes to do something special with the Dolphins. That's something the Gates' have already started doing and they continue to create new family memories as their lacrosse story continues together.
"It's amazing," Logan-Gates said. "It truly is, to watch them grow and love the sport as much as I do."
"It's something that is super important to her," Summerlin said about her mother. "To be able to grow the sport in Virginia Beach and to be able to be the coach of this amazing team. I'm super proud of her."
