Should both the Center Grove and Greenwood girls soccer teams win their opening-round sectional matches today, it could make for a very quiet midweek around the Farmer house.
In one room, Kayli and her Trojan teammates. In another, younger sister Kendyl and her fellow Woodmen. An awkward silence symbolizing the simmering animosity between the two squads.
This particular county rivalry runs a little deeper than most. Kayli Farmer attended Greenwood all the way through middle school before opting to go to high school at Center Grove. She wants to be a physical therapist and a Division I college soccer player, she says, and felt that switching schools would better help her to achieve those goals.
Her former classmates didn’t take it so well. When the Trojans beat the Woodmen in a sectional match during Kayli’s freshman year, she recalls none of the Greenwood players approaching her or shaking her hand afterward.
“They kind of said I left them?” Kayli said.
“You betrayed them,” Kendyl chimed in.
The bitterness has subsided at least somewhat on the Greenwood side because of the arrival of Kendyl, who has stepped right in as a freshman and contributed 12 goals and six assists; both figures rank second on the team behind junior Emily Metzger.
A potent offensive force, to be sure — which is particularly noteworthy this week since Kayli is in her third year as a starting defender for the Class 3A No. 8 Trojans. Should both Farmer sisters advance into Thursday’s semifinal round, Kayli could conceivably end up marking Kendyl.
The possibility has been discussed at home for weeks now.
“It’s a big conversation at the household,” Kayli said. “My dad will make jokes, like, ‘Oh, what if Kendyl scores on Kayli?’ — stuff like that. But I know, personally, I would never let that happen, because I would never hear the end of it.”
With that, she glances at her sister. “I know you’d hold it over my head.”
“For sure,” Kendyl replied with a nod and a smile.
Kayli said she would look forward to seeing the sibling rivalry play out of the field. Somewhat surprisingly, Kendyl didn’t seem quite as thrilled about the prospect — although not out of fear.
“You don’t want it?” Kayli asked her sister. “Why not?”
“Because I feel like it’d be hard to take it serious,” Kendyl replied. “If I’m dribbling toward you and you try to defend me … I’ll be laughing.”
Kayli then cracked a smile at the idea of slide tackling her younger sister. That, Kendyl decided, would not be funny. (Kayli, of course, disagreed.)
Center Grove would be a heavy favorite in the hypothetical matchup; to even make it happen, Greenwood has to knock off No. 7 Columbus North, still a formidable opponent even after a season-ending injury to All-American Jenna Lang.
Regardless of how this week turns out for the Woodmen, though, Kendyl is optimistic about the team’s future.
“The next years, we should definitely get better, because we’re all super young,” she said. “More than half of the team is freshmen, so having the next couple of years to work together should be good.”
For now, the path to a sectional title still likely runs through the Trojans — and if Center Grove get past Franklin today and does end up facing the Woodmen on Thursday, Kayli is pretty sure she’ll continue to get the cold shoulder from her former teammates.
“They’re definitely very welcoming to (Kendyl),” she said. “Me, not so much.”
