"I don't think it could have been written better. It was like storybook writing", said Lindenwood women's soccer veteran Anna Johnson of her sister Peyton's first collegiate goal – a milestone that she played a key role in. It was a warm September afternoon at Hunter Stadium, and the Lions were locked in a scoreless tie over an hour into their Senior Day match against Murray State. In the 63^rd minute, a shot by Sami Roggenkamp deflected off an MSU defender and went over the end line, rewarding LU with their ninth corner kick of the contest. "We had a bunch of corners in that game, so I was waiting for the right moment," said Peyton. "It was our first inswinger on that one side, so I was just like, this one has to be it."

As Lizzie Conner played the set piece short to Anna on the right side, the older sister knew exactly where she was going with the ball. "We spend… plenty of time doing corners and set pieces. Dave [Musso] spends a lot of time trying to target teams' weaknesses and use our strengths," stated Anna, referring to the team's training regimen. "That was one of them and Peyton capitalized." Drawing from countless practice repetitions leading up to that moment, Anna took a step to the right, settled herself, and lofted the ball into the center of the box.

Meanwhile, Peyton was tracking her sister's high, arching pass from about 30 yards away from where it had been sent, anticipating its arrival and calculating the perfect time to meet the ball in the air. "I had so many chances," said the freshman defender, alluding to the fact that she had already placed two headers on target on corner kicks earlier in the game just to have them land harmlessly in the arms of the Racers' goalkeeper.

However, this time was different. Rising above the sea of bodies jostling for position in front of the Murray State goal, Peyton again connected with a strong header, redirecting the ball toward the center-left portion of the goal and beyond the keeper's reach. Once her shot rippled the back of the net, Peyton immediately turned toward her older sister as she was swarmed by her teammates. "I was looking at Anna until she got to me because everyone had run out to me, so I was just searching for her in the crowd, and it was such a great moment."

"I've never been more excited for a goal," reflected Anna. "I've never physically or emotionally been that excited for something to happen because I was just so proud… It was just so epic, and a game winner at that, too." Amid the excitement was also a hint of surprise. "Keep in mind, I don't think I hit that ball right in practice once so there had to be something magic there," said Anna when speaking of her assist. "It was just something that was so crazy… for it to work out that way, I thought was... out of a storybook."

Adding to the sweetness of the moment were those in attendance to watch it unfold, "Our whole family was there," recalled Anna. "Both our grandparents, our aunt, all of our sisters, my mom." It was a fitting detail to the story, as family played a key role in the sisters' journey to Lindenwood. Sports have always been a fact of life for the Johnson sisters, whose mother played collegiate soccer and basketball. "My mom played soccer in college and it's just kind of something I've always done," said Peyton. "Our whole family has grown up in sports," explained Anna, adding that the family "just holds athletics to a pretty high standard."
The sisters have also played a key role in each other's athletic journeys. While both stopped short of calling it a sibling rivalry, Peyton admitted that "It's definitely been a competition with Anna," while her older sister described the younger's success as an "internal driver". Peyton often found herself trying to measure up to her big sister. She explained that "It was definitely like a competition of what you can do when you're their age," while Anna experienced the comparison in reverse: "The amount of times people came up to me and were like, Peyton did that, where was yours?"

"Anna was definitely a role model in sports and just in life," said Peyton. "With everything that she's accomplished in school, in sports and everything. It has definitely given me a standard to live up to… trying to be better than that, but not in any way taking away from what she has already done for herself." Being a role model for her younger siblings is a role Anna has embraced. "I think knowing that, not just Peyton, but I have three other younger sisters that look up to me and I know that… I try and set a standard for myself because I know that what I do does motivate them and I want them to be better versions of myself."

Anna was also an important factor in her younger sister's decision to attend Lindenwood but chose to take a less proactive approach during the recruitment process. "I didn't really want to push that on her because I didn't want my feelings to be that much of a consideration in her personal choice… but I knew that she would end up where she was meant to be," said Anna. "But obviously I'm very, very happy that it ended up this way", she added. "I think it definitely was a factor," said Peyton, referring to her Anna's role in her college decision. "It was really nice coming on my visit and having a person that I was already comfortable with… I feel like it was a lot easier to connect with it because I had been coming to games and already seen everything from Anna going through it."

Peyton's decision to attend Lindenwood also granted the sisters – who are four years apart – a rare opportunity to play on the same team, as they had previously only played one year of high school soccer and basketball together. "When I was a freshman in high school, she was a senior, so we played on the same team then, but this is the first time reuniting," explained Peyton. "It's always been fun though," added Anna. "It's interesting to see socially what the differences are… getting to see that side of my sister is really cool."

Speaking on those differences, Anna said that Peyton is "definitely a lot more confident in stating her opinion and standing up for herself and others, which I admire… I've tried to pick that up over the past four years because I definitely am a little more soft-spoken and don't really like advocating as much, but I've gotten better." Meanwhile, Peyton described her elder sister as "really empathetic," explaining that "sometimes I can be a little strong and really drive my opinion, but Anna knows how to take into consideration the other people that she's talking to and everyone that would be affected."

However, the siblings are alike in many ways as well. "I think we both have very high standards for ourselves," said Anna. "We both aspire to succeed in athletics… professionally, we both have dreams of becoming successful… so I think that our work ethic and just our standards that we set for ourselves… are very similar." Peyton agreed, stating that when she first arrived at Lindenwood, teammates would often remark on how similar the two are, describing the pair as "literally the exact same." In fact, the sisters are so alike that some initially had a difficult time distinguishing between the two. "The first time she came on her visit," Anna recalled, "she [Peyton] started talking and my friend responded thinking it was me."

As teammates, the two have had an opportunity to see each other succeed on the field firsthand while also offering an important source of support for one another. "My personal favorite is honestly practice," answered Anna when asked what aspect of playing college soccer with her sister she enjoys the most. "I just love getting to support her at practice… when I see her stick a tackle… or blocking a shot… I'm like, yeah, that's my sister," she continued. "I think that getting to feel that sense of pride every single day has just brought such a light to getting to play here."

Meanwhile, Peyton expressed that her appreciation for Anna as a role model has become even greater since arriving at Lindenwood, stating that "she's such a reliable player and teammate that I can lean on and just look up to, so it's definitely good to have her on the same team… I always know that she's going to be there for me even if I do make a mistake… and she will be cheering me on in the good moments too."

While the sisters have already accomplished a lot together, their story at Lindenwood is still being written: "I think we have our sights set on breaking some more records here at Lindenwood," said Anna. "We already have our first conference tournament championship, but we want to get that NCAA berth and we want to host, so we want to win conference. I think that with each other and the rest of our team, we have a really good chance of getting that, and it's really exciting to get to experience that type of possibility with Peyton."