By DERRICK BENNINGTON
LongwoodLancers.com

Senior defender and team captain Lil-Sophie Achterwinter and freshman midfielder Charlotte Wilm have shown a strong connection in their time on the field together, one that spans back well before their lone season together in Farmville this year.

Both natives of Dusseldorf, Germany, Achterwinter and Wilm were born just one week apart and became friends instantly through their parents' connection at the hospital.

They grew up together childhood friends and field hockey teammates, but once they graduated high school, they took separate paths. Achterwinter chose to continue pursuing her academics and field hockey, while Wilm embarked on a three-year apprenticeship in real estate that gave her hands-on learning to prepare for life after hockey.

Now field hockey has brought them back together at Longwood.

Achterwinter, a two-time All-Big South selection nearing the end of a decorated career, reunited with her long-time pal Wilm this fall when the latter enrolled at Longwood as a freshman. Both have played prominent roles for the Lancers this year, Achterwinter leading the Mid-American Conference's top defense and Wilm appearing in 11 games with six starts as a midfielder.

Those two are in the midst of a breakout season with the Lancers, who enter Friday's MAC Championship semifinal matchup against Kent State with an 11-5 record, which is the program's highest winning percentage of the Division I era. In their only season playing collegiate field hockey together, they are now just two wins away from celebrating a championship together.

That Achterwinter and Wilm would wind up at the same American college is not as improbable as it seems. Even after spending the past three years residing in two different parts of the world, they still made time to connect. Despite being apart for nine months each year, Achterwinter and Wilm kept the connection alive and picked up every summer where they left off.

"Every summer when I went home we would hang out every day," Achterwinter said. "(Charlotte) knows I love it here and that's the reason we thought about having her potentially play at Longwood. Plus she had just finished her apprenticeship."

The idea of Wilm joining Achterwinter in the Longwood blue and white gained steam each summer the two would reconnect until finally, Achterwinter convinced both Wilm and 10th-year head coach Iain Byers to hop on board.

"I think at first we said it as a joke. I was like 'Hey, how great would it be if you'd come over to America?' But then somehow it actually worked out," Achterwinter said.

"We skyped once and he was really optimistic," Wilm said. "After our first Skype session he said 'Oh, I think she might come.' Then I took the SAT and I wasn't really sure if I would come over, I just wanted to see how I would do.

"I got the message in December that I had been accepted into Longwood and I was like, 'Ok, I'll go.' I just thought it was a great opportunity."

Since Wilm joined the lineup on , the Lancers have gone 4-2 in the six contests both Wilm and Achterwinter have started, as well as a 7-4 overall record in the 11 contests that both have played in.

That on-field chemistry never went away.

"We have played together since we were four, so when we're on the field together, we still have a connection and see the same gaps because we played for such a long time together," Wilm said of the duo's chemistry. "That helps a lot. You can see it during practice too, when we play together we still see the same gaps. She played in Germany over the summers, so that helped a lot too."

Most student-athletes that come to America for collegiate sports tend to have those doubtful 'what are you getting yourself into' moments, as any young person who travels 4,000 miles from home for the first time would. Wilm, on the other hand, has had an easier transition thanks to her connection to Achterwinter.

"I never had that 'Oh my God, what are you doing?' moment because I know Lili. Edel (Nyland) came to visit Lili, so I had gotten to known her as well," Wilm said. "When Lili was a freshman I visited her in America, so I already knew some of the seniors. The transition wasn't anything really unknown, so I was really relaxed."

Wilm has used that relaxed transitional stage to provide a spark to the Lancer midfield as she provided the game-winning goal – her first collegiate goal at that – on the road in a pivotal game at Ohio, a game the Lancers would use to catapult to another top three finish within the MAC.

"Scoring my first career goal was overwhelming, but it was a great feeling to get one in for the team and it was a complete team effort seeing that it came off a rebound on a corner," Wilm said of her clutch goal.

Thanks to that near-perfect transition period and the tandem's on-field chemistry, the Lancers have outscored opponents 28-13, boast the MAC's best defense and scoring margin when both take the field.

The dream of playing hockey at the collegiate level has come to fruition, but now it's about keeping that dream alive one day at-a-time as the Lancers take on three-time defending champion Kent State on their home turf in the MAC semifinals Friday afternoon. A win would mean at least one more contest in America together, as well as the program's first championship game appearance.

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