Lorelie and her twin sister Audriana Espinoza have been playing soccer almost from the time they could walk. “My grandparents bought us a soccer ball, and we kicked it and kicked it and I started playing when I was three,” said Lorelie, a three-year starter at striker for the Tahlequah Lady Tiger soccer team.
“Having success at the striker position is not easy to foster unless the player has a lot of natural talent and Lorelie certainly does,” said her coach, Scottie McKee. And having a twin that plays with you is pretty special according to Lorelie.
“It’s a lot of fun playing with my sister who is a defender because I always have someone to talk to and hang out with, and we always have that that mind connection. I know where she is on the field, so it helps us get the ball down the field quickly.”
The sisters, along with several of their teammates, play club soccer on one of the teams coached by Northeastern State women’s soccer coach Chase Wooten. Also helping coach the club team is a man who Lorelie calls a role model in assistant coach Alex Hendricks who coached her in recreational soccer up until middle school. As she enters her senior year as a Tiger, Lorelie, who scored 11 goals with 12 assists last year, has her sights set on more success this year. “I’d like to get more assists and goals this year since I was hurt in pre-season last year and I’d also like to see us have a good playoff run and maybe even make state. I think we’ll be better as a team because so many of our players have played together for a long time including club ball.” Lorelie goes back to last season to pick a highlight of her Tahlequah soccer career. “We were playing Stilwell in a tournament last year and the game was scoreless with about five minutes to play when I went back into the game and scored two goals in the last five minutes to help us finish third.” In her spare time, Lorelie likes to hang out with her friends, cook (pasta is her favorite), and work out and says she would like to play college soccer next year and eventually have some kind of career in medicine.
