What looked at first glance like printer’s errors on the men’s soccer and women’s basketball team roster lists this year were, in fact, a little bit of Alberta sporting history in the making.
That lineup of Pasquotti, Pasquotti and Pasquotti and Lowry, Lowry and Lowry marked the first time in the Alberta Colleges Athletic Conference that two trios of siblings played for the same sporting team at the same college during the same season.
It is unusual to have even two siblings playing for the college team during the same season, says Anthony Wong, Operations Manager for the Alberta Colleges Athletic Conference, and only once has a trio of siblings played on the same team together. But that changed this year at Lethbridge College, when Dario, Nico and Matteo Pasquotti took to the pitch for the men’s soccer team and Elizabeth, Katheryne and Emma Lowry hit the hard-court for the women’s basketball team.
“When we found out that both teams would have three siblings, I thought this is ACAC history in the making,” says Avery Harrison, the college’s athletic director and women’s basketball coach, who has been active in the provincial conference for 29 years. “We’re really working to make the Kodiaks a central part of the college community, and I think all of the Kodiaks this year have really become like a family.”
The Lowry sisters say they grew up in a physically active household in Lundbreck, Alta., with 12 children and a dad who played football in high school and a mom who swam and played field hockey. The sisters say they didn’t start playing organized sports until junior high and enjoyed basketball – and playing sports with each other – from the start.
“We are all pretty supportive,” says Elizabeth, the oldest of the trio at 26 who plays point for the Kodiaks. “It’s something all of us do for each other. Our brothers will come and watch us, we’ll go to our younger siblings’ games and our parents are our biggest fans.”
“I’m pretty sure that they’ll be at all of our games,” adds Emma, 19, a guard.
All three agree it was a memorable moment when they took the court for the first time together last fall.
“I hadn’t played in two years,” says Elizabeth. “But I still had a year of eligibility left, and when Kat and Emma made the team, I knew I had to try out. This is the only year it could happen.”
The sisters say they definitely feel they have an advantage seeing a sibling down the lane, set up and waiting for a pass. And it doesn’t hurt to have a sympathetic hug from each other when the game doesn’t go the way they hoped.
“You just can be really supportive and be there for each other,” says Katheryne, 23, a guard.
“There’s not too much sibling rivalry between the three of us,” adds Elizabeth.
Their coach agrees, and says the sisters all seem to be fully savouring the one year they will have this chance to play together. “Each sister in her own right is a great basketball player and a great person,” says Harrison. “I’ve never seen Liz smile as much as she has this year. There are times, even in the middle of tough practices, when I see all three of them just look at each other and light up.”
The Pasquotti brothers also seemed to thrive having their brothers as teammates this past season. The three, who started playing soccer as preschoolers, have been playing together for as long as they can remember. They grew up in Lethbridge, the sons of parents Dino and Theresa, both of whom were successful athletes in high school and, for Dino, university. The family owns 5P’s Construction and the brothers say their parents come to every game, home or away.
All three brothers were star basketball players at Catholic Central High School, which didn’t have a soccer team. Dario, the eldest at 22 and a forward, also suited up for the Kodiaks basketball team the last two seasons and led the conference in assists per game both years. But the chance to play on the same team with his brothers this year was so appealing that he decided to devote his time to “the beautiful game” of soccer this year.
Men’s soccer coach Joe Mauro had coached Matteo, 19, a centre midfielder, and Nico, 18, an outside midfielder, when they were 13 and 14, and he coached Dario on the college soccer team last year as well. He says Dario was a big part of getting his two brothers to come to the college.
“When word got out that I had signed all three of them to come and play at the college, I heard some people saying ‘Oh, your hands are going to be full!’” Mauro recalls. “All three are very intense and very competitive. They all play with tons of heart and passion. They are very strong-willed and will do whatever they need to do to be successful – which is great. ”
Mauro says the Pasquotti brothers did seem to anticipate the moves their brothers would make and would get on one another’s case if one of them wasn’t stepping up – just like siblings do. He also says they became instant leaders on the team. “They were a total joy to coach,” he says, “and I’m thankful I was a part of this year, with them and the rest of the team.”
The team played one of its strongest seasons ever, finishing just one game shy of qualifying for the national tournament – the best in the team’s history. The Pasquotti brothers were a big part of that success. Of the total of 27 team goals scored by the Kodiaks in the regular season, 10 were scored by Nico and four by Dario. Matteo, who represented Canada on the Under-17 team in 2010 and 2011 and was on the residency team for the Vancouver Whitecaps, a professional team, has battled knee injuries the last two seasons and had to scale back his usual intensity this season as he awaited surgery. “But that didn’t stop him from making a huge difference on our team this year,” says Mauro. “Having Matteo on the field with his incredible skills and knowledge of the game and so much experience at such a young age was just incredible. He was like the quarterback on the team. Everything went through him. He knew where to pass the ball, when to attack and to defend…he played a huge role.”
Dario says both of his brothers are talented in different ways. “Nico can change the game in the blink of an eye with his footwork, speed and ability to put the ball in the back of the net,” the eldest brother explains. “Matteo is able to control the game through the middle with his toughness and decision making.”
The brothers have previously played on the same team as one other brother, but never both. The first time they walked out together “was pretty cool,” says Dario. “You kind of always know what their tendencies are, where they are likely to be. We all have the same mindset – we expect to win. Win or go home.”
Sibling stories around the conference
Coaches and staff at the ACAC could only track down one other example of three siblings playing on the same team in ACAC history. That happened in 2009-10, when the three Price brothers, Matthew, Marshall and Clayton, played on the men’s basketball team at King’s University College.
Having two trios of siblings playing the same sport the same year at the same college was, until this year, unheard of. But checking in around the conference, Anthony Wong, Operations Manager for the Alberta Colleges Athletic Conference, found a few examples that came close. In 2011-12 at Lakeland College, two coaches of the women’s volleyball team, brothers Taylor and Austin Dyer, coached their sister, Brin. And in 2001-02, three siblings played volleyball for King’s University College but on two different teams. Hans Doef played for the men’s team, while his twin sister Elly and another sister, Cody, played for the women’s team.
That lineup of Pasquotti, Pasquotti and Pasquotti and Lowry, Lowry and Lowry marked the first time in the Alberta Colleges Athletic Conference that two trios of siblings played for the same sporting team at the same college during the same season.
It is unusual to have even two siblings playing for the college team during the same season, says Anthony Wong, Operations Manager for the Alberta Colleges Athletic Conference, and only once has a trio of siblings played on the same team together. But that changed this year at Lethbridge College, when Dario, Nico and Matteo Pasquotti took to the pitch for the men’s soccer team and Elizabeth, Katheryne and Emma Lowry hit the hard-court for the women’s basketball team.
“When we found out that both teams would have three siblings, I thought this is ACAC history in the making,” says Avery Harrison, the college’s athletic director and women’s basketball coach, who has been active in the provincial conference for 29 years. “We’re really working to make the Kodiaks a central part of the college community, and I think all of the Kodiaks this year have really become like a family.”
The Lowry sisters say they grew up in a physically active household in Lundbreck, Alta., with 12 children and a dad who played football in high school and a mom who swam and played field hockey. The sisters say they didn’t start playing organized sports until junior high and enjoyed basketball – and playing sports with each other – from the start.
“We are all pretty supportive,” says Elizabeth, the oldest of the trio at 26 who plays point for the Kodiaks. “It’s something all of us do for each other. Our brothers will come and watch us, we’ll go to our younger siblings’ games and our parents are our biggest fans.”
“I’m pretty sure that they’ll be at all of our games,” adds Emma, 19, a guard.
All three agree it was a memorable moment when they took the court for the first time together last fall.
“I hadn’t played in two years,” says Elizabeth. “But I still had a year of eligibility left, and when Kat and Emma made the team, I knew I had to try out. This is the only year it could happen.”
The sisters say they definitely feel they have an advantage seeing a sibling down the lane, set up and waiting for a pass. And it doesn’t hurt to have a sympathetic hug from each other when the game doesn’t go the way they hoped.
“You just can be really supportive and be there for each other,” says Katheryne, 23, a guard.
“There’s not too much sibling rivalry between the three of us,” adds Elizabeth.
Their coach agrees, and says the sisters all seem to be fully savouring the one year they will have this chance to play together. “Each sister in her own right is a great basketball player and a great person,” says Harrison. “I’ve never seen Liz smile as much as she has this year. There are times, even in the middle of tough practices, when I see all three of them just look at each other and light up.”
The Pasquotti brothers also seemed to thrive having their brothers as teammates this past season. The three, who started playing soccer as preschoolers, have been playing together for as long as they can remember. They grew up in Lethbridge, the sons of parents Dino and Theresa, both of whom were successful athletes in high school and, for Dino, university. The family owns 5P’s Construction and the brothers say their parents come to every game, home or away.
All three brothers were star basketball players at Catholic Central High School, which didn’t have a soccer team. Dario, the eldest at 22 and a forward, also suited up for the Kodiaks basketball team the last two seasons and led the conference in assists per game both years. But the chance to play on the same team with his brothers this year was so appealing that he decided to devote his time to “the beautiful game” of soccer this year.
Men’s soccer coach Joe Mauro had coached Matteo, 19, a centre midfielder, and Nico, 18, an outside midfielder, when they were 13 and 14, and he coached Dario on the college soccer team last year as well. He says Dario was a big part of getting his two brothers to come to the college.
“When word got out that I had signed all three of them to come and play at the college, I heard some people saying ‘Oh, your hands are going to be full!’” Mauro recalls. “All three are very intense and very competitive. They all play with tons of heart and passion. They are very strong-willed and will do whatever they need to do to be successful – which is great. ”
Mauro says the Pasquotti brothers did seem to anticipate the moves their brothers would make and would get on one another’s case if one of them wasn’t stepping up – just like siblings do. He also says they became instant leaders on the team. “They were a total joy to coach,” he says, “and I’m thankful I was a part of this year, with them and the rest of the team.”
The team played one of its strongest seasons ever, finishing just one game shy of qualifying for the national tournament – the best in the team’s history. The Pasquotti brothers were a big part of that success. Of the total of 27 team goals scored by the Kodiaks in the regular season, 10 were scored by Nico and four by Dario. Matteo, who represented Canada on the Under-17 team in 2010 and 2011 and was on the residency team for the Vancouver Whitecaps, a professional team, has battled knee injuries the last two seasons and had to scale back his usual intensity this season as he awaited surgery. “But that didn’t stop him from making a huge difference on our team this year,” says Mauro. “Having Matteo on the field with his incredible skills and knowledge of the game and so much experience at such a young age was just incredible. He was like the quarterback on the team. Everything went through him. He knew where to pass the ball, when to attack and to defend…he played a huge role.”
Dario says both of his brothers are talented in different ways. “Nico can change the game in the blink of an eye with his footwork, speed and ability to put the ball in the back of the net,” the eldest brother explains. “Matteo is able to control the game through the middle with his toughness and decision making.”
The brothers have previously played on the same team as one other brother, but never both. The first time they walked out together “was pretty cool,” says Dario. “You kind of always know what their tendencies are, where they are likely to be. We all have the same mindset – we expect to win. Win or go home.”
Sibling stories around the conference
Coaches and staff at the ACAC could only track down one other example of three siblings playing on the same team in ACAC history. That happened in 2009-10, when the three Price brothers, Matthew, Marshall and Clayton, played on the men’s basketball team at King’s University College.
Having two trios of siblings playing the same sport the same year at the same college was, until this year, unheard of. But checking in around the conference, Anthony Wong, Operations Manager for the Alberta Colleges Athletic Conference, found a few examples that came close. In 2011-12 at Lakeland College, two coaches of the women’s volleyball team, brothers Taylor and Austin Dyer, coached their sister, Brin. And in 2001-02, three siblings played volleyball for King’s University College but on two different teams. Hans Doef played for the men’s team, while his twin sister Elly and another sister, Cody, played for the women’s team.
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