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ASU soccer banks on friends' connection
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RETURN TO ACTION: Forward Erica Long of the Sun Devils is playing again after a knee injury last September.
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CONNECTION: ASU sophomore midfielder Alexandra Elston has been playing soccer with Erica Long for years.
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Arizona State sophomore midfielder Alexandra Elston and redshirt freshman forward Erica Long remember exactly where they met.
"My sister and her brother went to elementary school together and we were tagging along because they were shooting off rockets one day," said Elston, then a preschooler.
"My mom said to go sit in the shade with (Erica) so we met under a picnic table."
That unorthodox encounter has led the pair to success at just about every level of soccer over the past decade-plus.
As players on a Southbank soccer club team, the '89 Ladybugs, they won seven state championships.
And at Phoenix Mountain Pointe High School, they were state runners-up in 2006.
"'Xans' and I just have a crazy connection," Long said. "When you play with someone for so long, you just know where they are at all times on the field."
Elston and Long even played at the same middle school (Phoenix Centennial Middle School).
"That's why people say they're more like sisters, because they've been together and played together for so long," said Mike Long, Erica's father.
As one of the people who had a hand in creating the '89 Ladybugs, Mike Long saw firsthand the connection starting to take place.
"After practice, the two would always work together," he said.
"Alexandra would cross the ball and Erica would finish."
That familiarity showed in their first three games with the Sun Devils in 2007. Then Long tore the ACL in her left knee a 1-0 loss against Texas on Sept. 7.
"That was hard," Elston said.
"It was really disappointing because we had planned to come here and we had been playing for so long and she makes me look good and I make her look good.
"It's hard when one piece is missing."
Long said it will take time for that connection to come back.
"We still have to find ourselves and get on the field," she said.
"We've just got to be patient."
ASU coach Kevin Boyd is hoping the duo will help get the team over the hump and into postseason play this season.
"I honestly think her (Long) being out cost us a couple more wins last season, which would've resulted in a playoff berth," Boyd said.
"They're going to be able to create more chances for our team."
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