A pair of Fairhope Lady Pirate soccer players, Addison and Emily Smith, pledged their verbal commitment to the University of West Florida Argonauts.

Both took to social media to thank their support systems and said it was a dream come true to remain on the same team.

“I am extremely thankful for God, my family, friends, teammates, and coaches for making this possible,” Addison said last week. “As a little girl, playing soccer in college was always my dream. But now I am grateful to say that UWF has provided me the opportunity to make this a reality.”

The twins were both were instrumental in Fairhope’s run to the Class 7A state title on the pitch last season where the Lady Pirates returned home with a Red Map trophy as state runners-up.

The members of Fairhope’s Class of 2023 will have one more season to represent their high school’s blue and gold before they trade it out for West Florida’s blue and green.

The school in Pensacola, Fla. competes in the Gulf South Conference and the Argonauts finished 2021 with a 14-3-3 overall record and 7-2-2 mark in the conference for the No. 5 seed going into the Gulf South Tournament. After a win over Delta State, West Florida lost to the eventual conference champion Lee Flames in the quarterfinals.

The Argonauts went on to the NCAA Tournament and earned two wins before finding the end of the road in the South Region Final.