Stronger Together
4/29/2018 7:00:00 PM | Women's Cross Country, Women's Lacrosse, Women's Track and Field, Student Athlete, Features
Story on Inside Lacrosse
By: Justin Lafleur, Lehigh Sports Communications
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The Henderson twins are student-athletes at Lehigh, with Jane on the lacrosse team and Maura running cross country and track and field.
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Today, they are unique people on different Division I collegiate teams, but they are even stronger together due in large part to the impact of the sport of lacrosse.
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"Lacrosse has enabled us to become two people who are very complete together," said Maura. "I always say that we are very different people, but we come together and make one great superhuman. We've learned to work with each other while also developing our own identities."
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As you would expect from twins, the Hendersons did practically everything together from a young age.
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"In elementary school, we did so much together outside of school, so our mom put in a request to be in different classrooms with different recess times," said Jane. "It's funny now because we ended up at the same school, still doing things together [at Lehigh]."
Â
As they grew up, Jane and Maura explored their own interests, but lacrosse served as an outlet to bring them together.
Â
Their lacrosse careers began in the second grade as a member of a small travel team for Lower Merion Township.
Â
"Our dad was the coach and that's really when our love of lacrosse started," said Jane. "Lacrosse was a family activity. It was the perfect time after school to get our energy out because we had a lot of energy."
Â
As they grew older and continued playing, Jane and Maura realized they could play lacrosse in college.
Â
"We have an older cousin, Nora, who played at La Salle and coached there for a few years," said Jane. "She was always our role model growing up. We wanted to be like her, so the only way to do that was to go to college, play lacrosse and have fun with it."
Â
Jane and Maura had developed such a strong bond on the field that they wanted to take that connection to the same college team – if possible – but they were open to the best opportunity for each of their individual interests.
Â
"We actually ended up committing to different places before Maura committed back to Lehigh," said Jane. "When we first started looking at Lehigh, we would come watch Carli Sukonik play. Carli is the older sister of our best friend Mel, and Carli had the best things to say about the school."
Â
Maura originally committed to Navy, but her heart wasn't fully invested for a multitude of reasons, including some doubt about what sport she truly wanted to play in college.
Â
"I started to fall in love with running around junior year of high school, and I also wasn't really sure about the math and science aspect of the Naval Academy," said Maura. "Navy was really good to me, and they were really good about the departure process. I wasn't sure it was the best fit, so the best-case scenario was to play with my sister at Lehigh."
Â
Jane and Maura entered Lehigh in the fall of 2015 and both played fall lacrosse for the Mountain Hawks. However, doubts continued to creep into Maura's mind.
Â
"Lacrosse was good and I really liked the girls. They were my first friends at Lehigh and it was awesome, but something was missing," said Maura. "I talked to Coach Jill [Redfern] and she could tell I really missed running. I would go on a little too long of a run after lacrosse practice and she knew something was up."
Â
Redfern spoke with Lehigh women's cross country head coach Debbie Utesch to see if Maura could compete in the indoor track and field season, with intentions of coming back to lacrosse in the spring.
Â
"I had a surprisingly good indoor season and never really made it back to lacrosse," said Maura.
Â
Remember when Jane and Maura's mother requested different recess times in elementary school? That's essentially what proceeded, only a decade later.
Â
Jane and Maura are still at the same university and they still room together. But during the day, they are on their own, living their own lives.
Â
"We run on different schedules," said Jane. "I see Maura in the morning before she leaves and don't see her until 7 o'clock at night."
Â
More than halfway through their collegiate careers, the two are enjoying success in their respective sports. Jane played in 31 games over her first two seasons and has gotten into 13 games in 2018, highlighted by a two-goal effort against VCU and goals at Mount St. Mary's and Boston University. Meanwhile, Maura has earned first team All-Patriot League and All-Region recognition in cross country while winning multiple Patriot League Championships in track and field.
Â
They may be on different schedules, but the Hendersons remain each others' biggest fans.
Â
"Whenever Jane has a home game, I try to be there," said Maura. "Jane is really good about getting to all my meets whenever possible. Sometimes, she even travels with my parents to road meets."
Â
The sisters are also each others' biggest critics.
Â
"We're past that point where we have to tip toe around things," said Jane. "If Maura doesn't have a good race, I tell her what I see and I don't sugarcoat it. Just give the little tips that sometimes people are afraid to say…
Â
"We have no boundaries."
Â
The two are enjoying success in their sports, but they do miss playing with each other.
Â
"We got really good at playing together," said Maura. "Even when we were running in high school, we were always on a relay together. Not that I don't trust my teammates, but I trust Jane more then anyone else. I've had to put my trust in other people because I had this one person who would always be there."
Â
Maura is undoubtedly happier running cross country and track, but lacrosse will always be special to her.
Â
"I miss hitting people because lacrosse is a much more physical and aggressive sport than running," said Maura, who was a defender. "I still have a lot of the athlete in me as opposed to the runner."
Â
"I miss playing with Maura, but I'm glad she's running because you can see how much happier she is," said Jane. "I'd much rather a happy Maura than a grumpy Maura."
Â
From all their experiences together – and apart – the Hendersons are proud of who they are as students, athletes and most importantly, people.
Â
"We are the Henderson twins. That's who we are and that's who we've always been," said Maura. "Honestly, I don't know how someone survives without a twin. The same way people associate me with being a Henderson twin, I associate it with myself."
Â
"As we've gotten older, we've truly realized we're two different people," said Jane, who is a Design major while Maura is majoring in English.
Â
"We still have family and cousins who mix up our names and we just go with it. I'll respond if they're calling me Maura because it doesn't matter. At the end of the day, we know who we are and we know what makes us different."
Â
By: Justin Lafleur, Lehigh Sports Communications
Â
The Henderson twins are student-athletes at Lehigh, with Jane on the lacrosse team and Maura running cross country and track and field.
Â
Today, they are unique people on different Division I collegiate teams, but they are even stronger together due in large part to the impact of the sport of lacrosse.
Â
"Lacrosse has enabled us to become two people who are very complete together," said Maura. "I always say that we are very different people, but we come together and make one great superhuman. We've learned to work with each other while also developing our own identities."
Â
As you would expect from twins, the Hendersons did practically everything together from a young age.
Â
"In elementary school, we did so much together outside of school, so our mom put in a request to be in different classrooms with different recess times," said Jane. "It's funny now because we ended up at the same school, still doing things together [at Lehigh]."
Â
As they grew up, Jane and Maura explored their own interests, but lacrosse served as an outlet to bring them together.
Â
Their lacrosse careers began in the second grade as a member of a small travel team for Lower Merion Township.
Â
"Our dad was the coach and that's really when our love of lacrosse started," said Jane. "Lacrosse was a family activity. It was the perfect time after school to get our energy out because we had a lot of energy."
 As they grew older and continued playing, Jane and Maura realized they could play lacrosse in college.
Â
"We have an older cousin, Nora, who played at La Salle and coached there for a few years," said Jane. "She was always our role model growing up. We wanted to be like her, so the only way to do that was to go to college, play lacrosse and have fun with it."
Â
Jane and Maura had developed such a strong bond on the field that they wanted to take that connection to the same college team – if possible – but they were open to the best opportunity for each of their individual interests.
Â
"We actually ended up committing to different places before Maura committed back to Lehigh," said Jane. "When we first started looking at Lehigh, we would come watch Carli Sukonik play. Carli is the older sister of our best friend Mel, and Carli had the best things to say about the school."
Â
Maura originally committed to Navy, but her heart wasn't fully invested for a multitude of reasons, including some doubt about what sport she truly wanted to play in college.
Â
"I started to fall in love with running around junior year of high school, and I also wasn't really sure about the math and science aspect of the Naval Academy," said Maura. "Navy was really good to me, and they were really good about the departure process. I wasn't sure it was the best fit, so the best-case scenario was to play with my sister at Lehigh."
Â
Jane and Maura entered Lehigh in the fall of 2015 and both played fall lacrosse for the Mountain Hawks. However, doubts continued to creep into Maura's mind.
Â
"Lacrosse was good and I really liked the girls. They were my first friends at Lehigh and it was awesome, but something was missing," said Maura. "I talked to Coach Jill [Redfern] and she could tell I really missed running. I would go on a little too long of a run after lacrosse practice and she knew something was up."
Â
Redfern spoke with Lehigh women's cross country head coach Debbie Utesch to see if Maura could compete in the indoor track and field season, with intentions of coming back to lacrosse in the spring.
Â
"I had a surprisingly good indoor season and never really made it back to lacrosse," said Maura.
Â
Remember when Jane and Maura's mother requested different recess times in elementary school? That's essentially what proceeded, only a decade later.
Â
Jane and Maura are still at the same university and they still room together. But during the day, they are on their own, living their own lives.
 "We run on different schedules," said Jane. "I see Maura in the morning before she leaves and don't see her until 7 o'clock at night."
Â
More than halfway through their collegiate careers, the two are enjoying success in their respective sports. Jane played in 31 games over her first two seasons and has gotten into 13 games in 2018, highlighted by a two-goal effort against VCU and goals at Mount St. Mary's and Boston University. Meanwhile, Maura has earned first team All-Patriot League and All-Region recognition in cross country while winning multiple Patriot League Championships in track and field.
Â
They may be on different schedules, but the Hendersons remain each others' biggest fans.
Â
"Whenever Jane has a home game, I try to be there," said Maura. "Jane is really good about getting to all my meets whenever possible. Sometimes, she even travels with my parents to road meets."
Â
The sisters are also each others' biggest critics.
Â
"We're past that point where we have to tip toe around things," said Jane. "If Maura doesn't have a good race, I tell her what I see and I don't sugarcoat it. Just give the little tips that sometimes people are afraid to say…
Â
"We have no boundaries."
Â
The two are enjoying success in their sports, but they do miss playing with each other.
Â
"We got really good at playing together," said Maura. "Even when we were running in high school, we were always on a relay together. Not that I don't trust my teammates, but I trust Jane more then anyone else. I've had to put my trust in other people because I had this one person who would always be there."
Â
Maura is undoubtedly happier running cross country and track, but lacrosse will always be special to her.
 "I miss hitting people because lacrosse is a much more physical and aggressive sport than running," said Maura, who was a defender. "I still have a lot of the athlete in me as opposed to the runner."
Â
"I miss playing with Maura, but I'm glad she's running because you can see how much happier she is," said Jane. "I'd much rather a happy Maura than a grumpy Maura."
Â
From all their experiences together – and apart – the Hendersons are proud of who they are as students, athletes and most importantly, people.
Â
"We are the Henderson twins. That's who we are and that's who we've always been," said Maura. "Honestly, I don't know how someone survives without a twin. The same way people associate me with being a Henderson twin, I associate it with myself."
Â
"As we've gotten older, we've truly realized we're two different people," said Jane, who is a Design major while Maura is majoring in English.
Â
"We still have family and cousins who mix up our names and we just go with it. I'll respond if they're calling me Maura because it doesn't matter. At the end of the day, we know who we are and we know what makes us different."
Â
Players Mentioned
A
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