SLIPPERY ROCK — A longtime soccer player herself, Sarah (Cessar) Vermilya smiled at the thought.

“It's not the wins and losses you remember, it's the relationships,” she said when reflecting on her own playing career. “It's the bonds of friendship formed through the years.

“You grow up playing a sport as a little kid and there's maybe one other kid who stays with you the whole way through, if that. What these four girls have ... It's something special.”

Those four girls are Slippery Rock High School seniors Kayla Daugherty, Olivia Elliott, Julia Hart and Emily Raine. They've been soccer teammates since the age of 6.

Vermilya is their soccer coach at Slippery Rock.

“They support each other and they're senior leaders to the rest of the team,” Vermilya said. “As a coach, you can't ask for any more than that.”

This quartet began playing soccer together with the Prospect Pumas at the youth level.

Through youth, summer travel, junior high and high school, they've stayed together in the sport ever since.

Daugherty and Hart are two of the Rockets' three captains this season.

“These three were my first sisters,” Hart said. “We've got so many memories together.

“It's hard to believe this is our last season together, our last hurrah.”

Raine said the foursome goes “all the way back to Moraine Elementary.”

“We all grew up in the same neighborhood,” she continued. “I have a sister much older than me. When she was away and I needed something, I could always count on Kayla, Olivia and Julia. They had my back.”

Their parents had each other's backs as well.

“We all car-pooled with each other quite a bit,” Raine said. “We played on the Slippery Rock Park teams and traveled to a bunch of different tournaments.”

The bonding of these four girls has benefitted the high school team on the field.

“We've always played together and we've always been on the field together,” Daugherty said. “We know each other's strength and weaknesses.

“When there's a play to be made, we know where each other's going to be and how it's going to play out almost before it happens.”

“We know each other's moves from memory,” Hart agreed.

Hart and Raine don't plan on playing college soccer. Daugherty is hopeful of playing at the Division III level as Washington & Jefferson, Grove City and Allegheny are interested in her.

Elliott expects to go to Florida after graduation as her mother lives there.

“What I'm going to miss are these friendships and the way we've always been together,” she said. “We've been so supportive of each other, giving each other shoulders to lean on.

“I still remember us doing gift exchanges when we were little.”

Slippery Rock won its region title last season and is favored to repeat that feat this fall.

These four girls want to take the team's success even farther.

“As far as we can go ... I mean, this is it. This year needs to be the best year,” Daugherty said.

“Just give it our all, I guess,” Elliott said.

Raine finds it hard to believe their soccer career as teammates is winding down.

“We'll be going our separate ways,” Rainme said. “That will be strange. But our friendships have grown so strong, nothing will ever break it.”