“If I remember correctly, since I was in fifth grade I said I wanted to come to the United States to play and study social communication and journalism,” said Manuela, the younger of the two sisters. “We both knew that women’s soccer excelled in this country. Our goal was not only to go to the United States to play and study, but we also wanted to continue playing together.”

Since Manuela’s sister, Maria Paula, is older, she was able to come to the United States and begin her student-athlete career. While the two never gave up on the prospect of playing together again, they both knew chances were slim.

“Since Manuela and I have been playing together since she was 5 and I was 6, we created a connection as sisters and teammates and pursued this goal of being in the U.S. to play soccer and study,” Maria Paula said. “However, it was not that easy to say ‘Let’s go to the same school and play together’ because we didn’t have the financial resources to do so. So, we basically accepted that we were going to go to different schools for big scholarships.”

In May 2019 Maria Paula signed to play at Young Harris College in Georgia and left Colombia in August. Manuela felt the pressure of needing to take her next step. As she looked for agents, schools and other opportunities to come to the United States, 2019 had come and gone and the COVID-19 pandemic was in full swing.

Manuela Pacheco Martinez had a long and somewhat stressful journey to get to the states but she never gave up on her dream to play soccer in the United States.

“It was the end of 2019, 2020 came and I still had nothing. I continued training and joined an academy to learn English, but COVID came along. In the quarantine period I had to continue with my studies online and with the club we would meet by video call to continue training. By September, I still had nothing. I felt so much pressure because I had graduated in 2018, and 2020 was going to be over, I didn’t know what I was going to do with my life,” Manuela said.

Fortunately, a friend of Maria Paula’s was recruited by the same university she went to through a Mexican company that handled the whole process of getting scholarships in the United States. This allowed Manuela to get in contact with Otero Junior College in Colorado, where she received a scholarship to play soccer.

“This past spring I graduated from college and Manuela graduated from her junior college so I was looking to get my master’s and Manuela was looking for a school to finish her bachelor’s degree,” Maria Paula said.

Although both sisters had offers from different universities across the U.S., Maria Paula wasn’t sure about any of them just yet. It wasn’t until Manuela talked to Minot State University that she thought this opportunity could work for the both of them.

“My current coach and my JUCO coach are friends so that’s how they contacted me,” Manuela said. “T.J. Perez (current coach) called me. I liked the vision he had regarding the game. The scholarship they were offering me was very good – better than what I had been offered at NCU – and the multimedia program caught my attention as well. I decided to accept the offer and signed with MSU.”

Maria Paula had yet to sign as a grad student, even though she had an offer from a school in Michigan. The two sisters had an idea, though they weren’t sure if it was going to work.

“When Manuela got recruited to MSU, we decided to ask the coach if he had more scholarships available,” Maria Paula said. “I really thought it wasn’t going to be possible. However, it was easier than we thought since I am a grad student and grad school is not as expensive as the undergrad programs. The MSU coach was open to talk to me and see different options, so I did not hesitate when MSU offered me a scholarship to play there.”

After almost five years of working toward their goal, living in different countries, attending different schools and graduating at different times, the Pacheco Martinez sisters were finally able to play soccer together again.

“It was very exciting for both of us and my family to know that we were going to play together again,” Manuela said. “More so that we were able to do it here in the United States.”