You would think that after all this time together they would start to get sick of one another. For the better part of the last 12 years the names Brooke Bartlett and Katelyn Jones have gone hand in hand. Both on and off the soccer field the pair has been practically inseparable.
For the past four years Bartlett and Jones were both midfielders on the Massachusetts women’s soccer team. Prior to arriving in Amherst the pair was high school teammates at Shenendehowa High School in Clifton Park, N.Y., each captaining the squad their senior year. Even before high school the pair was close from its time together in junior high school and on the youth soccer fields of Clifton Park.
“We were always friends on the soccer field but we had our different groups of friends because we were different ages, [we didn’t really hang out,]” Jones said. When I made the varsity team in ninth grade and she was a sophomore – that’s when we started spending a lot more time together.”
“It got to a point where one summer we spent every single day together,” Bartlett said.
Despite what you may be thinking though, the duo does have its differences. Bartlett, a fifth year senior majoring in Communications, is a year (and three days to be exact) older, plays on the right side of midfield and was born in Clifton Park while Jones, a BDIC major with a concentration in photography, graphic design, computer art and business, plays on the left and lives in nearby Round Lake, N.Y.
In 1996 the duo, along with current Minutewoman Erin Lilly, a ninth grader at the time, helped lead Shenendehowa to the New York State final. Bartlett was eventually named MVP of the state tournament that year, a performance that helped her win a number of different scholarship offers from around the nation. In the end, after verbally committing to play at George Mason University, Bartlett made a quick U-turn and signed with head coach Jim Rudy and the Minutewomen.
“She came on a recommendation from Betsy Drambour, a former national team player and All-American at George Mason who was a coach at Shenendehowa at the time,” Rudy said. “When she recommended her I knew this kid had to be good.”
That first year at UMass proved to be a success for Bartlett and her new teammates. Brooke started all 22 games in 1997, tallying a pair of goals and seven assists for 11 points as the squad rolled to a 17-5 record including a perfect 11-0 in the Atlantic 10, earning the Minutewomen a berth to the NCAA tournament. However, the Maroon and White fell to Harvard 2-0 in the first round of the tournament that year and have not been back since.
Bartlett’s sophomore year looked to be full of promise long before it started. UMass was coming off its fifth straight A-10 championship and seventh straight NCAA tournament appearance. Also, joining her in the Pioneer Valley was her old friend.
Jones came in equally recommended by Drambour and the rest of the Shenendehowa coaching staff, but did not receive as much national recognition as her counterpart. After mulling over her decision for quite some time, Jones eventually chose to come UMass and suit up for the Minutewomen. However, due to the timing of her decision, she could not be offered a scholarship and was forced to walk on as a freshman, a decision made easier by the fact that Brooke was already here.
“I definitely looked places where my teammates already were because I knew that if they could play there I could play there,” Jones said. “It was also nice knowing someone because it made the transition knowing somebody who was already at the school.”
One of the first to know of Jones’ decision to come to Amherst was her high school buddy Bartlett.
“I was really excited,” Bartlett said. “It’s really comfortable having that person from home just be there. We originally were going to be roommates but decided that it wasn’t the best idea and I could introduce her to new people and she could introduce me to new people.”
That year, however, turned out not to be the fairy tail reunion that the duo had hoped for as Bartlett broke a collar bone just four games into the season causing her to miss the team’s final 17 matches and the Minutewomen slumped to their first losing record in school history, finishing 10-11.
One bright spot that year though was the play of Jones. She appeared in all but one of UMass’ 21 games and finished fourth on the team in scoring with a goal and five assists for seven points. Her play that season helped earn her a scholarship, ensuring that the outside midfield would be set for years to come.
Finally, in 1999, Bartlett and Jones stepped onto the field together for an entire season for the first time since high school. They helped UMass to an 11-5-1 record, a vast improvement on the year before, but still not good enough to merit a bid to NCAA’s. Jones finished second on the team that year in scoring with 12 points (3 goals and 6 assists) while Bartlett was fifth on the scoring chart with eight points.
Despite the two-year layoff, Jones and Bartlett took no time at all to rediscover their old magic and familiarity on the pitch.
“I know the way that Brooke plays in and out because we’ve been playing together for so long,” Jones said. “The time off didn’t impact us in any way. She came back the same player she always was.”
Prior to the 2000 campaign Coach Rudy brought in yet another Shenendehowa alum in Erin Lilly but once again the team fell to Xavier in the A-10 tournament and failed to qualify for NCAA’s.
Despite the team’s struggles in 2000, Bartlett had a career year notching career highs in goals (6), assists (9), and points (21) earning herself All-A-10 honors as well as being named third team All-American by the National Soccer Coaches Association of America.
As seniors this past season, Jones and Bartlett set out to win UMass its first conference title in four years, a goal that fell just short with Xavier once again dealing the deciding blow, a 2-1 double overtime victory for the Musketeers that eliminated the Minutewomen from postseason action.
All season long the Minutewomen attacked opposing defenses from the flanks with Jones and Bartlett pumping a continuous series of crosses into the opponents box. This was a tactic that worked right up until the final game of the season with Xavier as Jones scored the lone UMass goal that day, finishing off a Bartlett cross.
“We got our flank penetration in two different ways,” Rudy said. “On one side Brooke would beat you with her pace and dribbling while on the other, Jones beat you with subtle, well-timed runs and smart passing.”
For the second consecutive season Brooke was named first team all-A-10 after scoring two goals and adding eight assists while Katelyn set career highs with six goals and 16 points during her senior year and was named second team all-conference for the first time ever.
Despite the fact that their UMass careers may be over, Brooke Bartlett and Katelyn Jones will be able to look back on this experience and appreciate just how special it really was.
“What’s unique about our situation is that we did get the opportunity to play together again,” Bartlett said. “When I left [high school] she wrote in my yearbook ‘who knows, maybe I’ll even be at UMass next year,’ jokingly.”
For 12 long years they have been a part of each other’s lives, a fact that probably will not change come graduation when they will once again go their separate ways. However, no matter where it is that they end up, they will always have each other to fall back on.
“If I was ever in trouble I know she would be there for me and vice versa,” Bartlett said. “There is never that question in your mind that someone is not going to be there for you.”
