Gallo sisters give North girls soccer double scoring threats

There’s a three-year age gap between North senior Dora Gallo and her sister, Nayeli, a freshman. The age gap is just big enough that, until this soccer season, they had never played together except at home.

Yet from their first game, their connection was obvious.

“It’s a brand-new experience, even though we’ve grown up together,” Dora said. “I know how she plays, she knows how I play. It makes it easier on the field.”

North (7-4) is looking for its first winning season since 2012, and the Gallo duo is a large part of that success.

Dora, a center midfielder who has signed with Kansas State, has 14 goals and 14 assists, while Nayeli, a left forward, has 17 goals and six assists.

“I try to keep them close to each other on the field,” North coach Curt Wullschleger said. “No one knows each other better.… Them being sisters and close on the field, they can read body language and combine really well together.”

An influx of talented freshmen has sparked North, and Nayeli is a major part of it.

“It’s her quickness with the ball at her feet,” Dora said. “She likes to do all these little cuts. A lot of girls aren’t able to read it or are just slow to get it. She’s quick, too, so she’s pretty fast with the ball and that makes her an even bigger threat.”

Nayeli initially balked at the idea of playing on the left side because she’s better on the right.

She accepted the plan after Wullschleger convinced her she can develop that left side to improve her overall game and improve her crossing passes with her left foot. His willingness to move her from one position to the next to get her into scoring position has allowed her freedom.

Although Nayeli is 5-foot-2 and 95 pounds, she has become an offensive terror.

“Even if she sees big girls on the field, she’s not scared,” Dora said. “I’ve always been hard on her, so I’ve told her not to be scared of people who are bigger than you. I was in her spot for many years. You get tougher.”

Dora, who has three hat tricks, has been scoring since she started as a freshman. She has 73 career goals. Wullschleger said he gives her creative license because she can do so much with the ball.

“She just does ridiculous things every once in a while that you can’t see coming,” Wullschleger said. “Last year she did an inverted Maradona in the box and chipped it to the far post to get her out of a tough spot. It wasn’t meant to be flashy. It was necessary. She cut it behind her leg and found about a yard of space and cranked a shot.

“By the time you could wrap your head around what she did, it’s in the back of the net and you’re thinking, ‘Wow, that’s really nice.’ ”

Nayeli said opposing players often compliment her sister after games. She laughed because, even though she watched her sister develop those skills growing up, she’s often still surprised.

“She has 20 different types of moves that I don’t even know what she’s doing and girls are falling on the floor,” Nayeli said. “She adds moves on to the moves that she does. And her passes, it’s, ‘Oh my god, how does she do that?’ She’s trying to mess around with girls’ minds to see where she’s going next.”

Dora doesn’t play with a high-profile club team, but Wullschleger contacted Kansas State coach Mike Dibbini about her.

K-State’s inaugural season is this fall — Big 12 play doesn’t start until 2017 — and Dibbini was looking for a specific type of player. He wanted players who could make an immediate impact, are physical, athletic, technical, tactical and mentally strong.

“I think Dora brings a lot of those qualities,” Dibbini said. “Her probably not getting the biggest exposure as far as club soccer, she was kind of a hidden gem. I think she’ll surprise people.”

While Dora felt she had to score for North to have a chance to win in previous seasons, the pressure is off now.

As a result, North’s offense has been more difficult to stop with the Gallo girls — who combined on their first goal in the season opener — as well as junior Danisha Brown and freshman Irai Fernandez.

Neither Gallo needs to score. They can draw the defense, use their quickness to create space and then find an open teammate. Oftentimes, it’s each other.

Wullschleger said they have combined for double digit assists to each other.

“I love the competition between the two,” Wullschleger said. “But you don’t ever hear them talk about it. They go out and play their game and I don’t think they’re necessarily concerned with stats. They’re more concerned about winning.

“The stats will be there. They’ll come by how hard they play and their creative license. You can tell they love the game and they’ve been working so hard on it. To have them together for one year is really special.”

This story was originally published April 28, 2016 at 12:25 PM with the headline "Gallo sisters give North girls soccer double scoring threats."