Columbus, OH - Leyla Yurchick, linebacker, Columbus Comets. Melissa Nelson, defensive end, Pittsburgh Passion. Different names, different teams, same family, same goal…..to win the NWFA Championship in 2006.

Yurchick, 31, and Nelson, 32, daughters of Lynda Yurchick and David Kuruc, grew up in Leechburg, PA "battling" one another on and off the field and court throughout their elementary, junior high and high school years. Both Yurchick and Nelson played basketball, softball, and volleyball, and at one point had their mother as head coach of their softball team.

It was always a competition as to who would excel in each sport and the two went head-to-head on several occasions; however, t his year, things are quite different. At that time, the goal was to win and share the sweetness of victory together for the same team. This year, the battle lines have been drawn and both Yurchick and Nelson are fighting for the coveted title of "2006 NWFA Champions" but for two separate teams.

Yurchick, a Speech Language Pathologist and Area Manager for Enduracare Therapy, has been with the League for 3 years. She started her football career in 2004 playing with the Pittsburgh Passion for one season before moving to Columbus to play with the Comets. Nelson, an American Sign Language Instructor and Classroom Communication Assistant for Pittsburgh Public Schools, began her football career in 2005 with the Pittsburgh Passion and is entering her second season with the team.

Although both Yurchick and Nelson play on defense, special team match-ups between the two will surely bring an exciting competition not to be missed. The Comets are se t to play the Passion for their home opener in Pittsburgh on April 29 with a rematch set for June 10 in Columbus. The bets have been placed and wagers made. Most family members have remained neutral thus far, but the second match-up will be a family display of the first game's winner's jerseys and gear. Comets or Passion? Yurchick and Nelson have two completely different opinions. These are two games guaranteed to bring excitement until the final whistle.

Since the release of the 2006 schedule, Yurchick and Nelson have been taunting one another with a little friendly competition ranging from prank calls, voice messages, "gag" gifts (Yurchick received a new mouthpiece as a Christmas gift), and adding hopeful defeats on calendars and planners. Nelson has a dry erase board with appointments and schedules on it. She has added to the list for April 29 "Leyla Meets Her Maker, 7:05 pm." Yurchick will indeed "meet her maker" in Pitt sburgh on April 29 but will it be the "maker of defeat" or rather the "maker of dreams" for the younger sister and the Columbus Comets on the road to the 2006 NWFA Championship which, ironically, will be held in Pittsburgh, PA on August 5, 2006.

Yurchick truly believes Nelson will, in fact, make it to that championship game; however, it will only be from a distance as Nelson watches the little sister she once picked on receive the 2006 NWFA Championship trophy from the stands along with the rest of the Yurchick-Kuruc family.
After all is said and done, though, regardless of who prevails in the two regular season match-ups and the NWFA Championship, one thing is absolutely certain, Yurchick and Nelson will ultimately share the same experience; they were both given the unbelievable opportunity to play women's professional football and no matter what, to be part of the same incredible family as sisters.