BILLINGS, Mont. – During one of their first encounters at Lewis and Clark Middle School, Kyle Emerick and Matt Brink shared a moment inside the cafeteria during lunch that would go on to define what has become a lifelong friendship.
 
Finding himself with an extra peanut butter cookie, Brink decided it would only be right to share it with one of his newest friends. Emerick remembers the story slightly differently.
 
"We were at lunch and Matt shoves this peanut butter cookie down my throat," Emerick said with a smile. "At the time he didn't know that I had a nut allergy, and I got sick and had to go home."
 
Now both senior soccer players at Montana State University Billings, neither of them knew at the time that the seemingly-innocent incident would ultimately represent the tough love, competitive relationship that has made the pair inseparable, on and off the soccer field.
 
YOUNG MAGICIANS
 
Emerick and Brink both grew up in Billings and have been soccer players for as long as they can remember. "The only sport I played was soccer," Emerick said. "My dad made a goal out of PVC pipe in the backyard and my younger sister Maddy played with me. I have a lot of good memories playing soccer in the ditch bank behind my house."
 
It wasn't until Emerick experienced his first year of competitive soccer at age 13 that he knew it was the sport for him. "I remember that year was when I really grasped onto it," Emerick said. "My head coach was Dan McNally, and he really made the game interesting and made me want to continue on with it. My passion just grew from there, and I didn't want to do anything else except play."
 
While Emerick had played soccer for several years beforehand, it wasn't until he made the jump onto McNally's Magic City team that he began adopting the mindset of a future collegiate player. One of Emerick's newest teammates was Brink.
 
"I remember practice at the Magic City tryouts when Kyle first joined our team," said Brink. "The team was already pretty much made, but Kyle came on and fit in right away. The way it went for me was I always moved up each year with the same group of kids throughout youth soccer. I never had to transition to a new team like Kyle did."
 
The two connected immediately, forming a bond on the field through their unique but compatible playing styles. "It kind of just happened right off the bat," Emerick said regarding his friendship with Brink. "We were at the same school and were playing for the same club. We would always go right to practice together after school."
 
Part of their natural camaraderie had to do with the parallels Emerick and Brink drew with the way they played the game. Specifically, Emerick remembers a trademark of the duo being their connection on set pieces. "On our set plays Matt would always get up in the box and we connected for around 10 goals," Emerick remembered.
 
"We had a really good team," Brink said referring to the Magic City squad. "We won state three or four times and took second most of the other seasons."
 
FROM SENIOR TO SENIORS
 
Moving on to Billings Senior High School, the profile of the rising stars across the state elevated each season of their prep careers. "Going into high school, I always had ambitions of playing collegiately," said Emerick. "I always wanted to play at the highest level that I could and learn new parts of the game. One quote I remember is, 'the day I stop learning about soccer is the day I quit.' A coach named Anthony Latronica said that to me at an Olympic Development camp and it always stuck with me."
 
Now both seniors in the Yellowjacket program, the two remember the path they took to end up at MSUB. For Brink, it was a simple decision as MSUB presented itself as a natural fit geographically and in terms of soccer. After all, McNally was the head coach for the Yellowjackets and had been preparing players in the Magic City program ultimately for a career in his own college program.
 
"It was just really easy for me, and I liked Dan a lot," Brink said. "I always knew I was going to come here."
 
For Emerick, however, it was a different story.
 
"Initially I was thinking about Seattle U, and I was actually deadest on going there," Emerick remembered about his college search. "Dan and Matt both talked to me about the thought of representing my home town and being close to my family, and that is ultimately what made me change my mind and come to MSUB."
 
"I remember when we were looking for colleges he wanted to go away, but I tried extremely hard to get him to come here," said Brink. "I asked him every day, and I don't know if I would've had the same experience here if he had gone to Seattle U."
 
Looking back on the progression of the pair over the past three years, the decision to stick together through college could not have turned out better. "Kyle grew, literally," Brink said drawing a laugh from both of the friends. "He has always been a creative player, but he has only gotten better. On the field, we don't treat each other like best friends, but that is how we better one another. We go after each other because that's how it is going to be in a game. It has only made us try more things on the field and give more effort."
 
LEARNING TO BE A LEADER
 
At times for Brink, the heat of competition proved to be overwhelming. Keeping his composure and displaying leadership during pivotal moments in games was a challenge, and changing his mentality has been one of the most noticeable transformations he has undergone as a player.
 
"I met both Matt and Kyle on the same cold, damp afternoon in May of 2011," said MSUB head coach Alex Balog. "Matt had a strong physical presence and was very vocal, and I especially noticed his body language on the field."
 
"For me, consistency in terms of the mental aspect of the game is something I have struggled with in the past," said Brink. "One day I'd have good game, then next it would be bad, and that was hard for me."
 
The passion Brink plays with is intense, and is a major factor behind why he has been a fixture on the Yellowjackets' back line since his freshman year. According to teammates and coaches alike, it has been Brink's ability to harness his emotions and channel them into leadership qualities that has earned him a captain's arm band for the 2014 season.
 
"As coaches we knew he wanted to be a leader and wear the captain's band last season, but we didn't think he was ready for it," Balog said. "To see him on the field now and the way that he talks to his teammates, opponents and referees is entirely different than in the past. He is able to keep his head in the game and that makes him play so much better. Now Matt is one of our three captains, and that is something I feel he has earned."
 
"I think Matt has grown a ton from freshman year to now, and he has become a very reliable person," said Emerick, who is also a 2014 captain. "His composure and everything about him has changed, and he is very professional now."
 
BLEEDING NAVY AND GOLD
 
"The first thing that comes to my mind is that they bring knowledge of the program to the other players and an understanding of the team philosophy," Balog commented on the tandem's strongest qualities. "These are both guys who have decided to stay and play for their hometown school, and they have both been through the ups and downs over the last four years."
 
Both starting as freshmen in 2011, Brink and Emerick were part of a team that began its season losing seven of its first nine games. Foreshadowing the type of resiliency each of them would come to possess, the Yellowjackets lost just one of their remaining nine contests, and finished the season with a record of 8-8-2.
 
"It is extremely rare for a team to finish a season that strongly after starting off 2-7," Balog commented. "Kyle and Matt were an integral part of the team that year and they really helped us turn things around."
 
The strong finish carried over into the 2012 season, when MSUB posted a solid 11-5-2 record and fell just shy of qualifying for the NCAA tournament. After last season's frustrating 3-10-5 record, Brink and Emerick are both fueled by their history of success to elevate the program once again in 2014.
 
"In terms of goals we really want to make it to the NCAA tournament," said Emerick. "We just need to come together and really have a family atmosphere where everyone is close to each other."
 
"I'd love for us to at least make it to the national tournament, that's probably our biggest goal," Brink said in agreement with his teammate.
 
AN UNBREAKABLE BOND
 
"It was my brother Levi that first helped me get into sports and kind of shaped who I was going to be," Brink said remembering his early childhood competition with his sibling. "But Kyle was the one that really got me into soccer and made me want to play the game. I remember jumping Rocky's fence together as kids to go play on their field since it was closer, and we hung out all the time after school from middle school to now. I would consider him to be my brother."
 
"Matt is someone I can talk to about anything and he is definitely unique from other friends," said Emerick. "His family is like my family and mine like his, and they are all great people. They've helped me along the way through everything."
 
Both student-athletes note the tremendous support lent by their parents, from the long road trips associated with year-round club soccer to sticking by their sides through their college careers. "My parents especially have supported me through everything, and have given me everything I need to play," Emerick said regarding his father Scott and mother Cecilia. "I owe them so much, and we never took vacations because of the travel. Our summer vacation would be going to a tournament, and they have sacrificed so much for me."
 
"Matt and Kyle are each different guys but I think bringing them here is one of the best recruiting decisions that has been made in this program within the last four years," Balog said. "Kyle has never looked back, becoming one of the true leaders of this program. He's someone who has stuck with the coaching staff, and he is a guy that leads by example every single time he steps on the field. As a coach I am very grateful that he is part of our program, and he exemplifies everything that we try to stand for in terms of character, commitment, work ethic, and especially in terms of being a good person."
 
"Our motto that we usually say before every game is 'family,' and that's a big reason why I came to MSUB," Brink said. "Over the course of my time here I have made a lot of friends, and soccer especially promotes a family atmosphere very well. It's my home away from home."
 
"Throughout your coaching career, sometimes there are players who make you look at yourself in the mirror," Balog said. "Matt is one of those guys because he is someone who made me realize how much players need to feel the support and love of a coaching staff. Matt is the kind of person you love to have on a team because of his passion, but mainly because he's a player who has made me better as a coach."
 
For one final season, Brink and Emerick will inhabit the turf at Yellowjacket Field on the MSUB City College Campus, regularly putting on display the phenomenal growth and development of two of Billings' finest athletic products in recent memory. Their level of play is uncommon, and the maturity and progression they have embodied through their time at MSUB a rarity. Most importantly, the commitment of Emerick and Brink to their hometown MSUB program has shaped who they have become as people, and set an example of excellence for all future Yellowjackets.