With more than half of Missouri’s soccer team hailing from St. Louis and Texas, the locker room has been split by baseball.

As the Cardinals-Rangers World Series got underway Wednesday night in St. Louis, so did the friendly banter between teammates.

“It’s fun,” senior defenseman Mallory Stipetich said. “Everyone is joking around about it in the locker room and in warm-ups. You’re either for Texas or St. Louis, and we have so many Texas girls that all the other girls are like, ‘We don’t want to root for Texas just because of them.’”

Stipetich grew up a Royals fan in Kansas City, so she’s pulling for the Rangers.

Of the 24 players on the roster, five call Texas home, and eight are from Missouri. Another three are from the Chicagoland area.

Fellow senior Kelsey Blincow, a Dallas native, is rooting for her home-state Rangers.

Blincow acknowledged that there has been plenty of friendly trash-talk back and forth thus far.

“Everyone always makes fun of us for being from Texas,” Blincow said. “The Chicago girls just can’t wait for Texas to lose, especially since the Mavs just won, and we haven’t let them forget about that yet.”

Blincow says that the locker room is divided based on regional loyalties.

“I would say it’s pretty much split down the middle,” Blincow added. “There’s some people that just don’t want Texas to win, like the Chicago girls. They’re on the dark side rooting for the Cardinals.”

One member of the “dark side” is junior defenseman Jessica Greer, known as the biggest Cardinals fan on the team.

Greer hasn’t done much trash-talking yet but has enjoyed the friendly rivalry.

“Sunday night, when we were in the airport, even the Rangers fans were pulling for the Cardinals so we could have a Cardinals-Rangers World Series and have a competition outside of soccer,” Greer said.

Players on both sides of the series have worn their team’s gear proudly around campus the past few days and the team had a group text going on during Wednesday night’s game one, which, according to players, was all fun and games.

However, Greer is sure the intensity of the chit-chat will increase as the series progresses.

“If it comes down to the last game, there’s going to be a battle in the locker room,” Greer joked. “I’m pretty sure some of us might not talk to each other for a day or so.”

The Fall Classic has also impacted the team’s coaches and support staff. Coach Bryan Blitz and video coordinator James Parham are originally from Dallas, and assistant coach Danny Graville is a St. Louis native, as are two of the team’s managers.

Graville said the team reacted similarly during the 2010 Vancouver Olympics, as a friendly rivalry was hatched between Canadian members of the team due to the Canada-USA men’s gold medal hockey game.

“These girls will turn anything into a competition,” Graville said. “It doesn’t matter if it’s TV shows, sports, what they’re wearing. They’re going to find something to go back and forth at.”

Their baseball allegiances have become a welcome distraction for the soccer team, much to the delight of Graville.

“It’s fun to see the girls have this friendly rivalry,” he said. “It takes your mind off soccer for a bit.”