LSU seniors Reid Althage and Daniel Moïse sit across from each other in Althage’s apartment, trading endearing insults as their roommates and friends chime in.

They recall a time not so long ago when they were major players in the biggest high school soccer rivalry in New Orleans, when Althage captained the Brother Martin squad and Moïse donned the Jesuit blue and white.

Moïse takes a moment to remember the personal implications of the rivalry, the times when he and Althage squared off forward versus defender.

“It was a rivalry, no doubt about it, but it never got to the point where it wasn’t friendly,” he says.

Althage grins and can’t help but cut him off.

“In the games, it got to the point where it wasn’t friendly,” Althage says. “I wouldn’t say that we were exactly friends outside of the field, but we definitely had a respect for each other.”

That seems like forever ago. They took different paths upon graduating in 2009, but after four years and several transfers, Althage and Moïse find themselves reunited on the pitch.

Their team, the Juice Box Boys, will square off against Show Me My Opponent in the LSU intramural soccer championship this Sunday night.

Althage began soccer at the urging of his father when he was six years old. He participated in club soccer around New Orleans, even winning a state championship during his under-11 season with Plantation Athletic Club.

Starting in his U-14 year, Althage switched to the Carrollton team, and he stuck with them until he made the Brother Martin varsity soccer team as a defender in his sophomore year.

“Playing for Brother Martin soccer was something I always looked forward to,” Althage said. “As a kid, I would go see Jesuit-Brother Martin games all the time.”

Moïse kicked off his soccer career at age three, playing club ball as his older brother did before him. Moïse said he “wasn’t big enough to play football.”

“Sports were a good outlet for me,” Moïse said. “…The more you do something, you either grow to love it or hate it, and I just grew to love [soccer].”

Moïse took his talents to Jesuit, and his senior year with the Blue Jays saw an undefeated run to the state championship and a No. 1 national ranking by the Adidas Poll, Nike Poll and High School Athletic Poll. But all the Jesuit accomplishments started with victories over Brother Martin, which is situated a mere 4.7 miles away.

“I’d say that the Jesuit-Brother Martin soccer rivalry is the biggest high school soccer rivalry in the south of Louisiana,” Moïse said. “Traditionally, District 10 is won by Jesuit or Brother Martin, and then one of those team is gonna’ go on to at least a semifinal.”

After high school soccer ended, Moïse and Althage played club soccer together for New Orleans United. The club competed against some of the best teams across the country.

Then the colleges came calling.

Moïse and Althage faced the same conundrum that many Louisiana soccer players deal with coming out of high school: do they pursue a soccer career at a smaller college, or do they come to LSU and live out the college life with their friends?

The problem is, LSU doesn’t have a men’s soccer program.

Both Moïse and Althage lamented the lack of a men’s program at LSU and all of the in-state talent that has to find somewhere else to play.

“Anybody who wants to play college soccer in Louisiana would be looking at LSU as their No. 1 school,” Althage said. “It’s kind of disappointing just because a lot of talent in Louisiana is wasted.”

Althage had almost given up on collegiate soccer in his junior year. But after Brother Martin fell to Captain Shreve High School in the state playoffs, Captain Shreve’s coach recruited Althage to play at LSU-Shreveport.

“I started talking to him and realized I didn’t want to stop playing,” Althage said. “It kind of worked out because it was a new program and I was going to be able to start when I got over there.”

But after two years, three coaching changes and a torn ACL, Althage and several of his teammates transferred to LSU.

“I definitely still miss playing [competitively],” Althage said. “But at the same time, soccer kind of took over my life when I was playing, and I’m glad that I’m finally looking forward to what I’m going to do with the rest of my life and taking school seriously.”

Moïse chose to play soccer at Division III Millsaps College in Jackson, Miss., but coaching changes and a struggle with the college regimen brought him back home to New Orleans after one year at Millsaps.

“I stopped enjoying [soccer] in college because it became more of a job than a game,” Moïse said.

While Moïse worked on his academics at Delgado Community College, he continued to play club soccer in men’s leagues around New Orleans. Moïse transferred to LSU in the fall of 2011.

Moïse and Althage stayed in touch during their careers, but they solidified their friendship after being reunited by mutual friends at LSU. The pair formed an indoor soccer team that won the Baton Rouge league last year, and they’ve now resorted to intramural soccer.

But their experience isn’t totally unusual. Cameron Edwards, graduate assistant with intramural sports at the UREC, said that some athletes end up choosing intramural sports because of a lack of opportunities elsewhere.

“There are a lot of great athletes that play intramurals,” Edwards said. “…Some choose to be athletes at smaller schools during their undergraduate period, and then they choose to come to larger schools to better their academic career. It’s just a personal choice.”

But Sunday’s championship game won’t be as one-sided as it sounds. Moïse and Althage will be sharing the field with other former college soccer players, and one of them walked a very similar path to LSU.

Jordan Schwartz graduated from Jesuit one year after Moïse, and he played soccer at Coastal Carolina. He played left-back for the Chanticleers and saw two NCAA tournaments before transferring to LSU for his junior year.

“After my sophomore year, I was ready to settle down,” Schwartz said. “I didn’t have much social time up there. All my friends were at LSU, and I heard all their stories. I was ready to start working on my degree.”

Moïse and Althage are all too familiar with Schwartz’s skills, as they played with and against him throughout their high school and club soccer careers.

“Jordan’s amazing,” Moïse said. “He’ll probably be the best player on the field.”

But there will be amazing players all over the field on Sunday night in an intramural game that will look much more like a college match-up. Both teams are littered with former college players and high school standouts, and they’re all chomping at the bit for some serious competition.

“We’re pretty excited to play them just because it’s going to be a good game,” Althage said.