If you thought you had been seeing double on the P.K. Yonge soccer field, just wait.

On Tuesday, P.K. Yonge girls soccer twins Paulina and Ellie Cervantes ensured they would play collegiately together when the duo signed with Columbus State University in Columbus, Georgia.

“It means a lot to me,” Paulina Cervantes said. “I always dreamed of this moment. At the beginning of high school, I wasn’t sure if I’d be able to do this, but through a lot of hard work and great coaching, I was able to achieve this.”

The identical twins will be a pair of Cougars.

“We communicate so well on and off the field, and it translates on the field,” Ellie Cervantes said. “The (Columbus State) coach said he didn’t believe in package deals, but he said that if both of us were good and could contribute to the team, he would send both of us.”

Jay Entlich, who has established Columbus State University as one of the premier Division-II women’s soccer programs in the nation, wanted both.

Paulina, who scored 11 goals and added 10 assists last year, is an attacking midfielder, and her twin sister Ellie is a center back for P.K. Yonge, which finished 16-3-1, won its sixth straight district title, and was just a few penalty kicks shy of back-to-back final four appearances.

“Ellie is more defensive-minded, she’s one of our defenders, and Paulina is an attacking player, and so where Ellie sees big vision, whole field, larger strategy, Paulina sees the little moments, the super fine detail, creative moments that make-or-break little sections of the game,” said P.K. Yonge coach Rebecca Schackow. “Both of them are equally hard working, equally passionate and diligent, but there’s like a little fiery creativeness to Paulina and a little more like calm, stoic grit about Ellie.”

Schackow said you need both of those on a team.

“We just happen to get them out of one family, and the same year, and as sisters, it’s beautiful,” she said. “They’re really cool. They’re great sisters, they’re great teammates, and their whole family is amazing.”

That close relationship carries over onto the field of play.

“We kind of know what we’re gonna do before we even do it,” Ellie Cervantes said.

For Schackow, they are a package deal.

“As players, you have to hold your own and try out for a team and make it, but I mean anyone who has met the girls and seen them play see that they’re excellent players, but together they’re even better,” Schackow said. “It’s just amazing. They have great chemistry. As a coach, you always are trying to build trust between players so that they can play better with each other, and the trust they have for each other is already there.”

Paulina said Ellie is her “best friend.”

“Not everybody gets to play with her best friend, but it’s been really great,” she said. “I’m so glad God gave me this amazing sister.”

And what about the opportunity to play together at the next level?

“That’s even better,” Paulina Cervantes said. “I just feel like we just keep getting blessed. It’s been really amazing. I was really concerned about this. I was like, ‘What if we don’t end up going to the same college,’ because I feel like I always need her by my side. But I’m really thankful that this opportunity happened.”

Paulina Cervantes started training in Jacksonville during the spring of her sophomore year and one of her coaches told her to communicate with D-2 schools.

“I first initiated my email with Florida Southern and that didn’t really work out, and then through one of my club coaches, she was able to email the head coach of Columbus State and we set up a time to play with their team, practice with their team, and one thing led to another and we were able to sign with them,” she said.

But before the pair embark on a new college career together, there’s still one more year left in high school.

The honorable mention All Area selections were both a part of the school’s first-ever final four appearance a couple of years ago and will be senior leaders going into this season.

“Yeah, it’s been really amazing, I mean, I started this team in about eighth grade, and I was just a baby, and I looked up to all the seniors, and I thought they were so, so cool,” Paulina Cervantes said. “And now, I feel like transitioning throughout the years, I’ve become sort of the leader on the team, someone they look up to, and they’re just trying to keep calm, be the example that I want to be to the younger girls, and it’s just been amazing, the coaching, the teammates, everything.”

The experience that the Cervantes sisters bring to the team is invaluable.

“It’s very important for our team to have experience, for them to know what it feels like to be in high-pressure situations, to have to fight back and to have to play against teams that are better than you or as good as you, but to really have to fight for a win,” Schackow said. “So that experience is the best way to learn that, and so that means a lot to our team, them as seniors, to bring that to this season because we are rebuilding this year. We have a lot of younger players, and so now Ellie and Paulina are leaders for us, showing the way.”

P.K. Yonge is currently 2-2-1 with a 1-0 loss at defending 1A state champion St. Johns Country Day (Orange Park) and a 1-0 loss at home to 5A regional quarterfinalist Fleming Island (Orange Park).

The tie was against Class 6A Buchholz, 0-0, this past Monday night.

“This year is going to be a little more difficult, since we lost about like seven seniors,” Ellie Cervantes said. “We have a newer team, and I think we’re just trying to grow and just be more cohesive overall, but we’re getting there.”