POULSBO — The chaotic sea of jerseys that travels about endlessly in a soccer game can make finding individual players a bit of a challenge.

But for the Vikings this season, you could always locate the Skelly sisters.

Despite Kim’s bewildering weaves between opponents while dribbling up field, or Stephanie’s breakaway speed down the sideline, the Skellys are easily distinguished from other players by their white cotton head bands, ones that have become a signature look for the siblings.

“It’s a way to get your game face on,” Kim said of the sisterly phenomenon. “And my parents love it because they know where I am at all times (on the field).”

But there is no dispute with regard to which Skelly began the trend.

“I definitely started it,” Kim declared, prompting Stephanie to confess that she had committed one of those “little sister copying things.”

The Skellys are at very different points in their young lives, Stephanie a ninth grader at Poulsbo Junior High School and Kim a senior at North Kitsap looking to college next year. But for one season, their soccer careers coincided — playing on the same team, two head bands on the field at once.

The sisters have each played about eight years of select soccer in North Kitsap, with Kim taking the field for the NK Phoenix and accumulating 87 goals and 32 assists in the past four years. Stephanie currently has 23 goals and six assists with the NK Chaos during the past three years.

Neither knew what to expect when they went on the field together as Vikings. But for the sisters, what happened was magical.

“We had never played together before, but you send us out on the field and it was like we’d played together forever,” Kim said.

“I felt like we had a connection,” Stephanie said. “We don’t play exactly the same way, but I felt like I knew what she was going to do, even though I haven’t played with her. It was really weird.”

In retrospect, the siblings cherished the experience, both having known they’d come a long way to play together — but each is aware that it might not happen again.

The road to Poulsbo

Daughters of a military father, Kim and Stephanie have lived all over North America. Kim was born in Pullman, and subsequently lived in Idaho, Florida, California — where Stephanie was born — before moving to Maine, Nova Scotia, Canada and finally to Poulsbo in 1996.

They started out on baseball and soccer teams with boys as there were sometimes no girls’ teams with which to play. Soccer soon became the sport the sisters enjoyed most, finding they could quickly make friends through their teams when they moved.

The Skelly family arrived in Poulsbo when Kim was in fourth grade and Stephanie in first. Kim began playing recreational soccer but her team, the Phoenix, became a select team with the advent of the North Kitsap Select Soccer Program. Stephanie started playing for FC Kitsap select teams but eventually came closer to home and joined the GU-16 Chaos team.

Their father, Ed Skelly, also became involved in North Kitsap Soccer Club, taking the helm as director of the select program.

The sisters participated in many sports, including track, which they have both continued to compete in. The pair hold numerous records at PJH and Kim missed a state appearance last season in the 400 meter dash by only .01 of a second.

The siblings share successes off the field as well; Kim has a 3.75 GPA student and is involved in student government and Key Club at NKHS and volunteers at View Ridge Elementary School. Stephanie has a 4.0 GPA at PJH, also is involved in student government and volunteers at View Ridge.

On the field together

“At first, I was kind of apprehensive about it,” Kim admitted before playing with her sister on the same Vikings’ team this year. “I was afraid I was going to have to play keeper of Stephanie. But everybody was pretty cool about it.”

When the year came that Kim and Stephanie could play together, Kim wasn’t certain whether her sister would even play.

“When she got a starting position, it was really cool,” Kim said. “We had a lot of combinations and it was really cool to play with her.”

Kim would offer her sister advice on the field, but the elder Skelly would often ask other players to give advice vicariously for her.

“If I got to the point where I was saying too much I would go nudge somebody and say, ‘Stephanie’s frustrated, go tell her to do this,’” Kim said.

Kim was nursing a knee injury the first few games of the season and Stephanie started without her older sister on the field. That didn’t mean she was any less nervous before her first varsity game, Kim explained.

“She’s not a quiet kid,” Kim said, “And when she gets nervous, (she) shows no emotion and she’s just like, ‘I am going to sit here and be quiet.’ She got like that the car ride to school the day of the (first) game.’”

But once Stephanie got used to the nerves and Kim got healthy, the pair was finally able to see just what they could accomplish together.

“I’d just dribble it, she’d make herself an opening and I’d just hit her and she’d go,” Stephanie added. “It was cool just to watch and say, ‘Yeah, I was a part of that.’”

In all, both players scored nine goals each on the season. Stephanie also got to witness one of her sister’s finest games, a 2-2 tie with South Kitsap at the end of the season in which Kim scored both goals. But the younger Skelly was impressed with her older sister on and off the field as well.

“I always knew she was a good leader but I’d never been under the influence of her leadership,” Stephanie said. “She’d help me out at practices and she helped me out a lot. It was really cool to have somebody I could rely on.”

Kim, too, felt that having a sisterly bond on the team taught her a lot this season.

“Having Steph on the team showed me I’m most comfortable around family,” Kim said. “She taught me I can be comfortable around other people, too, and let loose. I learned to open up this year.”

The Skellys’ future

Prior to the season’s close, Kim had already been accepted to Oregon schools Linfield and Willamette. She plans to continue her soccer career and might keep running track as well.

“I know she’s going to be a stud,” Stephanie said. “There’s no question in my mind about that. I can’t wait to make a road trip and go watch her play and be her own little cheering section.”

As for Stephanie, Kim said she has no doubt her sister will be a premier threat in the Narrows’ League.

“Being one of the top goal scorers as a freshman is a really good start,” Kim said. “I see her building off of this year. She’s going to be a big impact player. She’s going to tear it up — the head band’s going to shine.”

There is a chance the head bands might not be in the same competitive game again, but there is still much soccer for each. Wherever she chooses to go in college, Kim will be wearing it.

“I have to,” Kim said. “I can’t not wear it.”

And Steph?

“Oh yes,” she said. “I’d feel naked without it.”