The Wilton High School girls’ varsity soccer team starts their quest for a state championship today (4 p.m. at Kristine Lilly Field); that’s after a narrow defeat in the county championship game last week.

But eyes are also on a younger group of Wilton girls who are fierce soccer players on the field in Connecticut–and they hope, overseas. Players at the U14 level, all eighth graders, have impressed their coaches so much, they’ve been asked to play on the international level in a huge soccer tournament in Italy next summer.

The San Marino Soccer Cup is a six-day tournament in mid-July 2014, and it’s the largest youth soccer tournament for girls and boys in Europe, with more than 200 teams competing. Each Wilton player will be accompanied on the trip by a parent, getting the opportunity to play tourist a bit together–touring Lake Como, and taking part in a little training in Milan before heading to San Marino for the tournament’s opening ceremonies.

Their coach, Abby Allan, who herself competed internationally as a star player on the New Zealand national team, thought her Wilton players had remarkable soccer skills as well as a great team connection. “This group of girls has a lot of talent. Their passion for the game is intense, and our director of coaching had seen their growth over the last year.”

Allan is a member of Soccer Extreme, the coaching staff that works for the Wilton Soccer Association (WSA) managing Wilton Youth Soccer teams. John Salvatore is the head of Soccer Extreme as well as the coach of the WHS varsity girls’ team. According to Leigh Anne Floyd, whose daughter plays on the U14 team, the European tournament plan is a smart one for a team of players that will soon graduate to the big leagues of high school athletics.

“He is bringing up this next round of girls. He sees something in them too, and said, ‘What a great way to celebrate what they’ve done as youth players, and continue their interest in the sport as they go into the high school.'”

Allan said the decision to bring the team to Europe for a tournament was reward for the girls for great play on the field. “The way these girls have meshed and have grown together, they’ve become a really good team unit.”

That team unity is something that has built up over years of having played together. These girls, now 13- and 14-years-old, have been playing together since they were 5 years old. The bulk of the team is made up of WSA players from the current U14 A-Team; but when it was clear that only a portion of the current 18 A-Team members could make the trip overseas, an open invitation was extended to other girls in the age group who had played Wilton Soccer at some point to try out for additional spots. The roster was soon rounded out with some premier-league players who live in Wilton but now play outside of Wilton for regular season play. All 16 girls on the Wilton team going to San Marino knew one another and had played together at some point in their lives.

As a parent, Floyd said it was exciting and overwhelming to consider that not only was her daughter good enough to merit being part of a team to go the extra mile, but that they would get such an amazing learning experience. “Of course you’re proud as can be, but the first thing that comes to mind is, ‘Really? Are they really that good?’ It was enlightening to hear that and when it was presented, all of us [parents] wanted to do whatever we could to make it happen for them. We said, ‘This is something you can’t pass up.'”

Originally the thought was to take the girls to compete this past summer, at the end of their phenomenal 2012-2013 season. But fundraising and scheduling concerns made them decide that rather than rush, “Let’s do it right.” The coaches also agreed it would be better to do the trip after 8th grade wrapped up–as the girls transitioned from the WSA to high school playing and a great way to reward them and motivate them to continue.

Allan said that the experience of traveling overseas to compete is going to be life-changing for the athletes and will become something larger than just being in a competition. “Winning is not going to be the everything. This experience is going to be something they tell their grandkids about. If we play four games and we lose four games, that’s okay. It’s about learning a new culture, understanding how much passion for the sport there is. For these girls to see this, it’s going to be so amazing for them. I do believe it’s going to make them have that much more passion for the sport. They’re going to talk about it forever.”

Teams come from around the globe to compete, and the girls will be part of an international athletic “village” while they’re in San Marino. “It’s the experience of a lifetime,” Allan said. Larger stadiums, official passes they have to show to get into venues, crowds of 200-plus spectators at every game. “I don’t think they have any idea what to expect.”

The girls will also become role-models for younger Wilton players, and Allan hopes they inspire other Wilton teams to aspire to earn a place in subsequent tournaments themselves. “We want this to become a yearly opportunity,” Allen explained. “It doesn’t matter, girls’ teams, boys’ teams. If it’s a team that has the players and the families willing to be able to do it.”

Ability to do it, does mean fundraising:  they’re hoping to raise money to help cover tournament fees, offset some transportation costs and help cover some training opportunities in Italy during the trip. “We would also love to find a sponsor to help with their uniforms,” Floyd said.

The team has been fundraising with a concession stand they’ve run at many of the Wilton Youth Soccer games this fall, both to raise money by selling coffee, hot chocolate, water and snacks, and to tell people what they’re raising money for. They also hope to organize a golf outing fundraiser in the spring as well as work with Wilton Sport and Fitness during their Parents’ Night Out evenings, babysitting and playing with kids who take part in their program.

All in all, the experience will rewarding for everyone, something the parents like Floyd know well. “They’re all just a great bunch of girls, they’re tremendous players, and I’m happy for them because a lot of girls go their separate ways. These girls have stuck it out, still playing together.”

The team has set up a Facebook page where people can follow news and updates on the girls, and learn more about supporting their efforts to go to San Marino.

A team that plays together, stays together. The U14 team through the ages, over the last few years: