Philadelphia girls’ soccer champs excited to see national women’s team play here

The U.S. Women’s National Soccer Team is making a stop in Philadelphia on its World Cup Victory Tour.  

Members of Philadelphia Soccer Club Coppa Elite, an under-14 girls team, say they’re thrilled to see the world champions in person. 

Arden Galvelis, 12, is the Coppa Elite team captain. She’s been stepping on grass fields and green turfs to play soccer for nearly a decade.  

“I’m so excited to start the game. I can play with my team, and I’m really motivated to win and have fun.”

The team won two big preseason tournaments this summer. For a local championship team to see the newly minted world champs means everything. 

“The team that we played in the championship we had never beaten before,” said Chelsea Czarnik, Arden’s head coach on the Coppa Elite team. “We’ve always either lost 1-0 or tied them. So to beat them 3-2 in the championship meant more than just winning the tournament.”

Czarnik saw the women’s national team in the last World Cup in Canada four years ago. She said her team can really see themselves in this year’s national team and learn a lot. 

“Especially seeing some of the criticism the players had to face throughout the World Cup,” Czarnik said. “I think it shows that young women, and women in general, can and should have a place on the world stage, and you know they’re a force to be reckoned with.”

Arden, who’s already thinking about where to play soccer in college, will join some of her other teammates and family Thursday at Lincoln Financial Field to watch the Women’s National Team play Portugal.