Hope of winning a national championship remains for six ISU women’s soccer players this summer.

These athletes are playing on regional soccer clubs across the country in the U.S. Youth Soccer National Championships. They have reached the national level for their respective teams, which is also the final level of competition.

There are a total of four different regions in U.S. Youth Soccer, depending on which area of the country players hail from. The regions are East, Midwest, South and Far West.

“Each region has about 10 or more states,” Woodbury Inferno player Maddie Jobe said. Teams in a certain state play each other to win their state title, or they can receive a wild card and play in the regional tournament.

Jobe, along with Bridget Grandas, Caitlin Graboski and Erin Green, play for the Woodbury Inferno team that won the Region II tournament. Brittany Morgan plays for the Dallas Texans, who won Region III, and Jessica Stewart plays for the Real Colorado National team, which won Region IV. All these women are sophomores and will be playing in the Under-19 tournament.

The Region I championship is still underway.

Stewart’s team faced a lot of adversity, as it initially lacked enough players to form their own team.

“We ended up merging with one of our longtime rival teams from Denver, called Real Colorado National,” Stewart said. “It was neat to watch a group of complete strangers bond together, forming a team of close-knit friends that ended up winning a regional title.”

Even though these athletes are split up on different clubs, they still represent Iowa State and have taken what they’ve learned from both their teams.

“I believe that the level of competition, both in games and practice in the Big 12, has thoroughly equipped me to play at this next level,” Stewart said.

“I have learned so many things in the past year with [ISU assistant soccer coach] Ben Madsen that I carried on in my training over the summer,” Jobe said.

These players have been playing against other ISU soccer players who did not make it to the national level, which creates interesting matchups. For them, it makes it fun as well.

Now that they are at the big stage, these players expect to take full advantage of it.

“Not many people can say that their team is the No. 1 team in the nation,” Jobe said. “It’s pretty cool to see all of the hard work paying off in the end of my club career.”

The U.S. Youth Soccer National Championships will be held from July 26 to July 31 in Phoenix, Ariz.