In March, the U17 Puerto Rico Women's team made history, becoming the first-ever squad from Puerto Rico to qualify for a World Cup at any level when they advanced out of their group at the CONCACAF U17 Women's World Cup qualifiers.

As the staff and team continue to prepare for an important summer ahead of the U17 Women's World Cup this fall, Puerto Rico Sporting Director Eduardo Jimenez praised the ECNL Heritage Project for the role it has played in making scouting players around the United States so much more manageable for the Puerto Rico Federation.

"The Heritage Project has streamlined our recruiting process in the United States, tenfold. Being a smaller federation, it's tough for us to cover the amount of games, clubs, and players, both on the boys and girls side, that we would like to cover," Jimenez said. "It's helped our process so much and obviously we've seen the result of it with this last U17 World Cup group."

Puerto Rico's team featured 14 current ECNL athletes, including three players that were connected to the team through the ECNL Heritage Project, a program designed to help connect high-level athletes with foreign heritage to federations around the world for whom they are eligible to play.

Camila Adame (Sporting Jax), Olivia Cuevas (Florida Kraze Krush), Giselle Falcon (Bethesda SC), Juliana Hille (East Coast Surf), Zoriah Jones (Florida Kraze Krush), Joelle Mateo (Penn Fusion SA), Zoe Melia (FSA FC), Victoria Moore (Florida Kraze Krush), Aleeya Olmo (Penn Fusion SA), Sandra O'Neill (PDA Blue), Tatum Quinones (Penn Fusion SA), Jaeda Russell (Florida Premier), Amanda Vega (Orlando City Seminole), and Gianna Visone (SUSA FC) all were part of the team that helped Puerto Rico capture this historic moment.

At the U17 Women's World Cup qualifiers, Puerto Rico defeated Haiti and Bermuda in Group B before falling to the United States in their final group game. With their six points from the two wins and a goal differential of plus-7, Puerto Rico earned their spot in the U17 World Cup as the highest ranked second place team from group play.

During the three games, ECNL players scored nine of the 12 Puerto Rico goals. Falcon led the team with three goals, while Adame scored two, and Mateo, Melia, Olmo, and Russell each added a tally of their own.

"What Puerto Rico accomplished is a powerful example of how the modern player development landscape is becoming increasingly global and interconnected," said ECNL Heritage Project Director Pat McStay. "Many of these players developed in ECNL environments that challenged them daily and prepared them to compete at the highest level internationally. As Director of the ECNL Heritage Project, it is incredibly rewarding to see ECNL athletes helping write new chapters of history for their countries and inspiring the next generation of players who now believe those opportunities are possible."

Jimenez said the Heritage Project is also very important in making players aware of which federations they are eligible to play for, as many players or families may not know federations like Puerto Rico may be options. That process has also made it easier for Jimenez because he knows the players being connected through the Heritage Project are already eligible to play for Puerto Rico, allowing him to get right into scouting the players.

"Having the ability to allow the players themselves and families initiate the interest is massive, because it allows us to skip two steps; not only are the players being found, they're also already qualified to play for us because the information is already inputted," Jimenez said. "Whenever the email from Pat (McStay), I know I don't have to double check their heritage because it's already there. I'm just looking at the names and going straight into looking at the player video."

While the qualification for the U17 Women's World Cup is a historic moment for Puerto Rico, success is nothing new for this collection of players. In the past three years together, they have won at multiple levels, including winning the U14 Caribbean Cup Championship, before going on to win the UNCAF Tournament at the U16 age group, and then ultimately qualifying for the U17 World Cup.

Jimenez says these successes are confirmation that Puerto Rico is on the upswing, but also noted the success does not mean they are satisfied with their progress.

"It's validation that we're heading in the right direction. For us as a Federation we've been intentionally investing in our youth development infrastructure, both in Puerto Rico and outside of Puerto Rico, because we have talented youth players that we feel can compete with the top CONCACAF nations," Jimenez said. "It invigorates us though to continue to work even harder to make sure we qualify again next year and get our boys now to qualify. So, there's no sense of complacency."

The success Puerto Rico has experienced with the Heritage Project, which has now connected nearly 2,000 players to more than 50 federations around the world, has made it even more appealing for Puerto Rico, along with other countries, to be present at ECNL national events throughout the season.

"With the success we've had with the Heritage Project we're even more enticed now to come to the showcases," Jimenez said. "We're going to the showcase in North Carolina and we want our presence to be known that we're there. We want people to know that the Puerto Rican National Team is recruiting at this ECNL event. So, that's our next phase."

With the U17 Women's World Cup beginning October 17 in Morocco, it will be a busy summer for Puerto Rico as they ramp up preparations for what they hope to be a successful first appearance in any World Cup competition. 

"We want to go and win a couple games," Jimenez said. "We're not just going on vacation. We want to go there and have a chance to make it past the group and that's why we're looking to strengthen the team through ID camps and recruiting at events like the showcase in North Carolina."

In July, the team will head to Chula Vista for a two week domestic camp, before then heading off to Valencia, Spain in September, where they will compete against youth women's pro clubs in their final preparations for the World Cup.

"We're going to be staying at a high-performance training center in Valencia," Jimenez said. "We'll have a combination of training and three to four friendlies while we're over there in preparation for the World Cup. The idea is to be there for two weeks, acclimate to Europe a bit, and then take a short flight over to Morocco for the World Cup."

Last week, Puerto Rico learned their opponents for this fall's World Cup at the draw in Zurich, Switzerland. Puerto Rico will open play on October 18 against defending champions North Korea, before taking on an opponent from Africa who advances through the conclusion of Africa's World Cup qualifying this July, and will then conclude group stage play against Poland.

While Jimenez emphasized they want to put on a great showing for Puerto Rico, no matter the results at this fall's U17 Women's World Cup, this team has set a new standard for success moving forward in Puerto Rico.

"You can't replicate international competition. With these girls having that taste of success, it starts to create a winning mentality and a winning culture amongst our women's teams," Jimenez said. "This is the standard, so the group that comes after these girls, if they don't make it to the World Cup, it's going to be considered a failure, but that is a privilege. That kind of expectation and that kind of pressure is what we've been working towards."