More than a dozen young women from Pakistan were among the fans who took in the Washington Freedom's home opener against the Chicago Red Stars on April 11. (WPS)

While many soccer fans have passed through the WPS stadium turnstiles in the past three weeks excited for the opportunity to watch women’s professional soccer in the U.S. once again, perhaps no group of fans were more excited than a dozen young women from Pakistan who attended Saturday’s Washington Freedom-Chicago Red Stars game in Germantown, Md.

“This is just an amazing experience,” said Sana Mahmood, a 19-year-old from Islamabad, the capital of Pakistan. “We are all ecstatic just to be here. It’s been so exciting.”

The group of soccer players was invited from Pakistan through the U.S. State Department’s SportsUnited program to learn, train and watch soccer in the United States for 12 days in April.

After arriving April 7, the players had the chance to take part in several training practices with youth clubs in the D.C. area and then took part in a clinic run by Freedom assistant coach Clyde Watson earlier on Saturday.

“Football [soccer] here (in the U.S.) is so much more advanced for women,” said Mahmood watching from the stands and beaming with excitement as the Freedom and Red Stars played on the pitch below. “It’s not something we’re really pushed to do in Pakistan. I’ve always enjoyed the outdoors and loved to watch the English Premier League, so that’s how I got started.”

After just 1½ years of playing the sport competitively, Mahmood, along with her teammates, won the first All-Pakistan Inter-Club Women’s Football Tournament in August 2008. But like all competitive athletes, they are striving to improve. And for that, they had the chance of a lifetime to come to America thanks to the U.S. Embassy in Pakistan which organized the group.

The girls’ coach and program coordinator who traveled with them to the States agreed that watching the best is one way to become your best – for any individual.

“It’s not just about the experience of coming over but a chance for the girls to see top level soccer,” said Syed Azfer Iqbal, the program manager at the U.S. Embassy in Pakistan. “They see a lot of the girls in the U.S. as role models. They see how families get involved in the development of a player and that’s something they don’t usually have in Pakistan.”

“But then they also see the similarities. That they have some of the same techniques… That they warm-up the same… and train the same. It’s a very eye-opening experience.”

Indeed for many of the girls visiting from more than 7,000 miles away on this day, getting the opportunity to watch the world’s best in person on a professional stage was a dream come true.

“During the first half of the game we were watching all the players closely on the field and imagining ourselves out there,” said Mahmood. “We were all laughing and saying, ‘Hey, I would play that position’ … or, ‘I would be that player’.”

And who was her favorite?  “Definitely number eight for the Freedom. Definitely. She’s great.”

On this day, Washington flanker Sonia Bompastor had one fan in the stands who had come from more than halfway around the world.