A week in Italy promises a lifetime of memories.

After racking up air miles over five round trips to the continent during the regular season last fall, the University of Hawaii soccer team embarked on a trip across the globe on Monday to wrap up the spring.

The Rainbow Wahine will spend the next week in Italy in the program’s first international tour in six years, with two exhibition matches included on their visits to Milan and Turin.

“I’m so excited. It doesn’t feel real,” UH junior midfielder Mia Foster said after a practice last week. “They haven’t done an international trip in a long time, so I didn’t know that was even an option. So when they talked about it, I thought it would be cool to see a different culture and food and different soccer.

“We’re already a super close bunch, but traveling in general kind of bonds you for life, and through this experience — going to Italy, seeing monuments, going to churches — it’ll be forever memories we’ll have with each other and forever bonds.”

The NCAA allows teams to take an international tour once every four years. The UH soccer program last took a trip to Spain during the spring practice in 2017, but the pandemic delayed plans for another trip in 2021.

The coaches presented the players with some options for a trip this spring, and “Italy was the overwhelming favorite,” UH coach Michele Nagamine said.

“We wanted to give our players an experience that they would remember for the rest of their lives,” she said. “With international travel being such a big undertaking, I’m actually still in awe and kind of pinching myself that we actually pulled it off for a second time.”

A contingent of 19 players and three staff members left Honolulu on Monday for the daylong trek to Italy, with stops in Seattle and Amsterdam on the way to Milan.

The Rainbow Wahine will play two exhibition matches during the trip and will face the junior team from Juventus on Friday in Turin and Pro Sesto on Monday in Milan.

“They’re playing soccer all year long, they’re prepping themselves for pro careers and feeding into big clubs and national teams,” Nagamine said of the competition the Wahine will face. “They live, eat and breathe soccer. For us to see that level of play and be a part of that is huge for us. I think the environment is going to be really cool for our players.”

The trip promises educational value off the field, with the team’s itinerary including cultural activities such as walking tours and visits to museums and cathedrals.

“We know that not a lot of teams get to do international tours when you are looking at raising that kind of money,” Nagamine said. “The parents really got behind us, people donated money from out of the woodwork.

“We want to make sure we honor the people who helped us get to this point and we want to make sure that we represent the University of Hawaii and our state with as much pride as we can and spread as much aloha as we can.”

UH’s roster includes the returns of All-Big West midfielder Eliza Ammendolia and forward Kelci Sumida as fifth-year graduate students. Sumida led the team with five goals in 2021 and with four assists last season and her decision keeps UH’s forward line intact with Krista Peterson (five goals, four assists in 2022) and Amber Gilbert (four goals, two assists).

Goalkeeper Sophie Augustin started three matches before missing much of the season due to injury. Sophomore Brianna Chirpich also returns in goal.