Ahead of a historic appearance in the FIFA Women's World Cup, the Philippine women's national football team hopes to first deliver at the regional level.

The Filipinas are seeking to again make the podium in the 32nd Southeast Asian Games, and if possible, improve upon the bronze medal that they won last year in Vietnam.

• Football: Long, McDaniel sisters banner PH team to SEA Games

"We're definitely expecting to do better than we did," star striker Sarina Bolden said after the team concluded its first training session in Phnom Penh, Cambodia on Monday. "The last SEA Games, we were able to get that bronze, which was like a big moment for us. It's been a long time since we got bronze, and we really earned it."

"I'm hoping we can go for gold, and I believe we can do that. We're definitely trying to achieve higher than we did last time," she added.

Winning bronze in the SEA Games was among the highlights of a busy 2022 for the Filipinas, which also included a semifinal appearance in the AFC Women's Asian Cup -- a feat that sealed their ticket to this year's Women's World Cup.

After the SEA Games, they went on to lift the AFF Women's Championship trophy on home soil in July 2022.

The Filipinas have stayed busy since, as the team regularly plays during FIFA international windows. Just last April, they booked their place in the second round of the qualifiers for the Paris Olympics.

• Football: Filipinas march to 2nd round of Olympic qualifiers with rout of Hong Kong
• Football: Filipinas showcase growth, improvement in rout of Hong Kong

"We've had a grueling schedule over the last 15 months, played a lot of football," noted head coach Alen Stajcic.

Stajcic is hopeful that their grueling schedule will bear fruit in the SEA Games, even as he acknowledged that defending champion Vietnam remains the favorite to win gold anew.

"We're just growing at the moment, we know we have a long way to go to catch up. Vietnam, Thailand and Myanmar have been strong for a long time," he admitted. "We respect that they have better history."

"Hopefully that this tournament will show that we’ve closed the gap even more. Over time we want to keep progressing not just in Southeast Asia and Asia but also in the world," the Australian mentor added.

Stajcic called up a mix of veterans and new players for the SEA Games, with some of the team's usual suspects unavailable as the biennial event does not fall within a FIFA window.

Set to lead the team is center-back Hali Long, while Chandler McDaniel continues her comeback from an ACL injury. Youngster Isabella Pasion once again received a call-up after the 16-year-old showed great poise in the Olympic qualifiers.

The Filipinas open their campaign on May 3, Wednesday, against Myanmar at the RCAF Old Stadium in Phnom Penh. It will be a rematch of the bronze medal match in last year's SEA Games, where the Philippines won, 2-1, off goals by Sarina Bolden and Quinley Quezada.