Watch more News on iWantTFC

It may have been considered a friendly match but it was a highly physical game between the Philippines and New Zealand, with the 53rd ranked Filipina footballers playing tough in a loss against their 22nd ranked opponent.

"It was a very tough loss," the Philippine women's team's co-captain Hali Long admitted. "Unfortunately, we couldn’t come out with the win. I think that might be the most disappointing part because we knew we could win the whole game... We know we can hang with high ranked teams like we did in the Asian Cup. We just need to finish them out and come out on top."

The first 40 minutes of the game remained scoreless until Sarina Bolden scored the first goal of the game just before halftime.

Around the 24-minute mark of the second half, New Zealand managed to tie up the score with a penalty kick. They tagged on another goal about 10 minutes later, giving them a 2-1 win over the Philippines.

"We're always progressing. We're always reaching high and that's why we picked an opponent that's over 30 spots in front of us in the rankings to test us and see where we are and I think we showed that we can compete at that level if we do everything right and there’s still certainly a lot of improvement left in us as well," Philippine women's team Head Coach Alen Stajcic noted.

Meanwhile, the New Zealand team Head Coach Jitka Klimkova said the Filipina footballers were 'a very strong opposition.'

"It was not easy to find a way to win this game. I'm very happy that our second half had the grit that we were talking [about] in our locker room," Klimkova said.

The past two weeks have been full of training camps for the girls in Southern California. For some like midfielder Jessica Miclat, it was also a homecoming. She was one of several Fil-Am talents that were recruited in this region during the past decade.

"To see it all the way through until now while we’re preparing for the World Cup and to be in front of friends and family, it’s always nice but I think this game goes to show, although we didn’t get the result, we can compete with the top nations in the world," Miclat shared.

The game wrapped up the two-week camp for the Philippine women's team. They plan on getting more experience in the next FIFA window in November.

While a victory against New Zealand would have been sweet, the team made plenty of gains throughout the week - from cohesion to experience. They hope to ride on these gains to next year's World Cup.