Joga Bonito means "quite beautifully" in Portuguese.

It's also the name of a PA West under-10 girls soccer team from the Butler area.

And, in this team's case, the name fits.

Joga Bonito recently won The Virginian, a prestigious 750-team tournament in Fairfax, Va. There were 48 under-10 girls teams, 12 in the Gold division.

"The Gold division was supposed to consist of all nationally ranked teams," Joga Bonito coach Scott Denniston said. "We weren't ranked, but I begged the tournament officials to let us play in that division."

Denniston wanted to test his team, which was 0-6 this season while competing against under-11 competition.

"We had them playing up in age because we felt their skills would be challenged more," Denniston said.

Joga Bonito's players have played soccer together for four years. They train in the winter at Family Sports Center in Butler, playing an indoor game called futsal, a variation of soccer developed in Brazil that uses a smaller ball.

Against girls their own age last fall, Joga Bonito's players went 8-0 and outscored the opposition 64-3.

The team has been going undefeated in its age group for years and plays against higher age groups "to get the appropriate competition," Denniston said.

"My daughter (Skyler) is on the team and she began playing soccer in the Butler association at age 5," Denniston said. "We saw an opportunity to train the stronger, more involved soccer players together at a young age, so we did it.

"They continue to improve. ... But I didn't see this coming."

Joga Bonito wound up winning the Gold division of The Virginian, going 4-0-1. The Butler contingent outscored its foes 12-4 and left the tournament ranked No. 3 in the country.

The team tied No. 5 SYA Storm 1-1, then defeated No. 45 Herndon Pegasus 4-0, No. 20 FASA Elite 3-1, No. 8 BRYC Lightning 2-1 and SYA Storm 2-1 in the championship game.

"That (SYA Storm) team hadn't lost a game in a year," Denniston said. "Their last loss was a year to the day we beat them. They won the Jefferson Cup in March and that's one of the top two youth soccer tournaments in the country."

Mariah Helch of Butler scored both Joga Bonito goals in the championship game. Goalkeeper Jessica Huselton, also of Butler, stopped penalty kicks during the semifinal round.

Other players on the roster from Butler are Abby Boyle, Brianna Brusamonti, Skyler Denniston, Logan Donohue, Madison Glew, Hannah Hartley, Hannah Hays, Abby Kaufman, Megan McCartney, Riley Seibert and Rachael Woessner.

Lillian Marcoux of Mars and Julie Milton of Seneca Valley also are on the team.

"This is an incredible group of girls who win by playing team soccer," Denniston said. "We'll definitely keep them together for the under-11 season next year."