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Lo’eau LaBonta has played in hundreds of soccer games over the years, but when the Kansas City Current midfielder went into the U.S. women’s national team game with China on Saturday in the 70th minute, it was an all-new experience.

“Oh, it was amazing,” she said Monday, standing a short distance from the field at Energizer Park. “I was on the bench just cheering on, being the best teammate I could be. They called my name, and I think my heart rate shot up and I was ready to go.”

The cause for all the excitement for LaBonta was that getting in that game was the end of a very long wait. At 32 years, two months and 13 days, LaBonta was the oldest player ever to make her debut for the U.S. women’s team, by more than a year. The player she replaced on the field, Lily Yohannes, is 17, and just past half LaBonta’s age.

LaBonta could very possibly make her second appearance with the national team Tuesday night, when the United States faces Jamaica in a friendly match. With only two days off between this match and the China match on Friday, coach Emma Hayes figures to make many changes to her lineup.

LaBonta’s story is one of perseverance. She’s made provisional rosters, the list of players told to be ready for a possible call-up, for the national team over the run of her 11-year pro career but was never was able to make the final cut and fulfill her dream. Finally she did.

“I think it’s always a goal, right?” she said. “It’s always there. Maybe I didn’t think it was going to happen, but I didn’t stop trying. I didn’t stop working to be the best that I could. And I think that’s what the national team is. If you’re playing, they want the best. So whether I was subconsciously doing it or not, that was always a goal.”

“Lo’s situation should serve as a reminder to everyone that we watch every game and that we are invested in what you’re doing, day in, day out,” said Hayes. “Age is just a number, and she’s fit and she’s healthy. She’s someone who’s always striving, and I’ve heard her speak a number of times. She’s someone who constantly sees that there’s room for improvement in what she’s doing.”

Even though she’s the second-oldest player in this camp, behind only defender Crystal Dunn (who made her 160th appearance on Saturday), LaBonta brings energy. Hayes said that in the internal competitions within the team, LaBonta is among the leaders. She’s also, along with Dunn, the shortest player on the team at 5-foot-1.

“She still wants to improve all the time,” Hayes said, “but she’s come in not just with great humility but a great confidence in herself and what she brings. She’s soaked up every single minute like it was her last, and her behaviors towards not just herself, but everybody else in the team, I think serves as a great reminder that while it’s never too late but also that you never stop learning. And she’s been an unbelievable learner all week with an unbelievable growth mindset. She’s been absolutely brilliant.”

“I got to where I am because I’m very competitive,” said LaBonta. “You can clearly see I’m not the tallest, strongest, fastest, so I’ve had to work the hardest. ... I’m just trying to soak up everything I can and be competitive as well.”

LaBonta has never gotten this much attention in her career, which includes an NCAA championship at Stanford, where she graduated with a degree in engineering. Right now, she’s the talk of U.S. soccer.

“It is fascinating,” she said. “My dad first said it. He was like, ‘I’ve never seen someone get so much love.’ And then I was like: Oh, but that’s just a dad. He’s a fan. Of course, he’s going to focus on me. But then my husband, who’s had an international career as well, was like, ‘No, everyone is loving you.’ And it’s a great story, right? Someone finally achieved their dreams this far on. So I have felt it. I’ve loved it. If I haven’t responded to you yet, I’m really trying. I’m just trying to impress Emma first before I get back to your messages. I’ve felt it, and I love it.”

And now that she’s achieved that goal of playing for the national team, she wants more.

“Yeah I want more,” she said. “I’m going back to the buffet. I want more of that.”

The match Tuesday was originally supposed to be against China, which the U.S. beat 3-0 on Saturday, but the Chinese bowed out of the second game in April. Jamaica was picked as a replacement. While Jamaica has gone to the past two women’s World Cups, it’s No. 40 in the current FIFA rankings compared to No. 15 for China.

“The big challenge now is we’ve demonstrated we can do our first game really well in camp,” Hayes said. “The challenge is sustaining that level over a 90-minute period in the second game. Now, granted, I’ve made lots of changes from Game 1 to Game 2 as we develop an accumulation of experience for a bigger depth, larger playing pool, but that will be the challenge I set for the team is: I want to see another level in us again over a 90-minute period.”

The game is also be a tribute match for former U.S. national team defender and captain Becky Sauerbrunn, the Ladue High graduate who retired at the end of the last NWSL season.