For coaches Rob Pipal and Ron Evan, it’s deja vu all over again. For the rest of the team members, it’s about to be a first-time, eye-opening experience.

On Saturday morning the Mankato Storm, Classic 2, Under-19 girls soccer team will board a plane and head to Scandinavia. Although it will be the first such trip for the players, it will be the second in six years for coaches Pipal and Evan.

The two coaches took Mankato’s U-19 girls team on a similar trip in 2002. Head coach Rob’s daughter Stephanie was on the original team that went and his second daughter, Joelle, is on the current team.

“When I look back on the first trip we made, everything really went pretty smoothly,” coach Pipal said. “We’re keeping our fingers crossed that this one goes just as smooth.”

This year’s trip begins in Copenhagen on Monday with the start of the Dana Cup tournament. The international competition involves 832 teams, only five of which hail from the U.S.

“It’s really spread out over different towns in Denmark,” coach Pipal said. “It’s not like Blaine in Minnesota where you have a bunch of fields in one central location. For the Dana Cup you have to take buses to the different fields.”

The idea for the return trip to Scandinavia has been has been in the works for awhile. Coach Pipal has long wanted his second daughter to enjoy the same experience as his older one.

He thought he accomplished the feat a few years ago when Joelle played on a summer team out of Edina that planned a similar excursion, but that team unraveled before the trip was taken. At the end of last season he brought the subject up again with the Mankato team and the response was overwhelmingly positive.

“We were all for it from the very beginning,” team member Amber Ostoff said. “We came up with different fundraising ideas and just started doing it.”

Even though the trip means the U-19 team will miss the postseason in Minnesota, player Jessica Wacholz said nobody hesitated when coach Pipal started talking seriously about making the trip.

“The playoffs are always fun, but this is a trip to Europe,” Wacholz said. “You don’t get opportunities like this very often. You have to jump at them when you get the chance.”

Stephanie and Joelle Pipal are one of three sets of sisters who are involved in the two trips. Micki Kelly made the 2002 trip and Meghan Kelly is going on Saturday. Amanda Evan also took the plunge six years ago and Nicole Evan is going this year.

“I think it’s only natural that we tried this again,” coach Pipal said. “I mean these girls have been hearing about what a great time it was from the older sisters for six years. Now they get a chance to experience it first hand.”

When the Dana Cup is over in the middle of next week, team members will split up and stay with host families in Sweden for a few days. They’ll play a few friendly games in Sweden, then stop in Iceland on the way back for another friendly game, before returning to the U.S. on Aug. 1.

“This is a great educational opportunity for all these girls,” coach Pipal said. “They get to immerse themselves in a difference culture and meet so many other players from different backgrounds. These are not the kind of things you can learn in a classroom.”