For the core group of the Idaho Thunder under-17 soccer team, they’ve been building to this moment the last six years.

And after losing in the U17 national championship game last year, they’ll take another run at a title starting Friday at the U.S. Club Soccer National Cup XI Finals in Waukegan, Ill., outside Chicago.

The Thunder advanced to nationals by winning the Northwest Regional championship in Seattle on June 26.

“This group is pretty much the group we had last year,” Thunder coach Briggs Anderson said. “We lost a few players, but gained a couple.”

The team is made up of players from Lakeland, Post Falls, Lake City and Sandpoint high schools, as well as a couple from the Spokane and Boise areas.

“Part of our uniqueness is that we’ve got a couple of players from Boise that have came here and played with us,” Anderson said. “Usually in whatever tournament we play in, we’ll pick them up and go play. But both Pete (Busche) and Jake (Kraut) flew in a couple of weeks ago and we’ve had that added advantage of training with them and instead of hoping that everything gels on the field — we’re forcing it in workouts.”

Colton Grytness of Lakeland, who was a starting forward on the team, tore the meniscus in his left knee during an April tournament in Seattle and will miss the tournament.

“We were just playing in Seattle and it gave out,” Grytness said.

“It’s a huge blow to us because he’s one of our forwards,” Anderson said. “We were able to get through regionals without him, but it’s going to be tough at nationals.”

The Thunder open pool play against the Eclipse Select of Illinois on Friday at 2 p.m. PDT.

“We need to play at our best in our first game,” said forward Timmy Mueller of Post Falls. “The competition is going to get better and better as we go on. We’ve been training really hard, but I think we’ve got what it takes — it just depends on how we play when we get there.”

Playing a year up in last year’s tournament, the Thunder received a wild card. This year, they’ll play in the Super Group, the highest level in the tournament.

“When we won regionals, it was something this program has never done,” Anderson said. “So they made it into the Super Group. They did it on their own. They earned it. There wasn’t any special phone calls or wild cards — this group went out and earned their spot.”

Mueller, who will be a junior this fall, added that with the national event, the nerves of having colleges scouting won’t affect him.

“It’s nerve wracking a little bit, but once the game starts, I try not to think about it too much,” Mueller said. “If I mess up, I don’t even think about it and just escape.”

With the addition of the Thunder’s indoor “Thunder Dome” training facility in Hayden, Mueller said the team has grown on and off the field.

“A lot of us are a lot bigger now and more mature,” Mueller said. “From last year, the team kind of gelled. It’s not like those kids are from Lakeland or those kids are from Post Falls — we just all hang out together now. We’re a lot better now as a team and going to be better at nationals for it. This is an awesome place to for the whole team to hang out together. Sometimes we don’t even come here to practice. Sometimes we just come here to hang out. We’re not just a team — we’re all friends.”

Grytness will travel with the rest of his teammates to the tournament, but is targeting a return for the Surf Cup in San Diego in November.

The recovery time is six months, but when Grytness suffered the same injury to the same knee his sophomore season, he returned in 4 1/2 months. He’s still being recruited by a couple of schools in the midwest.

“It’s tough missing out on any games,” Grytness said. “If everything goes right, I could be back for (high school) districts. But I give a lot of credit to club ball. Even though I’ve missed two years of high school ball, I’ve still gotten a lot of exposure.”

Illinois and Gonzaga are among those interested in Grytness.

“I’m hoping to play a little closer to home for a big school,” Grytness said. “It’s always been my dream to play at the highest level I can.”

The Thunder have spent five days a week training for the tournament.

“I think it will help a lot,” said Alec Johnson, who will enter his senior year at Lake City in the fall. “When everyone gets going, we start to play better as a team. We’ll need to bring our ‘A’ game, but I think we can handle it and play well.”

The Thunder conclude pool play against Lake Grove United of New York on Saturday and the Ohio Elite Academy on Sunday. The top two teams from each four-team pool play for the championship on Monday at 9 a.m.

“It’s going to take a lot of luck, which is like in any soccer game,” said Anderson, who also coaches the Post Falls High school girls varsity team. “And you need some luck on your side and a couple of players to play out of their minds — which we get all the time. We can’t get frustrated with the heat and other teams. If they can play like a team and get through all that other stuff, we should be able to win.”