It is arguably the greatest goal ever scored in women's club football in the US and it was an Australian boot that struck it into the back of the net.

On a Saturday evening in June at Yurack Field in New Jersey, Perth-born Lisa De Vanna helped start Sky Blue FC's attacking move through the Boston Breakers' defence as she combined with Katy Freels before finishing it with an exquisite bicycle kick.

"It happened so quick," says Boston midfielder and fellow Australian Kyah Simon of her compatriot's stunning overhead strike.

"I was watching from the halfway line. As [Freels] scooped it up I thought the last time I saw someone scoop the ball was when I played indoor soccer ten years ago. So I had no idea what was going on at that point.

"And then Lisa just came out of nowhere with a bicycle kick and I had never seen her do one before in training or games. Caitlin [Foord, another Australian, who plays for De Vanna's Sky Blue team] and I just turned to ourselves and were like, 'Did she really just do that?'"

That flash of inspiration was the most captivating moment amongst a string of standout performances this season from the five Australians in the new professional National Women's Soccer League - Emily van Egmond at Seattle Reign and Samantha Kerr at Western New York Flash, along with De Vanna, Foord and Simon.

More importantly, their American experience could help write the history of this generation of Matildas, who are looking to take the next step on the international scene.

While the days of players paying their own way to training camps and international tournaments may be long gone, the problem for the Australian women's football team since its establishment in the 1970s has always been playing time.

After the 2011 Olympic women's football qualifying tournament it was over nine months before the Matildas gathered again for an international match. When the team gathered in Canberra for a double-header against New Zealand in June of this year it had been almost as long between games.

The brief 12-week W-League season, the domestic women's competition, doesn't yet offer a solution to this problem.

So with the chance to defend their Asian Cup title in 2014 fast approaching, the hopes of the Matildas have received an unexpected boost from North America.

Last year out of the ashes of the self-imploded Women's Professional Soccer league in the US came the NWSL. It is an initiative set up with funding from the American, Canadian and Mexican football federations to give their players the same crucial competitive playing time Matildas coach Hesterine De Reus wants for her charges.

The league's first regular season finished last weekend and the consensus is that the five Matildas thrived in a league where, as Foord puts it, they "run and run and run".

"The Aussies have definitely put a stamp on the league and I'm hoping more and more girls flock over here to the US and soak up the experience," says Simon.

"The main aspect is probably the physical aspect of the game. It definitely contributes with my fitness and my sharpness as well. I come from more of a European style football back in Australia. So when you compliment that with a higher fitness level and a higher agility it falls hand in hand.

"If we instilled that a little bit into our game as we are building through this transition phase we can really take some positives from experiencing the US league."

While De Vanna is a storied international with two World Cups under her belt, the average age of the other four Aussies in the NWSL is under 20 years old.

The even distribution of US internationals across the league means each of them are now playing alongside some of their generation's most successful athletes such as Hope Solo, Abby Wambach and Christie Rampone.

When Foord's season ended due to a strained ankle with her side on the verge of entering the play-offs, it was the advice of the 38-year-old veteran Rampone that helped the Wollongong native find some perspective.

"You're young, you're going to heal so quick," Rampone told her. "You're going to have so many more opportunities."

That advice coming from a mother of two who's experienced the lows of major injuries through to the highs of World Cup glory struck a chord with the 18-year-old Foord.

"For Christie, for the age she's at and after having two kids, she's an amazing person," she explained. "How she's still playing so well and so fit, just learning from her, she's told our team a few things about how you get an injury and you just keep going. From doing that look at what she's achieved."

With two of the four teams in the NWSL play-offs featuring some of the Australians – Western New York and Sky Blue – attention for these five Matildas will soon turn back to international football.

"When I first came into the national team we came off that really good performance at the 2007 World Cup," says Simon.

"I think that was the time when women's football kind of got evaluated and it was like we actually are world contenders, we can compete. We're no longer going into games and trying not to lose and trying not to get goals scored against us. We're going into games knowing we have the ability."

Ability that will now be backed by a touch of American steel.