Matildas keeper Lydia Williams is off to ply her trade abroad after signing with Swedish outfit Pitea IF.

Australia has a light international schedule this year, and coach Tom Sermanni has encouraged his Matildas squad to accept overseas opportunities.

”Going away and seeing how the rest of the world performs will be a big eye-opener for the girls in our team, I know it was for me when I went to [the Women's Professional Soccer club] Chicago in 2009,” Williams said in an interview with the Canberra Times.

”In America we’d spend half a day running and not even touching a ball, it’s different in terms of its professionalism.

”Tom’s encouraged a lot of girls to go overseas and make sure we’re playing quality teams and training day-in, day-out.”

I had a chat to Lydia about what she’s hoping to gain from the experience and what it’s like to be a role model for Aboriginal youth:

Lydia had a stand out season in the 2011 / 2012 W-League and was named Canberra United’s player of the year.

”I don’t think there’s any doubt she’s been the most outstanding goalkeeper in the league, she’s been so rock solid at the back and gives the team confidence,” Capital Football chief executive Heather Reid said.

Sadly, we won’t see Lydia back in the W-League next season as she’ll be undergoing surgery on her return to Australia.

Williams played through the pain of torn ligaments in her left wrist for the last two months of Canberra’s triumphant campaign, which finished with a 3-2 victory over Brisbane Roar in the grand final.

She needs to have surgery to pin the ligaments down, but Williams will join Swedish club Pitea IF before going under the knife. Her playing commitments with Pitea were always expected to rule her out for at least the first three rounds of United’s championship defence. But after talking with Canberra coach Klimkova and Matildas mentor Tom Sermanni, Williams decided to undergo surgery when she arrived back in Australia. The operation could sideline her for up to five months.

”I first did it [injury] at training [in December] when the girls were taking shots, and it’s one of the main supporting ligaments in the wrist,” Williams, who is the Matildas first-choice goalkeeper, said. (Via The Canberra Times)

”It’s devastating after the season we’ve had… I’m not sure about everything at the moment but I will most likely do what’s best for my international career.

”I don’t know of the recovery period at the moment, it just depends on the surgery. The Matildas will have Asian Cup qualifiers in 2014 and not much this year or next year so the focus is to get [the surgery] done now.”

• This post originally appeared on Sporting Sheilas.
• Follow Lydia on Twitter.