You get better by practicing but you also get better with love game play. As a newer player, tough call. Especially if your daughter may not perform under pressure. She’ll have to be invested and working hard with the drive to earn playing time in the more competitive team. She could also learn that this season. That said team with a bunch of newbies can turn out painful.

I can see both advantages and disadvantages in playing with a group of better players. If the ball doesn't constantly drop, the practice is more effective. However, if the better team would bench her most of the time, this would not be fun for her. You should ask the coaches how she compares to the rest of the team. If she is the worst player on the top team, the number of players on the roster becomes very important.

She felt more relaxed around the checked at the less-competitive club tryout; however she does have 1 friend on the other club team. She does get discouraged at times and this will be her first club season, so we are concerned about her being on a team that feels like too much pressure

I wouldn't read too much into the conversation you had right now. It is really hard to tell how much they will develop her by that conversation and they can talk a good game and be a great coach or terrible. We got fooled by a fantastic salesperson once before who was just that, a great salesperson but not a good coach.

A 30 min difference in commute daily will add up to a lot of hours when you are talking about 9+ months.

What does your daughter want to do?

Hoping for help assessing 2 offers for lower age group club teams. A less-competitive club seemed really interested in my daughter; coach said they were excited about coaching her and think she has a lot of potential. She just got off the waitlist for a more competitive club; she would be one of the youngest players on that team, and there were at least 5 girls at those tryouts who are older and will be absolutely killing it and are on a whole ‘nother level. I just want my daughter to grow as a player, get playing time, like the sport, and be coached. The higher-level team has much easier logistics in terms of practice locations; the likely better-fit team with actual interest from the coach has more complicated but not impossible logistics.
How important is apparent interest from the coach in developing a player at beginner level? How does this compare to you in terms of logistics? We are comparing 10 minute commute to 30-40 minute commute, twice-weekly practices.