As a teenager, Sophia Smith told her father she was “going to be special in soccer.” She’s already doing special things at the 2023 World Cup.
It took just shy of 14 minutes for Smith to score the United States’ first goal of the 2023 World Cup in Auckland, New Zealand. Her debut goal gave the U.S. a 1-0 lead over Vietnam.
Smith, 22, is poised to be the new face of the USWNT, which is attempting to win its third consecutive World Cup. She began representing the U.S. in the 2016 FIFA U-17 World Cup and played in the 2018 U-20 World Cup. While soccer may have been her destiny, but it wasn’t the obvious athletic path.
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Sophia has two older sisters, middle daughter Savannah and oldest sister Gabrielle, and they all played basketball in addition to soccer.
Their father, Kenny, played basketball at Wyoming from 1989 to 1991. Savannah remains Northern Colorado’s all-time leading scorer.
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Even as a young soccer player, Sophia Smith found the goal
When she was 5 years old, in the car on the way to a 3-on-3 soccer tournament, Smith said she was going to score 10 goals, in a story reported by Fox Sports. She scored 10.
In high school, Smith was chosen as the 2017 U.S. Soccer Young Player of the Year after scoring for three different national teams that year: the Under-18 national team, the Under-20 team and the U-23 team.
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Smith played two seasons at Stanford University, where her team won the 2019 NCAA Championship before for-going the remainder of her collegiate eligibility to turn pro.
She made her debut on the senior national team Nov. 27, 2020 against Netherlands and scored her first goal onSept. 21, 2021, against Paraguay in Cincinnati, Ohio. She was the first player born in the 2000s – and the first born after the USWNT’s 1999 World Cup win – to start for the team, according to U.S. Soccer.
Smith has thrived since then. She won U.S. Soccer Athlete of the Year in 2022, after leading the USWNT in goals, scoring 11 times in 17 appearances.
In second full pro season, Smith leads Portland to NWSL Championship
Sophia Smith was drafted No. 1 by Portland Thorns FC in 2020, the first teenager drafted in league history.
In 2022, she scored 14 goals, the club’s single-season record, won the league MVP award, then was named MVP of the NWSL Championship game, won by Portland 2-0 over Kansas City Current.
What’s next for Sophia Smith?
Glory at the World Cup is something she is striving for. “I do feel like I’m at that point … but I have to prove myself on the big stage, in a big tournament like the World Cup,” she told USA TODAY recently. “And not just one time, but I have to continue to do that every time I’m out there. I don’t think there’s an end point to being the best in the world.”
Contributing: Lindsay Schnell and Kevin Lytle of The Coloradoan, part of the USA TODAY NETWORK
Follow Mike Snider on Twitter: @mikesnider.
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