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Women’s soccer star Sophia Smith is enjoying her first-ever World Cup, and she is doing so in spectacular fashion.
During Team USA’s match against Vietnam over the weekend, Smith managed to score not one, but two goals. The USWNT (U.S. Women’s National Team) ultimately clinched a 3-0 win.
Smith has been playing soccer since she was a young child and led both her high school and her college teams to major championship moments. Here’s what we know about rising star Sophia Smith.
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Who is Sophia Smith?
Sophia Smith is a member of the USWNT who recently led her team to victory at the World Cup.
Where is Sophia Smith from?
Smith grew up in Colorado and has two older sisters.
How old is Sophia Smith?
Sophia Smith was born August 10, 2000, making her 22 years old.
When did Sophia Smith start playing soccer?
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Smith began playing youth soccer in 2014, and was coached as a kid by Lorne Donaldson, who is now the head coach of the Jamaican women’s national team. She was later captain of her high-school soccer team at Fossil Ridge High School in Fort Collins, Colorado. She also played at Stanford University for two seasons and won the NCAA Championship in 2019.
What position does Sophia Smith play?
Smith is a forward, i.e. a player whose purpose is to score and make assists to other forwards who are trying to score. The other forwards on Smith’s team are Alex Morgan, Trinity Rodman, Alyssa Thompson, Lynn Williams and Megan Rapinoe.
When did Sophia Smith join Team USA?
Smith was called up to the Senior National Team when she was 16, but made her professional debut with the USWNT in November 2020, when she was 20, alongside Jaelin Howell, with whom she played soccer in kindergarten.
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What did Sophia Smith do in the World Cup?
At 22 years and 346 days of age, @sophsssmith is the second-youngest player in #USWNT history to score multiple goals in a World Cup game and the youngest since Cat Whitehill in 2003 🇺🇸 pic.twitter.com/G2cqJDYsNm
— U.S. Women's National Soccer Team (@USWNT) July 22, 2023
During Team USA’s match against Vietnam, Smith scored two of the team’s three goals. She is the second-youngest player to score multiple goals at a World Cup game.
While speaking to the Associated Press following the match, Megan Rapinoe said of Smith’s performance, “We’ve been seeing this monster in the league for a few years now and I’ve personally been very excited to see her on the world stage and getting to, you know, wear the jersey and play in the biggest game, so she didn’t disappoint. I expect much more.”
Team Captain Lindsey Horan commented, “Soph Smith, look what she did. She does that every single day in training so it’s no shock to me.”
How did Sophia Smith honor her late friend at the World Cup?
Smith marked her second goal by honoring her late friend and teammate, Katie Meyer, a goalkeeper for Stanford women’s soccer who died by suicide in March 2022.
The nod was subtle but meaningful: After a ref confirmed that Smith’s goal counted, the star forward celebrated with her teammates, then mimed zipping her lips and throwing away the key—just as Meyer did at the College Cup in 2019.
“That was pretty iconic what she did in the College Cup, and we just want to honor her in every way,” Smith told reporters after the game.
She’d previously told NBC of her friend’s death, “Since then, I’ve had a different perspective on life and on people. I try to approach everything with like, you don’t know what someone’s going through, and you won’t always see signs of struggle.”
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