The 2020 Summer Olympics was a massive upset for the United States Women’s National Soccer Team. The team already had immense pressure following their World Cup win, so winning the gold medal was expected from them, but it would also be the cherry on top of their success cake. Unfortunately for the team, they lost the opportunity to play in the silver and gold medal match but ended up winning bronze against Australia with a score of 4-3. This was hugely unexpected as it was the first time in years that the U.S. team was not at the top of a tournament.
In this recent 2024 Summer Olympics, the U.S. team was back for revenge. They ended up winning the gold against Brazil with a final of 1-0 with an undefeated record, which has not been done since 2012. The lone goal was scored by the young star, Mallory Swanson. Surprisingly, Swanson was not the only young player on the roster which is what the new coach, Emma Hayes, did differently than the previous coach in the last Olympics. Hayes embraced the new wave of young players coming in. Shockingly, with all these new players, Hayes had only coached this team for two months before their first match and was already showing how victorious she was. Sadly, with new players coming in, old ones have to go. This change, however, was heavily criticized by the fans at first.
When the roster for the 2024 national team was released fans were shocked, and some were even outraged by the names listed. For the first time in years, the star forward, who just announced her retirement, Alex Morgan along with defender Becky Sauerbrunn were not on the list. I asked one of our own student-athletes, Belen, about this matter and she stated that “they’re just too old. We need young players to win games,” and she couldn’t be more right. The young players on this new team are the reason why they dominated everyone in the Olympics.
Media and fans call these three young stars many names including “The Trident,” The Holy Trinity,” and the name they call themselves, “The Triple Espresso.” Their real names on the other hand are Trinity Rodman, Sophia Smith, and Mallory Swanson. This trio took total control throughout the tournament, scoring ten of the twelve total goals for the U.S. Some of their outstanding plays included Rodman, who scored in extra time to win against Japan with a score of 1-0 which made the team advance to the semi-finals. During the semi-final match, Smith scored in extra time to win the game with an assist by Swanson to defeat Germany. The moment that made history though was Smith’s gold medal-worthy goal in the second half of their final match, which gave the USWNT team their first gold since 2012. Not only did Smith score the game-winning goal to get them the gold, but she did so on her birthday. I am sure that is the best birthday gift she could ever ask for.
