PARIS — Twelve years ago, the last time the U.S. women’s national team won a gold medal at the Olympics, Mallory Swanson was watching the game at a Buffalo Wild Wings. Trinity Rodman joked that she was five years old (she was 10, actually). Sophia Smith added she had been watching the very team she stars for today for as long as she could remember.
On Thursday, the three starting forwards for the USWNT — now having dubbed themselves “Triple Espresso” (or at least, they’re throwing it out there for workshopping purposes) — spoke to reporters at the Olympics’ press center. In two days’ time, they’ll have their chance to truly stamp their mark on this program with a major tournament victory.
“This team has always had a standard of winning, and winning on the biggest stage,” Smith said Thursday. “We take so much pride in that, and want to uphold that in everything that we do to pay our respects to the players that have come before us.”
For all the worries about the USWNT’s inability to score in the send-off games last month, and as tight as the knock-outs have been against Japan and Germany, all three of the forward line have scored three goals so far this tournament. Swanson has also added two assists, and Smith and Rodman one.
There’s no secret recipe for their success. All three have talked about not playing selfishly, and knowing one of them will step up — it’s just a matter of which one and when. The other part is even more simple: they actively like each other. They’re best friends off the field. The chemistry between them, their trust, all of that came together so quickly for a reason.
“We hang out every second that we can,” Rodman said, laughing. “Which is crazy because we’re stuck together.”
(Mike Lawrie/Getty Images)
As Smith pointed out following the U.S.’s statement win over Germany in the group stage, they had only had six or seven games (at that point) with the three of them as the starting forward line. “We’re clicking really well, really fast,” she said that night in Marseille. “I think this is only like 70 percent of what we can do.”
For Rodman though, it’s the off-field stuff that has made a massive difference to their communication in game. “We know how we take certain tones. It’s the littlest things. We just know each other so well, and we can then translate that on the field. If we miss a pass, there’s already a look of, ‘Oh no, she was mad. We got the next one.’”
Trinity Rodman was the extra time hero in Paris against Japan. On Tuesday, it was Sophia Smith against Germany (via a Swanson assist) — who had so little left in the tank at that point in extra time that she opted to just drop to the ground and let her teammates pile on top of her, so she didn’t have to run any more than she had to.
Head coach Emma Hayes in the mixed zone later couldn’t help but drop a couple of f-bombs in disbelief after the match on Smith’s performance, stating the forward had “f****** gone on another level.”
The front line has earned their reputation as a group at the Olympics, but each player offers something unique — playing off each other doesn’t work nearly as well if all three of them are not fully embracing what they do best.
In almost every postgame mixed zone during this tournament, either one of the three of them or one of their teammates has referenced the idea of “just Mal being Mal,” “Trin being Trin”, or “Soph being Soph.”
Smith celebrates her winner against Germany (John Todd/ISI/Getty Images)
On Thursday, Rodman gave her version of what those three shorthand comments stood in for. For herself, it was “smiling, creativity, trying new things, and being one-on-one.” She does after all, she added smiling, really enjoy a good one-on-one. That’s probably why the ‘Trin Spin’ got it’s Olympic debut so early.
For Swanson, Rodman said she is a selfless player. “She makes a lot of selfless runs to open up space. She’s explosive. She’s a perfectionist. She wants to get the perfect shot, the perfect touch, the perfect angle. But it’s in a healthy and good way.”
And for Smith, Rodman wanted to remind everyone how good she is with her feet. “She’s so good at holding defenders off, when she’s back to goal. She’s good at it in a weird way. She’s gonna be sneaky; you don’t think she’s gonna get there and then she’ll change her speed at the perfect time to get a toe in or get a touch. Her body control is really good, and it sets her up for success.”
Rodman added that having all those different skill sets on the field at the same time and knowing any one of the front three could step up meant that if one of them didn’t have a big game, it wasn’t the end of the world. Everyone was still trusted to contribute. If things aren’t working for her offensively, that’s her sign to make sure she puts in a big shift defensively.
The details may have been tweaked this tournament match-by-match, but Emma Hayes’s approach and starting XI has remained the same. She hasn’t changed it due to the threat of yellow card accumulation, or tired legs, or any whiff of outside pressure to rotate.
So on Saturday, it will be Mallory Swanson, Sophia Smith and Trinity Rodman up top, hunting goals against Brazil at Parc des Princes. And all three trust one of them will get the job done. They don’t care who, just that it ends in gold.
GO DEEPER
USWNT has suffered at the Olympics. Its perseverance is rewarded with a chance for gold
(Top photo: Mike Lawrie/Getty Images)
