After winning the National Women’s Soccer League’s Most Valuable Player award with the Portland Thorns last season — alongside being named U.S. Soccer’s Female Player of the Year — Sophia Smith has continued her amazing run of form into this season. She is currently leading the league’s Golden Boot race and is expected to be a force to be reckoned with at the 2023 FIFA Women’s World Cup in Australia and New Zealand.
The Equalizer spoke to some of Smith’s U.S. women’s national team teammates about how to describe her current form as a player.
Goalkeeper Aubrey Kingsbury, who played against Smith in her last NWSL game before joining the national team, described the forward as “one of those players, like you know what she’s going to do and you still can’t stop her.”
“She’s in top form. I’m excited to see her kill it this summer,” Kingsbury said. “Yes, she can score in many ways — from range, close in. She really capitalizes on all of the chances so she doesn’t miss much. She’s a great player.”
Smith ended that league match with a hat trick, all scored on her U.S. teammate Kingsbury. Of the display, the goalkeeper joked, “If someone wants to give me a little credit for helping boost her confidence going into the World Cup, you know, I’ll take it.”
