USWNT star Sophia Smith’s life in pictures

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. She made it 2-0 just before the end of the first half.

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.

Follow the action live! USA vs. Vietnam live blog

Sophia Smith, who was born Aug. 10, 2000, fell in love with soccer at an early age while playing in Fort Collins, Colorado. But she and two older sisters, middle daughter Savannah and oldest sister Gabrielle, 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.