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Sophia Smith has said she is excited about entering a new phase with the United States following the “rollercoaster of emotions” she went through after USWNT’s round-of-16 exit from last year’s World Cup.
The 23-year-old, who made her World Cup debut in Australia and New Zealand last summer, began the tournament in remarkable fashion by scoring twice and assisting another in the U.S’s opening game win over Vietnam.
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But, the four-time World Cup winners’ campaign ended prematurely, after they were knocked out on penalties against Sweden in the round of 16. Smith was one of three U.S. players to miss their spot-kick on the night.
It’s why she said that her late penalty in the Gold Cup semifinal against Canada last month, a tournament the U.S. went on to win, meant so much to her.
“I’ve said it before — since the World Cup it’s been a rollercoaster of emotions. I’m a goal-scorer and I pride myself in that and so getting that goal for my team in a big moment like this really meant a lot to me,” she told ESPN’s Futbol Americas show.
“But it meant the most to me that I could help this team and progress us forward. A PK [penalty kick] is not easy to step up and take one after the last one you took in a big tournament, [you] missed. And ultimately, we came short of what we want to do but I was confident in that moment of taking a PK and it feels good. I feel it gave me a little extra boost going into the season.”
Smith said she believes the USWNT’s Gold Cup triumph, which came after a 1-0 win over Brazil in the final, has helped the squad turn the page ahead of a summer that will see them compete at the Olympics under incoming manager in Emma Hayes.
“We played awesome teams, we played teams who posed different challenges in different ways. For us as a team, we’re excited for this new chapter and this new phase of getting a new coach in and building from that,” she said.
“But I think what we’ve started with this Gold Cup — obviously winning it is a big thing — but what we learned about each other and ourselves within the month that we were there, I think is, is huge growth for us.
“A lot of us individually have our own lessons, as a team we have lessons that we took from it [World Cup exit]. But me personally, I moved on from that. It’s part of life. It’s part of being an athlete and it was a great experience to feel those feelings look back but you don’t want to feel that again and I think now it’s just about looking forward. We have the Olympics coming up and not dwelling too much on the past.”
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