For the last few years, women’s soccer has grappled with, well, a lot. Sophia Smith is a microcosm of the sport’s resilience, positioning herself both at the forefront of the competition—and addressing challenges off the field. “It’s time to move forward,” the Portland Thorns star says, reflecting on the league’s systemic abuse scandal and long fight for pay equity.
With the preternatural field vision of Mia Hamm and lovability of a Ted Lasso character, no one is better suited to lead the charge. After all, Smith is the reigning league MVP, the first Black woman to win player of the year, and the youngest to lead the U.S. in scoring since Hamm in 1993. She also has a self-awareness that her impact is measured by more than just the number of goals she scores. “It’s definitely a responsibility,” Smith confides.
The 22-year-old powerhouse has been described more than once as the “future” of the sport, but her moment is now. As the U.S. vies for a record-breaking threepeat victory at the World Cup in Australia this summer, Smith is poised to make even more history. “Honestly, I like the pressure,” she says. “All those expectations just mean that people believe in me.”
Resilience runs deep in the Fort Collins, Colorado native. Her hometown, nestled at the base of the Rocky Mountain foothills, is idyllic, though not necessarily ideal. “It’s a very, very white area,” says Smith. But on the field, it was the color of her jersey that mattered. “It’s where I could be myself,” she says. Her father, Kenny, played basketball at the University of Wyoming, and her two older sisters followed in his footsteps by participating in youth sports. Smith gave basketball a go, but after lacing up her soccer cleats for the first time in kindergarten, she never looked back. “I fell in love,” Smith says. “It was instant.”
With dizzying dribbling abilities and a fierce competitiveness, Smith was the whole package on the pitch—and really fun to watch, too. “I wanted to be a player that, when I got the ball, people were on the edge of their seats,” she says. “It’s more entertaining that way.”
When Smith declared that she wanted to become the greatest soccer player of all time, her parents immersed themselves in the highly-competitive world of club soccer. Her father studied strategy and recited motivational speeches to her. “She’s a kind, very compassionate kid who is a fierce competitor,” he says. “Seeing her happy and doing what she loves to do is what matters to me.”
For her part, Smith’s mother, Mollie, quit her job of over 20 years and found a different one that allowed her to drive her daughter to practice two hours away in Denver. “I can’t repay my parents for doing all of those things for me,” Smith says. Instead, she showed appreciation the best way she knew how: by winning.
In high school, Smith was always faster, stronger, and smarter than the competition. She was also usually the only Black girl on the field. While professional soccer has made strides to become more representative, the pipeline to get there has a long way to go. “Not everyone has the same opportunities [that I did],” Smith says. “I hope that can change, because there’s so much undiscovered talent we don’t see.”
Youth soccer is still seen by many as suburban and predominantly white. “I was honestly one of two, maybe three people of color on all of my club teams,” Smith says. It could get lonely—and not just because she was at the top. “Most girls had long, straight hair,” she says. “I always felt like my hair was too crazy or too wild.” At night, she begged her mom to let her straighten it. “Otherwise, I would literally cry, because I didn’t want to go to school the next day with curly hair,” she says. Looking back now, Smith feels sad for her younger self. “I don’t want anyone to feel like they don’t fit in, or it’s not good to be different or [that], like, there is a normal—because there’s not,” she says.
It wasn’t until Smith started at Stanford in the fall of 2018, that she began to embrace her natural curls. “I looked around, and more people had curly hair,” she says. “I was like, okay, wait, maybe I like my curls. I’m going to leave them and learn how to style them.”
By then, she had cemented her place as the country’s top collegiate player. Off the field, she continued to strengthen her relationship with hair—something many Black athletes are embracing as a form of self-expression after decades of being discriminated against and punished for wearing their natural textures. Reaching that point of pride has been a “journey,” Smith says, “but I love my hair now.”
Last year, a pre-game experiment with a bubble braid quickly turned into a signature look. But it got to the point where the hairdo became too enmeshed in her identity. “I would do photoshoots and they would require me to have a bubble braid in, and I was like, ‘No, this is my hair. I can wear my hair how I want,’” she says. “It was like I couldn’t be me without my bubble braid.” Her entire life, Smith refused to be defined by stereotypes. She certainly wasn’t going to be pigeonholed now. “You don’t have to have your hair a certain way,” she says. “It doesn’t mean anything about who you are or how you’ll play.”
With an NCAA championship already under her belt by sophomore year, Smith felt ready to take on a new challenge. In 2020, she was selected by the Portland Thorns during the NWSL draft. Not only was she the first pick in the first round, but she was also the youngest player ever drafted in league history. “Especially at the time, the [Thorns] were so above every other team in the league,” Smith says. With access to top-notch resources, a devoted fan base, and the country’s best players as teammates, Smith felt right at home.
But shortly into her professional career, Smith suffered a devastating foot injury, COVID stalled her first season, and the city of Portland was thrown into turmoil following George Floyd’s murder. “I started to worry whether I made the right decision,” Smith says.
Behind the scenes, women’s soccer was experiencing its own unrest. A number of disturbing allegations surfaced across multiple teams in 2021, sparking controversy over transparency, ownership, structure, and abuse of power in the league. As a result, five male head coaches were either fired or forced to resign. Four of those coaches later received lifelong bans due to alleged sexual misconduct, racist remarks, verbal and emotional abuse, or the perpetuation of toxic work cultures. The league’s commissioner, Lisa Baird, also announced her resignation. “It was just one new thing every day,” Smith recalls. “It was definitely a tough year.”
The Thorns became the unwitting face of the tumult following the release of an investigation by former Deputy U.S. Attorney General Sally Yates in October 2022. The report detailed inaction by Thorns owner Merritt Paulson and at least two other team executives over player complaints about a former Thorns coach. Calls for accountability reverberated across the league, with players like Alex Morgan demanding that top brass accept responsibility. Paulson resigned, and both the team’s president of soccer and president of business were relieved of their duties. “It was hard to figure out how to be okay,” Smith says.
Just one month after the Yates investigation, Smith’s former Stanford teammate Katie Meyer died by suicide, thrusting women’s soccer back into the limelight—this time, in connection to mental health. As many as 35 percent of all professional athletes experience problems with their mental health, according to recent sports medicine data. That rate is even higher among college athletes. In particular, female athletes experience depression, eating disorders, and anxiety. Research is still ongoing as to why, but it has to do with a “perfect storm of factors that compound and feed on each other, creating risks for these high- achieving individuals, who can overcome such great physical and mental odds during their peak and hit such tragic lows,” Dr. Caroline Silby, a sports psychology consultant for Team USA, previously told ELLE. Dr. Sibly notes that, historically, sports have been rife with sexism and perfectionism, which can exacerbate struggles.
“I’ve been lucky to go [through] most of my life pretty happy,” Smith says. Still, it can be hard to “give all of you to everything,” she says. “There were a lot of times where I was in a dark place.” Smith leans on her boyfriend Michael Wilson, an NFL player she met at Stanford, for support. She uses the meditation app Calm and reads sci-fi fantasy novels. “If things are out of your control, you just have to deal with it and make the most out of every situation,” Smith says.
Last year, the Thorns beat the Kansas City Current, 2-0, to take home a historic third championship trophy. Smith, who was crowned MVP, flooded the field with her teammates, shouting in celebration and crying tears of joy. “We struggled, but we stuck together and got through it,” Smith says.
Her next goal: winning the World Cup. Starting July 20, 32 nations will compete, making it the largest, most competitive tournament to date. The U.S. has never finished lower than third, and they’ve come out victorious the last two World Cups. Picking up a record third consecutive title will cement the squad’s place in history. One of several team members championed by Nike, a major partner to women’s football federations competing in the World Cup, Smith says she has never felt more ready. “Like, let’s go,” she says.
As she packs up her dreams, waves goodbye to her parents in Colorado, and makes the long journey to Australia, the pressure is building. “If I look too far forward, it will just cause me anxiety,” Smith says. “The best thing for my mental health is to be in the moment right now, and to take each day as it is.” That means training smarter, focusing harder, and blocking all the outside noise.
Smith is squaring up to this Rocky Mountain-sized moment and giving it her best shot. “I feel ready,” she says. When she needs reassurance, she turns to her dad. “He’ll remind me to just be myself,” she says. “He’ll say that I don’t have to do anything I’ve never done before—that I just need to go do what I do, and be Soph.” If she stays true to herself, she can’t miss.
Senior Editor
Rose is a Senior Editor at ELLE overseeing features and projects about women’s issues. She is an accomplished and compassionate storyteller and editor who excels in obtaining exclusive interviews and unearthing compelling features.
