Do you know that quote, “It’s not how many times you get knocked down that counts. It’s how many times you get back up”? Feels like it was made for Sophia Smith! After that disappointing penalty miss at the World Cup in 2023 to clutching that Olympic gold medal with the USWNT, the 24-year-old has turned it around. However, as 2024 comes to an end, the USWNT star reflects on the journey from failure to Olympic gold.

Honestly, it wasn’t a bad 2023 year for Sophia, was it? Sure, the World Cup miss stung, but her season with the Portland Thorns was solid! She bagged 11 goals and 5 assists in just 18 games. Plus, she became the youngest USWNT player to score multiple goals in a World Cup match.

It’s totally natural to look back on memories, right? For Sophia Smith, as 2024 wraps up, her journey from a tough moment to Olympic glory is something that sticks with her. I mean, think about it—missing a penalty kick in such a high-stakes match, like the World Cup, could crush anyone. But Sophia, being the fighter she is, turned that setback into a comeback. Similarly, talking on the U.S Soccer YouTube channel, the 24-year-old forward spoke about her Olympic experience.

We all know how much pressure comes with those massive moments, especially in a tournament as big as the World Cup. Sophia felt that pain after her penalty miss, “The thought of the World Cup definitely flashed in my mind, and just to end on like the lowest of lows that at the time I felt like you could end on for me personally missing a PK.” But here’s the thing about Sophia, she didn’t let that moment define her. Recovery wasn’t instant, but she got there.

She speaks about the process of recovery from her self-belief and moving past the mental and emotional impact of the missed penalty, “Took me a very long time to move on from that and kind of get back to being the Soph that I know.” Eventually, Smith found a way to regain her confidence and focus, getting back to the player she knew herself and helping USWNT with redemption in the 2024 Paris Olympics.

And don’t forget, she was one of 14 USWNT players making their World Cup debut. Imagine the nerves, the excitement, and the emotions of that first World Cup! Here’s what the star forward had to say.

Sophia Smith opens up about her emotional rollercoaster ride at her first World Cup

The World Cup is every soccer player’s dream, right? But let’s be real, it’s not all glitz and glamor when you’re actually out there. The pressure is insane. For Sophia Smith, her first World Cup experience was nothing short of an emotional rollercoaster. She opened up, saying, “The World Cup experience was really tough. We knew that we had to stick together because it felt like us against the world, and we knew that we had each other and we knew that we all had the same goal.”

But, of course, it wasn’t all smooth sailing. Sophia expressed her regret about how things ended. “It’s so unfortunate that you know, it ended the way it did, and I obviously didn’t do my part and put away my penalty. That’s something that I have to live with, and obviously still makes me feel sick to this day.” Smith recognizes that, while the experience was painful, she used it as a valuable lesson and learned from it.

Fast forward to 2024, and Sophia is living proof that hard work and learning from failures pay off. Don’t you agree?