The U.S. women's national team's Olympic rematch against Germany didn't go quite as well as their group-stage meeting for the Americans. Despite having beaten the Germans already, the USWNT was unable to score in the 90 minutes of regulation in the semifinal matchup, leaving both teams to fend for themselves in extra time.
Leave it to the USWNT's formidable "Trident" to come to the rescue—it had to be one of the team's forwards, Mallory Swanson, Sophia Smith or Trinity Rodman, to break the tie. Smith was the one to do it in the end, knocking in the American's lone goal of the game to secure a spot in the gold medal contest.
Here's everything you need to know about Smith's goal today in the 1-0 win against Germany, and how the USWNT's "Trident" forward line is leading their Olympic push.
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Sophia Smith goal today
Smith broke a scoreless deadlock in the first period of extra time against Germany. In a beautiful display of clean passing, the play started with none other than Naomi Girma on the back line.
The center back found Sam Coffey wide open in the midfield. Coffey dribbled it over the halfway line and passed it to Swanson, who made a run toward the right side of the field, clearly anticipating Smith's movement up the field.
Noticing her teammate's motion, Smith took on her defender one-on-one and made a streaking run toward the box. Swanson slotted the ball straight through the back line, and Smith managed to get around her defender with just enough time to get a right-footed touch on it before German goalkeeper Ann-Katrin Berger could cut off the angle.
The goal was Smith's third of the tournament, all of which have come against Germany—the 23-year-old netted two in Team USA's 4-1 group-stage win against the side.
She, along with fellow forwards Rodman and Swanson, are tied for third in the golden boot race. France's Marie-Antoinette Katoto still leads the charge with five.
Next up, the USWNT will take on the winner of the France vs. Spain semifinal in Saturday's gold medal match.
MORE: USWNT vs. Germany results, highlights from Olympic semifinal
"Trident" nickname, explained
The "Trident" nickname refers to the USWNT's triple-threat front line of Rodman, Swanson and Smith. Social media has taken to using the nickname quite often during the Summer Games, with each attacker having collected three goals so far in the Olympic tournament.
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