Sophia Smith makes her return to the U.S. women’s national team this week for the first time since 2022, but you wouldn’t have any sense she’s taken time off. After using the NWSL offseason to rehab a lingering foot injury, Smith has begun the 2023 NWSL season on fire, scoring and assisting on a goal in the Thorns’ opening match against the Orlando Pride, before registering her first career hat trick against the Kansas City Current the following weekend.

Winning has always come somewhat easily to the young star. Smith finished 2022 with 11 goals for the U.S. and 15 for the Portland Thorns, making a late challenge for the NWSL Golden Boot race while winning the NWSL MVP award and leading the Thorns to their third NWSL championship. Her finishing has long been clinical, but what has begun to shift for the 22-year-old is her transcendent ability to execute and take over games in the biggest moments.

In Saturday’s 2022 championship rematch, the most-watched NWSL regular-season game ever on CBS, the Thorns pulled out a 4-1 win. But in the second half, the Current made a run at an equalizer after getting a goal back and pulling closer at 2-1.

Smith put an end to the comeback herself, with a dribbling sequence that all but walked the ball into the back of the net.

Sophia Smith took on everyone for this goal 🔥

She later scored again to secure her first career NWSL hat trick. pic.twitter.com/k52Ga3kz33

— Just Women’s Sports (@justwsports) April 2, 2023

She then capped off the match with a golazo from distance, after the Kansas City defense unwisely left the striker with space and time at the top of the box.

SOPHIA SMITH HAS HER HAT-TRICK. 🎩🎩🎩

That's now four goals in her first two @NWSL matches in 2023. 🔥 pic.twitter.com/6UJ3YSOg7W

— Attacking Third (@AttackingThird) April 1, 2023

“I love coming and playing in a stadium where the crowd is against you,” Smith said after the game. “I think it gives the team a little bit of edge, a little bit of energy, and we just kind of use that to our advantage. So, it’s pretty fun to put away a few goals and hear silence.”

Smith is a low-key presence off the field, but on the field that “edge” is palpable. The league MVP has seemed to crave moments like her game-winning goal in the fourth minute of the 2022 NWSL final, when her shrugging celebration became immortalized in league iconography.

Against the Current again on Saturday, Smith gestured a shushing motion to the crowd after her first goal, a well-slotted penalty to put the Thorns up 2-0 in front of over 11,000 fans. She now has four goals and one assist in two league matches, setting the tone for a World Cup year in which she wants to take on even bigger challenges.

“I don’t know if I would refer to it as a villain era, I’m like a very sweet, happy person,” she told reporters with a smile from USWNT camp this week. “I think on the field, yeah, I don’t play games. I don’t step on a field to do anything but win, and I take a lot of pride in that.

“So, I guess this era is just winning, and doing everything I can to do that and to help my team,” she continued.

The larger sports conversation in recent weeks has been centered on the idea of athletes in women’s sports expressing their emotions on the field or the court in a way that is all too common on the men’s side. As the profile of women’s sports rises as a whole, fans are forced to confront their own biases about the passion athletes show while in the thick of competition.

Smith welcomes the ongoing shift in perspective.

“I think there’s nothing wrong with a little bit of banter between teams, and a little bit of talk here and there,” she said. “It’s never disrespectful, but it can add a little bit of fun and entertainment to the game. And I I love to put on a show, I love to try crazy things when I’m playing. I feel confident enough to do those things.”

Smith’s renewed intensity and creativity is good news for the USWNT, who will play their last two friendlies this week before final roster decisions are made for the 2023 World Cup in July. Paired on the wings with the equally-focused Mallory Swanson, Smith presents problems that opposing defenses are finding increasingly difficult to solve.

She’s also fully recovered from a grueling 2022 campaign. Staying patient in the offseason and missing the 2023 SheBelieves Cup, which the USWNT won in late February, proved critical to her physical and mental health.

“I think during that time, I learned a lot about myself,” she said. “I learned how to be patient if I put things in perspective and realized how big a year this was. So, it was important for me to take the time I needed to get healthy and to address all the things that I didn’t have time to address last year.”

A fully healthy Sophia Smith running at both NWSL and international backlines is a scary thought for her opposition, but an exciting one for fans. And now is the right time for her to begin to move into peak form.

“Especially in a World Cup year, you put things in perspective that come this summer, that’s when you need to peak, that’s when you need to be healthy. That’s when you need to be as fit as you possibly can be,” she said.

After this international break, Smith will have until the middle of June to make her mark on the NWSL before heading to New Zealand for her first major international tournament. That she’s already approaching the year like a pro is a promising sign for both of her teams’ chances.

Claire Watkins is a Staff Writer at Just Women’s Sports. Follow her on Twitter @ScoutRipley.

The sale saga of the Connecticut Sun added a new chapter this week, as the state of Connecticut submitted a bid proposal on Thursday that would see the WNBA team remain in-state.

Owned by the Mohegan Tribe since 2003, the state is just the latest entrant into an ongoing bidding war for the franchise, with Boston Celtics minority owner Steve Pagliuca, ex-Milwaukee Bucks owner Marc Lasry, and the WNBA itself all making offers ranging from $250 to $325 million in recent weeks.

Unlike previous relocation bids, the state's proposed sale plan sees the Connecticut Sun splitting home games between their current Mohegan Sun Arena in Uncasville and Hartford's larger PeoplesBank Arena, while also promising a new practice facility in the state capital.

Despite winding down 2025 in 12th place, the Sun have amassed a loyal local following, selling out their 10,000-capacity arena four times this year in a state buoyed by NCAA basketball powerhouse and current national champion UConn located less than an hour away.

"The best place for the Connecticut Sun is Connecticut because we have this very fierce fan base for women's basketball," Connecticut Lieutenant Governor Susan Bysiewicz told ESPN. "We love the [UConn] Huskies. We love watching the Sun… and we've seen that the Connecticut Sun players have been great community leaders and role models."

The Chicago Sky reportedly held a team meeting to address the explosive Chicago Tribune interview of Angel Reese this week, after the star forward put the already-eliminated WNBA team on blast.

"We are aware of [Reese's comments]," Sky head coach Tyler Marsh said on Wednesday. "We're addressing it in-house as currently speaking. That's where we'll stay right now."

"Angel has shown a commitment to wanting to be here," he continued. "We as an organization continue to show a commitment that we want people that want to be here."

Reese focused much of her critique on the team's leadership and roster construction, expressing disappointment as the Chicago Sky closes in on back-to-back losing seasons.

"We can't rely on Courtney to come back at the age that she's at," the 23-year-old Reese said of veteran Sky guard Courtney Vandersloot, following the 36-year-old's season-ending ACL tear in early June. "I know she'll be a great asset for us, but we can't rely on that."

"We need someone probably a little younger with some experience, somebody who's been playing the game and is willing to compete for a championship and has done it before," Reese added.

Notably, Vandersloot helped the Chicago Sky snag the 2021 WNBA title before taking the New York Liberty to a franchise-first championship last season.

A high-stakes coastal clash tops this weekend's NWSL bill, with results directly impacting the increasingly tight league standings as No. 8 Gotham tries to hold off a No. 9 Angel City side sitting just one point outside of postseason positioning.

The pair last met in April, when Gotham shutout ACFC 4-0 at LA's BMO Stadium behind a brace from the NWSL's current Golden Boot leader Esther González.

"That's the key — everyone knows their role, their responsibilities, and they're willing to sacrifice for the team defensively while also bringing their quality in attack," Gotham manager Juan Carlos Amorós said earlier this week.

As they try to rise above the crowded mid-table traffic, both teams have seen positive results in recent weeks — along with challenging levels of upheaval.

Angel City recently lost defender Alanna Kennedy, midfielder Katie Zelem, and star forward Alyssa Thompson to midseason overseas transfers, while Gotham's had little room to breathe after defeating Concacaf W Champions Cup opponent Alianza 2-0 in El Salvador on Tuesday.

"You need to be loyal to your style, cement it, and make sure the players know it," said Amorós. "That's critical when you're playing three games in seven days and traveling almost around the world."

How to watch Gotham vs. Angel City this NWSL weekend

No. 8 Gotham will host No. 9 Angel City this Sunday, kicking off live at 5 PM ET on ESPN.

The No. 6 Golden State Valkyries made WNBA history this week, becoming the first-ever expansion team to clinch a playoffs berth in their debut year with Thursday's 84-80 win over the already-eliminated No. 13 Dallas Wings.

The Valkyries overcame a 13-point second-half deficit to top the Wings, with forward Janelle Salaün scoring nine of her team-high 19 points in the fourth quarter to seal to deal.

"This is awesome," said guard Veronica Burton, who added 15 points to Thursday's victory. "It's a testament to all the work that we put in…to the belief that our coaching staff had in us."

"I told the girls, I intentionally picked you guys for this reason, to do things for the first [time]," Golden State boss Natalie Nakase said afterwards.

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In addition to their newly claimed postseason history, Golden State set the WNBA record for most wins by an expansion team with 23 on the season so far, while also leading the league in three-pointers as well as attendance marks — all under first-year head coach Nakase.

"What's kind of cool is we like to be uncomfortable," continued Nakase. "I have 13 players that love to be pushed."

Golden State will literally be out of their comfort zone during the 2025 WNBA Playoffs, with the Valkyries forced to relocate their first-round home game from San Francisco's Chase Center to the SAP Center in nearby San Jose due to a pre-existing scheduling conflict.

"While we would have loved to host our first playoff game at Chase Center and sought every opportunity to try and make that happen, Ballhalla has never been about just one building — it's about the incredible community our fans have created," said team president Jess Smith in a statement.