Team USA’s Sophia Smith scored the semifinal’s first and only goal during overtime, the second time in Olympics history a women’s semifinal match was scoreless after 90 minutes.
A shot of "Triple Espresso" has been just what the U.S. women's national soccer team needed to put them within one win of their first Olympic gold medal in 12 years.
Star forwards Trinity Rodman, Mallory Swanson and Sophia Smith have combined for nine of Team USA's 10 goals during their run to the Olympic final, where they will face Brazil on Aug. 10.
The electrifying young trio has already gotten nicknames like "The Trident" and "Holy Trinity," but they shared on TODAY on Aug. 8 that they've come up with one themselves.
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"We also have a name for ourselves. We have an announcement," Smith told Savannah Guthrie and Hoda Kotb. "Trinity, take it away."
"We have a proposal for our trio name to be 'Triple Espresso.' So we're going to put that out into the air and let people run with that, because we like that as well," Rodman said.
No word on whether it has anything to do with one of the songs of the summer, Sabrina Carpenter's "Espresso," but the trio has provided a jolt of energy and youth to a team that won bronze at the Tokyo Olympics.
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Their latest heroics came on Aug. 6 when Smith scored the game-winning goal in extra time off an assist by Swanson to beat Germany 1-0 in the semifinals.
"Honestly, I just saw a little opening in the net and knew that I had to put the ball there and do that for our team," Smith said. "I feel like I don't remember a lot that happened, it all happened so fast, but Mal played an absolutely perfect pass, and I knew I just had to get on the end of it."
One round earlier, it was Rodman to the rescue when she scored in extra time for a 1-0 win over Japan that sent the USWNT to the semifinals.
Swanson, 26, Smith, 23, and Rodman, 22, are part of an injection of youth into a veteran team under new head coach Emma Hayes. They have quickly become some of the top players on a team long characterized by former stars like Megan Rapinoe, Carli Lloyd and Alex Morgan.
Despite her age, Swanson is an Olympic veteran, having made her debut at 17 in the 2016 Olympics in Rio de Janeiro. Smith and Rodman gained international experience at the highest level as part of the USWNT squad that played in last year's World Cup, which Swanson missed due to a knee injury that required three surgeries.
Smith will be celebrating her 24th birthday on Aug. 11, one day after Team USA takes on Brazil in search of their first Olympic gold medal since 2012.
"There's only one thing I want for my birthday," Smith said. "That would be the best birthday ever, and we would have the best birthday party afterwards."
This story first appeared on TODAY.com. More from TODAY:
