Thorns’ Sophia Smith celebrates with her dad following NWSL championship: ‘I’m so proud of you’

Sophia Smith stepped up to the challenge for the Portland Thorns on Saturday night and helped deliver the franchise’s third National Women’s Soccer League championship in a win over the Kansas City Current.

Smith, who was named the NWSL MVP just hours before the match, scored in the fourth minute of the match. Kansas City’s Addisyn Merrick had a goal in the 56th minute. 

Both scores were enough for the Thorns to blank the Current, 2-0.

Smith was seen during the post-match celebrations with her dad, Kenny Smith.

“I’m so proud of you,” Kenny Smith told Sophia. “I’m so proud of you. That is so awesome.”

The Thorns won the NWSL championship in 2013 and 2017. It’s the most of any team in the league and came at a time when the organization was under intense scrutiny over a report that revealed misconduct across the league. The report impacted the franchise directly and led to two executives resigning. But the team said the controversy brought them together.

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“We’ve put in so much work this whole season. We’ve gone through a lot of stuff that isn’t in the job description,” Smith said. “So it just felt really rewarding. I felt so proud of our team because we’ve just gone through so much – and to be able to bring this back to our fans who have stuck with us through everything this year, it means so much to us.”

Portland goalkeeper Bella Bixby added: “We are a very close team off the field and we knew that these things would potentially derail us, so a lot of conversations were to stay process-based. We know that some days are going to be hard for some people, so when we can just come together and bear that burden with them, we’re able to balance it out.”

Smith was named MVP of the championship as well.

The Current were an expansion team that entered the league last year. Most of their players came from the defunct Utah Royals. They finished in last place last season.

Audi Field was nearly sold out for the match, which was broadcast in primetime on CBS for the first time.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.