Sophia Smith, Mallory Swanson, Trinity Rodman help U.S. reclaim status as 'feared' team

Sophia Smith is having a blast at the Olympics, and a lot of it has to do with the U.S. team's formidable front three.

Smith, along with Mallory Swanson and Trinity Rodman, are helping the United States reclaim its status as a team to be feared.

"I feel like we're clicking really well, really fast. And I think this is only like 70% of what we can do," Smith said. "I think the more games we get together, the more we're going to be playing off each other and just learning each other's tendencies. But it's so much fun playing with them."

It's a marked contrast to last year's Women's World Cup, when Smith left the field in Melbourne in tears after the United States was sent home early by Sweden.

So far in France, Swanson has three goals and Smith has a pair, while Rodman contributed the team's first goal of the tournament.

Smith scored both of her goals in the team's 4-1 victory on Sunday over Germany that clinched the Americans a spot in the quarterfinals at their first major tournament under coach Emma Hayes.

The United States, the winningest women's soccer team at the Olympics with four gold medals, finished with the bronze in Tokyo. Then came the World Cup disappointment, and the Americans' reputation slipped while other teams caught up.

A loss to Mexico earlier this year in the CONCACAF Women's Gold Cup helped drop the team to No. 5 in the FIFA international rankings — the lowest rank for the U.S. ever.

The team was already in transition, awaiting the arrival of Hayes in May after she finished up the season with Chelsea. Hayes was hired to lead the United States back in November.

"You can see I'm not making any changes to the lineup because you have to build connections," Hayes said following the victory over Germany,