The USWNT Is Back on Top Once Again

“Sometimes we always look at negative experiences or setbacks as something that just shouldn’t happen,” Hayes said. “I feel the opposite…I’ve always had belief. I’ve said it before, winning is in my DNA. I’m used to being in finals. I’m used to competing for trophies, and so is the U.S. Women’s National Team.

“That mentality is why I love the country. It’s why I’m so made for it, because that mentality – that never ever say die, and gut it out, and grit it out, and grind it out – like we had to find things in ourselves that weren’t there before. But they’ve impressed me immensely, these players, at their ability to stay true to their beliefs, their identity.”

The USWNT has returned to its gold standard of international soccer, but the players believe this is just the beginning of what they’re capable of achieving with Hayes at the helm. Horan and Smith even found it appropriate to speculate at their potential while atop the podium, just seconds before receiving their gold medals.

“I was up on the podium when I was talking with Soph,” Horan said. “And we were just like, ‘Imagine, you know, what we can do now in the next two and a half years before World Cup.’

“…Now we sit here and we know that there’s so much more in us, there’s so much more potential, the way that we can play, the way that we can break down opponents. You know, today was not an easy game by any means. It was crazy. It was a battle. It was the hardest game…but my gosh, the way this team is now, and seeing the potential for 2027, yeah, it’s very exciting.”

With an Olympic championship establishing a new generation’s potential for success as a young team, the USWNT looks to continue a winning tradition that so many of these women grew up watching on TV screens.

Madie Chandler is writing for Team USA as a graduate student in the Sports Capital Journalism Program at Indiana University Indianapolis.