Portland Thorns forward Sophia Smith‘s casual shrug of celebration said it all: “What, you expected anything else?” Four minutes into Saturday’s National Women’s Soccer League (NWSL) Championship, the 2022 league MVP scored to make sure there would not be any question about the result — or why she was recently awarded the league’s top individual honor.

“I kind of just did it,” Smith said. “There’s been a lot of people who don’t think that I deserve to win MVP, so that was a little bit of, that’s that.” Read More