Gift Article
As Lorne Donaldson remembers it, his elite girls’ soccer team from greater Denver was trouncing an opponent at halftime at a club tournament in Portland, Ore.
Sophia Smith — soon bound for Stanford and, within two years, the U.S. national team — already had scored seven goals. With a cold rain drenching players to the bone, Donaldson opted to rest his prized forward.
“We’ve got a game tomorrow, and you’ve scored seven goals,” he explained to her. “You’re done.”
Smith didn’t understand.
“I don’t want to embarrass the team and the coach,” he said.