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LOS ANGELES—U.S. women’s national team forwards Trinity Rodman, Sophia Wilson and Mallory Swanson could not contain their excitement at the Westin Bonaventure hotel.The self-proclaimed “Triple Espresso” had not been together in the same room since winning Olympic gold medals in Paris two summers ago. But here they all were, nearly 600 days later, reunited inside the conference room of the downtown Los Angeles hotel.
Rodman sprinted toward Swanson when she first noticed her from across the room. Swanson crashed Wilson’s interview with nearly a dozen reporters to hug her. With each emotional encounter, they fought back tears, laughed and gushed with joy.
No one is happier for the impending return of the “Triple Espresso” than they are, with a new NWSL season on the horizon. The trio took center stage at the Olympics in 2024, scoring a combined nine goals during the gold medal run, but the league didn’t get a chance to capitalize on the media attention that followed.
Wilson and Swanson announced their pregnancies last year, keeping them out of play in 2025, while Rodman spent much of the year out due to various injuries. The latter returned to the U.S. earlier this month after featuring in just one camp in 2025.
“Those are my sisters,” Wilson said, with a giant smile. “It’s just fun to be back together.”
“Triple Espresso” reunited on the second day of NWSL’s media days, where journalists from around the country gathered a few weeks before the new season to interview players from across the league’s 16 teams. The days were filled with talks of the High Impact Player rule, the arrival of expansion sides Denver Summit and Boston Legacy and recently retired Crystal Dunn’s incomparable legacy. But, in between, the focus, for a brief, fleeting moment, was on the “Triple Espresso’s” emotional reunion.
A lot has happened for the trio since they won the hearts of America during the 2024 Paris Games. Injury setbacks and the birth of children. Historic contracts for Wilson with a $1 million option year to stay at the Portland Thorns, and the saga that was Rodman’s return to the Washington Spirit for $2 million annually.
“There’s been a lot of change, but I think change is so exciting,” Swanson, who returns to the Chicago Stars, said on Thursday. “It is just really exciting, hopefully, to be able to play with them and have ‘Triple Espresso’ back.”
Swanson welcomed her daughter Josie James in November and Wilson welcomed her daughter Gianna Capri in September. The two will soon be back on the pitch with their respective NWSL clubs and have their eyes set on returning to the national team.
“Mal and I went through a similar journey this last year, and going through that with someone you’re so close with is so special,” Wilson said, “because it’s such a unique experience, and there are few people in our world that know what we do that also have gone through that at the same time.”
Wilson was back in preseason training with the Thorns this week. Swanson said on Thursday she is also hoping to record “some minutes” in March with the USWNT for the SheBelieves Cup.
Wilson was firm, though, that she would be ready for the NWSL’s opening day on March 13 when the Thorns face Rodman’s Spirit, in what could be another emotional reunion for the two, this time on the pitch.
Meanwhile, Swanson, two months postpartum, does not yet have a definitive timeline for her return. She described being in a “newborn bubble” and slowly working her way back.
“We don’t have an exact date,” Swanson said Thursday. “It’s more just about completing phases and just taking it week-by-week, day-by-day. … But I’m hoping soon.”
Rodman has had her own journey over the last 597 days since winning Olympic gold.
In 2025, the 23-year-old only played in one match for the USWNT, a 2-0 victory over Brazil at SoFi Stadium in Inglewood, California. She scored the game-winner. It was the only U.S. match she had played in since winning the Olympics, until this month. During January camp, Rodman scored two goals and wore the captain’s armband for the first time, helping guide one of the least-experienced USWNT rosters in 25 years to a 6-0 victory over Paraguay and a 5-0 victory against Chile.
Rodman overcame plenty to reach this point. She used the start of the 2025 NWSL season to recover from a lingering back injury before facing another setback when she suffered an MCL sprain in October. While she was back with the Spirit by the NWSL playoffs in November, she wasn’t back to her peak form.
“I was coming (into January camp) from such a weird year, and my main focus during the offseason was being very present and just staying healthy and getting my mind right,” Rodman said Thursday. “But this camp, for sure, was a great foundation and great start to the season.”
When asked about the return of the “Triple Espresso”, Rodman didn’t even hesitate.
“I’m pumped,” she said. “Obviously, them coming back from pregnancy is, like, amazing in itself, and how good Soph is looking already on the field after having her baby is, I don’t know, I’m in awe of all the moms, because it’s insane.
“I can’t wait for the next camp where we’re all together.”
This article originally appeared in The Athletic.
US Women's national team, Portland Thorns, Chicago Red Stars, Washington Spirit, NWSL, Women's Soccer
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