USWNT’s front three have emerged as Olympic stars. They just need a nickname.

PARIS – There has been, in fact, a critical flaw with the U.S. women’s soccer front line: It has lacked a nickname.

Former U.S. forward Christen Press suggested “Triple Trouble.”

“I like that one,” Sophia Smith said, “but we are open to suggestions.”

After a Group B match two weeks ago, a fan handed another one of the three troublemakers, Trinity Rodman, a handwritten sign saying, “The Holy Trinity.”

“I don’t want it to be just like my name,” she said. “We’ll try something else.”

With their average age a shade under 24, how about “Gen Z3?”

Or playing off the first letter of their last names, maybe “RSS Express?”

Finally on Thursday, they came up with one that just might stick: “Triple Espresso.”

No matter what you want to call them, Rodman, Smith and Swanson have made a pronounced name for themselves during the U.S. run to Saturday’s gold medal match against Brazil – the program’s first appearance in the Olympic final since 2012.

In their first Olympics, they have scored nine of the team’s 11 goals – three apiece – and combined for four of seven assists, including four of the past five. Rodman scored the winning goal in extra time of the quarterfinal against Japan and, three days later, Smith worked the same late-game magic against Germany on Swanson’s assist.

Their production has figured prominently in the program’s renaissance following last year’s World Cup disappointment and amid uncertainty how quickly things would turn under new coach Emma Hayes.

But after five consecutive victories in a 13-day stretch, the Americans are on the cusp of their fifth gold medal in eight attempts. The front line has been a big part of it, though not all of it. (Naomi Girma, for instance, is the best defender in the tournament.)

It’s natural, though, to be drawn to highflying attackers, who, in the U.S. team’s case, have come into their own as a unit despite not starting together until Hayes’s debut, June 1 against South Korea. They were aligned in the last two Olympic tuneups but produced one goal, raising doubts about their punch in France.

In France, things have fallen into place.

“When we could see it meshing consistently,” Rodman said, “I was like, ‘OK, this is it.’ ”

Hayes accepted the U.S. job in November but did not take charge until May, first needing to complete her Chelsea FC tenure.

From afar, she saw the potential of the front-line trio. Once she moved stateside, her belief grew to the point where she left forward Alex Morgan, a 14-year veteran and the No. 5 scorer in program history, off the Olympic roster.

Even greater responsibility fell on the group when Catarina Macario, a potential starter, withdrew from the Olympic squad days before the team departed to France because of knee irritation. Another young attacker, Jaedyn Shaw, has yet to play here because of a leg issue.

After one group-stage match, Hayes called the trio “dynamic as hell, really fun to watch. Most importantly, they enjoyed themselves.”

That is a theme among the players, who have become close friends.

“When you’re playing alongside some of your best friends on the team,” Smith said, “it makes it so much more fun.”

At 26, Swanson is the eldest. She was a substitute on the 2019 squad that won the World Cup in France but didn’t make the 2021 Olympic team and then, while in the best form of her career in 2022-23, ruptured her left patella tendon three months before the World Cup. An infection pushed back her recovery until this spring.

Despite the long absence, Swanson said she is “very thankful it happened because I am a new person and a new player.”

She also said she is thankful to support from family, friends and her husband, Chicago Cubs shortstop Dansby Swanson.

In Chicago this week, Dansby Swanson told reporters, “The amount of times she’s pretty much made me cry over the last two weeks watching her is pretty ridiculous.”

Smith, 23, has enjoyed a renewal after a crushing moment at the World Cup. With a chance to clinch the round-of-16 shootout against Sweden, she failed to convert her penalty kick. Two rounds later, the Americans were out of the tournament at their earliest point in 14 major competitions.

Rodman, 22, started three World Cup matches last year but did not score.

“All the ups and downs of that experience while also getting minutes, it was a huge learning experience,” she said. Entering the Olympics, “I feel almost more free now.”

At the World Cup last year, the U.S. front line of Smith, Morgan and Rodman did not have many moments. Smith scored twice in the opener, but neither she nor the others scored again and the team finished with four goals in four games (none in the last two).

Primarily a winger under previous U.S. coach Vlatko Andonovski, Smith has claimed Morgan’s slot at center forward – a position Smith plays for the Portland Thorns in the National Women’s Soccer League. Her running mates are also NWSL stars: Swanson is with the Chicago Red Stars and Rodman the Washington Spirit.

Hayes praised not only Rodman’s attacking prowess but her willingness to work on defense.

“People talk about the stuff Trinity does on the ball all the time, but we should be talking more about what she does off the ball – going backward for the team, what she does off the field, what she does to pay attention to all the little details,” Hayes said.

“They’re the things I’m impressed with, the top pro she is.”

In the group opener, Rodman scored the first goal against Zambia; Smith scored the next two. Swanson struck twice in the second game, against Germany, and reserve forward Lynn Williams added one. Rodman scored against Australia.

“It’s like you don’t even have to think; it’s muscle memory,” Smith said of the front-line chemistry. “It’s fluidity. It’s interchanging and finding each other, encouraging each other and creating things.”