Trinity Rodman has brought the smile back to the faces of her ardent fans. After voluntarily stepping away from action on April 12 to finally fix her back injury, the USWNT superstar made her long-awaited return for the Washington Spirit last week in an NWSL regular-season clash against the Portland Thorns. Coming off the bench after such a long layoff, she even helped her side secure a 2-1 win by scoring a late, crucial golazo. Quite a feat—and for such heroics, Trinity surely deserves serious praise.

Sure, her team might have gone a bit off track, as Adrian Gonzales and Co. are struggling with some inconsistent results. More recently, it was a stalemate against Gotham FC, despite the rival side going one player down early. Rodman herself was introduced late again, around the hour mark, but she wasn’t able to grasp another winner like the previous one. Then again, in the eyes of retired American soccer star Darian Jenkins, Trin still remains the moon and the stars.

For Jenkins, who was in discussion with ex-Irish international Jen Beattie, and renowned analyst Christine Cupoon on the Attacking Third show, Rodman was someone who brought in that “a spiciness, a fearlessness, a boldness going 1v1″ in what was an otherwise boring game. Recalling the moment Rosemonde Kouassi’s shot came off the post in the 26th minute of the game, Jenkins said, “It was like everybody froze in time on both sides, and I kind of couldn’t believe nobody followed it up to put it away.” Claiming that things would have been different had Trinity Rodman been present on the pitch at the time, Jenkins couldn’t help but give the forward a flattering title. “Coming into this weekend, Washington Spirit play Louisville. I think she’s the X factor and I just want to see her do the Trin-spin, ball out and get back into the form we saw her in before this back injury plagued her,” she added.

Looks like someone is truly in awe of Rodman, as the 2024 Paris Olympian has clearly been showered with unconditional support. And if you have second thoughts about whether the Spirit No. 2 even deserves such praise, your outlook might just change once you hear about her painful journey of rising from the ashes!

Coming back was no cake walk for Trinity Rodman!

You must have noticed Trinity Rodman quickly wiping away tears after scoring on her return last week. Even in the post-match presser, the Newport Beach native struggled to hold back her emotions, saying, “Yeah, I just think… damn. Holy cow… that was just the hardest thing I had to go through,” she admitted while recalling the painful process of working her way back to action and finally savoring the moment of scoring a goal after such a long time.

The 23-year-old truly went above and beyond—flying all the way to London to consult the Washington Spirit’s doctor and enduring grueling training sessions that pushed her to the point of throwing up. And mind you, Rodman was in pain the entire time. In fact, even her decision to voluntarily step away from action was pretty scary for her.

“There were just a lot of hard decisions and a lot of pain and emotions throughout the entire year of dealing with it since it happened,” remarked the Spirit forward. In that regard, Trinity Rodman certainly deserves some slack, right? Even if the Washington Spirit haven’t been up to their usual standards, here’s hoping things turn around for both!