Tigers And Pirates At Myslik

TigerBlog made a new friend yesterday.

He is currently working on his series of feature stories on Princeton's gold medalists from the Paris Olympics. As part of the piece on rower Hannah Scott, he connected with another Northern Irish athlete, Lady Mary Peters, who won gold in the 1972 pentathlon. 

Lady Mary lives in Belfast, and she and TB spoke via Zoom. Here's the first thing that she said to him after he called her "Lady Mary":

“You only have to call me 'Lady Mary' once, and then it’s just 'Mary P.' That’s what my friends call me, and you are now my friend.”

TB spoke to his new friend for about 15 minutes, and he came away wildly impressed. The rest of the story? It'll be out soon. 

Meanwhile, TB is off to New York City today. He'll be meeting up with another Olympic gold medalist in rowing, Nick Mead. 

In addition to having won gold, Mead also had the honor of carrying the USA flag at the Closing Ceremonies. It should make for another interesting conversation. 

That was an incredible honor for Mead, who became the first rower to carry the flag as the Games ended. He shared the flag-bearer responsibility with swimmer Katie Ledecky, she of the nine Olympic gold medals. 

And, it is TB's contention that Ledecky looks very much like Lady Edith, who was a different Lady Mary's sister on "Downton Abbey."

TB is very interested in hearing from Mead what it was like and especially how he was chosen and what that felt like for him.  He'll certainly be reporting back in on that. 

He's hoping to have the first of the stories by the weekend. That's the one on Scott, which will feature his new friend Mary P in a prominent way.

TigerBlog will be driving into New York City today. He prefers that to taking the train. It'll also give him plenty of time to get back to campus in time for the second Princeton event of the athletic year, which is another women's soccer game. 

Sean Driscoll's team opened its season last Friday night with a 1-0 win over Miami (Fla.) on Myslik Field at Roberts Stadium. The game wasn't secured until the final seconds, when Tyler McCamey made her fifth save on a tough chance that seemed headed to the far corner. 

Those five saves, with the big one at the end, earned McCamey the Ivy League Defensive Player of the Week award.

Tonight's visitor to Myslik Field is Seton Hall, which will be on the same field tonight at 7.

Tonight will be Game 5 for the Pirates, who bring a 2-1-1 record to Princeton. Seton Hall has wins over Marist and Rider, a tie against FDU and a loss against Lehigh. 

As TB looked into the matchup tonight, he learned that this is the first meeting between the teams since Driscoll became head coach. In fact, this will be the 13th meeting between the teams but the first since 2014.

Even more amazing is that every minute between Princeton and Seton Hall in women's soccer has come while Julie Shackford was the Tiger head coach. That was a total of 12 meetings, of which Princeton holds an 8-2-2 record.

For Princeton, it'll be Game No. 2 and Game No. 2 without Pietra Tordin and Zoe Markesini, both of whom are currently in Colombia for the U20 World Cup. Tordin, with the United States, and Markesini, with Canada, will begin their chase for that prize Saturday.

In the meantime, it's a great challenge for the Tigers to be without two of their best players. At the same time, it's also a great opportunity to have newcomers step up and make their own marks. 

It could be as late as Sept. 22 that the two will be in Colombia. By then, Princeton will be just beginning its Ivy League schedule. 

It's not ideal to be without two stars — but as TB said, it could be a benefit. If you were watching the game Saturday, you saw the only goal put home by Princeton's Isabella Garces, a sophomore who scored for the first time in her career.

It'll take more of that from Princeton in the early part of the season. That's part of the fun of the early season.

It's also fun just to be at Princeton events as the new year begins to unfold. Admission is free at Myslik Field. 

For more information on the game, click HERE.