Wait, Aryna Sabalenka's big forearm tattoo is a Tiger?
How in the world does someone who has the word "Tiger" in his name not already know that?
TigerBlog didn't know that until Princeton head football coach Bob Surace texted it to him the other day. It's always been pretty obvious that Sabalenka had something big on her forearm.
A Tiger? Yeah, TB should have known that.
Apparently, she has two Tiger tattoos, the one on her forearm and a second one on her thigh. That's certainly reason enough to root for her, right?
The whole exchange with Surace started after TB wrote last week about Emma Navarro, who reached the U.S. Open women's tennis semifinals this past week. It was Sabalenka who took her out in two sets — 6-3, 7-6 — before also winning Saturday's final in straight sets over another American, Jessica Pegula.
TB had said that rooting for Navarro was like rooting for Princeton, since her grandfather Frank Navarro was once Princeton's head football coach. Frank's son Ben is a billionaire in the financial world; perhaps one of the Surace children could make that happen for their father as well?
Anyway, Sabalenka's tattoo is also her nickname, "The Tiger." Here's a paragraph from a story that Surace sent to TB:
When asked about the meaning of her first tattoo, Sabalenka revealed
that the tiger reflects “her aggressive attitude while playing tennis.”
She also revealed that the tattoo helps her get motivated and keep her
head in the game.
The Tiger. That's perfect.
Rooting for Navarro is rooting for Princeton. Rooting for Sabalenka is rooting for the Tigers.
Shackford won 203 games in 20 years as the Princeton head coach, with six Ivy titles and eight NCAA appearances, including a run to the 2004 Final Four. No other Ivy women's soccer team has ever gotten there other than those Tigers.
Sean Driscoll, her replacement, brought 95 wins into the game yesterday at W&M, which Princeton won 2-0 on goals from Brooke Dawahare and Pia Beaulieu. Even with all of her William & Mary roots and current position, there will always be something very, very special about a game against Princeton for Shackford.
Meanwhile, in Colombia, the Women's U-20 World Cup has reached the end of the group stage for the 24 teams there, including two who have current Princeton players. Zoe Markesini has been playing for Canada, who went 1-1-1, while Pietra Tordin has been playing for the United States, who went 2-1-0 and earned a spot in the knockout stage with a 7-0 win over Paraguay Saturday.
Did Tordin impact that game? Uh, yeah. She scored thrice against Paraguay including two that came three minutes apart in the first half, to help the U.S. advance out of the group.
Tordin and the United States will play Mexico in the Round of 16 Wednesday night.
As for Canada, it too will be playing in the Round of 16, after earning one of the spots for third-place group finishers based on goal differential. The Canadians will play somebody either Wednesday or Thursday, to be determined by the remaining group stage games.
Once the tournament ends, Markesini and Tordin will return to being Tigers. Their team has had to get by without them so far, and that has gone incredibly well, with a record of 3-1-0 and only a 1-0 loss to No. 8 Penn State.
Next up for Princeton is Drexel Thursday night on Myslik Field at Roberts Stadium, followed by another home game, Sunday at 5 against Georgetown. There's a trip to Fairfield after that before the Sept. 28 Ivy opener at Cornell.
Expect the two internationals to be back at least by then.
Learning to play without two such impactful parts of your team isn't easy, or even preferable. There is a plus-side though. When they come back, they join a team that isn't relying on them to carry it.
Right now, those two are playing for different teams. Pretty soon, they'll be back to being what they always are: Tigers.
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