Alessia Russo? Sounds Familiar

TigerBlog has a few things for you for your Friday.

* This Sunday, England and Germany will play in the UEFA Women's Euro final. If you missed England's 4-0 win over Sweden in the semifinal during the week, you missed a simply incredible goal.

It came when England was up 2-0 in the second half. Alessia Russo took a pass and found herself alone in front, but her shot was right at the goalkeeper, who knocked it away. The ball then squirted to Russo's right, and as she chased it down, her back was to the goal. 

With almost no way to play the ball, she back-heeled it. Shockingly, it went in. You can see for yourself if you start at the 2:30 mark here:

 

Russo plays for Manchester United's women's team. Were that it, then TB still would have shared it with you, simply because of how stunning a goal it was. He actually had the game on for a few seconds and saw it as it unfolded, and he couldn't believe it. 

Ah, but as he did a little research, he found something even more amazing. 

Russo, it turns out, played at the University of North Carolina, earning first-team All-American honors in 2018 as a sophomore. She was the ACC Freshman of the Year the year before, in 2017.

Hmmm. UNC women's soccer and 2017? Why does that sound familiar? 

It's because that was the year that Princeton defeated top-seeded UNC 2-1 in overtime in the Sweet 16 of the NCAA tournament in one of the greatest wins any Princeton women's team has ever had in any sport. In that game, Russo did not score, despite taking six shots, three of which were on goal. 

Perhaps she should have tried to back-heel one? 

At the very least, her goal against Sweden could be known as "The Tar Heel Back Heel."

* Next, there's this photo that Howard Levy sent to TB last week, included in his pictures from the Maccabiah Games.

Yes, that's former Princeton men's basketball player and head coach John Thompson III and his wife Monica with the Levy's (Howard and Riva) and with John's college roommate Jimmy Simmons and his wife. 

The picture was not taken in Israel. It was in Greece, in Santorini, to be exact. Howard said it was a bit of a coincidence that they met up there.

As you know, Thompson took over as Princeton head coach in September 2000, after Bill Carmody left for Northwestern and Joe Scott left for Air Force. With very little time to prepare and with a roster that was depleted by a variety of reasons, including when center Chris Young signed a professional baseball contract.

Despite that, Thompson led his team to the 2000-01 Ivy League championship in what might just be the best coaching job TB has seen in his time here. Thompson would then win two more after that in his four years with the Tigers, before he left to take over at Georgetown. He'd lead the Hoyas to the 2007 Final Four.

Levy and Thompson were teammates at Princeton in 1984-85, Levy's senior year and Thompson's freshman year. Levy was also a member of Thompson's coaching staff. 

Once again, lifelong friendships are born with the Princeton Athletics experience.

* The Princeton rowing program is having, as the headline on goprincetontigers.com said, a "wonderful" showing at the U19/U23 World Championships in Italy. Or, more accurately, on the Italy/Switzerland border on an incredibly scenic lake.

Princeton's rowers represent a variety of nations, including the U.S., Great Britain, the Netherlands, Estonia and New Zealand. TB apologizes if he missed any.

You can read all about how it's going HERE and HERE. Check the website this weekend to see how many medals the Princeton rowers bring back with them. 

* Speaking of Princeton and international events, the Commonwealth Games began with the opening ceremonies in Birmingham, England, yesterday. Princeton is represented in track and field by British record holder Lizzy Bird in the women's steeplechase, Australian Ed Trippas in the men's steeplechase and New Zealand's Julia Ratcliffe in the hammer throw. Their events begin next week.

The Commonwealth Games feature more than 5,000 athletes from 72 countries.