No. 22 Strikes Again

Of all the great quotes that appear in TigerBlog's book on the first 50 years of women's athletics at Princeton (purchaseable HERE), one of the best is this one:

"It's cool that Mike Bossy wore my number."

If you were a hockey fan in the 1970s and 1980s, then you know who Mike Bossy was. If you weren't, Bossy was a key member of the great New York Islanders teams back then, the ones that won four straight Stanley Cups from 1980-83, before Wayne Gretzky and the Edmonton Oilers took over and started winning them.

Bossy played 10 NHL seasons and scored at least 50 goals in nine of them. He is a member of the Hockey Hall of Fame, and he was also named one of the 100 greatest players of all time in 2017. 

Sadly, he passed away in April this year at the young age of 65. 

Olivia Hompe came along a little past Bossy's time, but she grew up in a family of Islanders fans, including her parents John and Amanda, both of whom are Princeton alums. Hompe wore the No. 22 as a high school hockey and lacrosse player.

For Hompe's part, she was a great hockey player in high school, and she took awhile to decide which sport to play in college. She ultimately chose lacrosse, and she'd wear No. 22 for her final three years as a Tiger.

Because Amanda was born in England, Olivia has been eligible to play for the English national team. This week, at the World Championships in Baltimore, she did what she does best, and what Princeton fans saw her do a lot, when her team needed her the most.

It was Hompe's goal on a free position shot in the third overtime that gave England an 8-7 win over Australia for the bronze medal. Hompe's final goal finished a day that saw her score four goals and have one assist, giving her a point on five of the team's eight goals.

THAT MOMENT, THIS TEAM 🥰 pic.twitter.com/y1xpHvWzW3

— England Lacrosse (@englacrosse) July 9, 2022

For the tournament, England went 2-2 in the round robin part and then fell 11-9 to Canada in the semifinals. Home finished with 21 goals and eight assists in six games.

As TB said, this is nothing new for Hompe, who is second all-time at Princeton in career goals and points and third in career assists. Her senior year of 2017 saw her put up 75 goals and 110 points, which are two records that withstood the Kyla Sears onslaught that scooped up the career marks that Hompe had previously held.

Hompe is also one of Princeton's great student-athletes of the last decade. Her time at Princeton included three first-team All-Ivy selections, an Ivy Attacker of the Year Award winner, an Ivy tournament MVP trophy and three Academic All-Ivy selections. She was also a first-team All-American and Tewaaraton Award finalist, as well as a Princeton Scholar in the Nation's Service Initiative winner. That's a pretty full resume. 

Another of her quotes in the book was about how she chose Princeton because she wanted a well-rounded experience, and not just a lacrosse experience. She certainly fulfilled that.

Hompe broke the career points record that had been held for 18 years by Crista Samaras, who is now a motivational speaker and great lacrosse commentator and podcaster. Before Samaras, the record was 220 points by Lisa Rebane, who graduated in 1996. Then Samaras pushed it to 270, which was a remarkable number beyond what anyone else had done.

When Hompe chased that record down with 285, it seemed like it might stand for awhile, but Sears has now set the standard at 307. That takes nothing away from how great a player Hompe was, and how clutch a player she was at Princeton.

She appears to still be both. And because she is, England can celebrate with a bronze medal.

The story on goprincetontigers.com and on the women's lacrosse social media showed her with her arms raised after scoring the game-winner. It may have said "England" instead of "Princeton" on her jersey, but the number was familiar.

No. 22 had struck again.