2019 FIFA Women’s World Cup. It was the semifinal clash between the United States and England—two strong teams, neither willing to lose. In such a crucial match, the last thing either side wanted was a setback, right? Well, talk about bad luck—co-captain Megan Rapinoe was sidelined with a sore hamstring, forcing then-coach Jill Ellis to make a change. Her replacement you ask? Christen Press. And boy did it turn out to be a favorable call. Not only did she score an unusual yet crucial goal for the USWNT, but she also honored her late mother with a tribute like no other.

“I think that there are moments in all of our careers where it’s like a God goal—you become bigger than yourself,” said Press while speaking with Sam Mewis on The Women’s Game podcast. In a way, she was right. Moving forward with the backdrop of the story—though she earned a start in the semifinal, the pressure was immense. After all, the U.S. had lost one of their co-leading scorers for such a crucial match.

The fixed trio of Tobin Heath, Alex Morgan, and Megan Rapinoe was doing wonders. And on top of that, Ellis replaced one of her injured stars with someone who received just one start back in the group stages, plus irregular off-the-bench appearances in every game. But what other choice there was? The result?

10 minutes—that’s all it took for Press to make an impact against the Lionesses. And it was no ordinary one: a header! But unfortunately, the person who loved to see the score wasn’t there to witness it. “My mom was actually obsessed with me scoring. One of the last things she did in her life was actually watch me score against Spain in that January camp build-up,” said Press.

In fact, by obsessed, the forward revealed that her mother’s “only metric for me being good was scoring. There was no, ‘Oh, you had a good game.’ It was like you scored or you didn’t score.” So it was natural for Press to dedicate the goal against England to her mother by raising both of her hands in the air.

A perfect way to do so, given it was all that her mom wanted. “I watched it back and I was like, ‘It literally wasn’t me.’ It was my mother inside of my body. You could have a hundred ball crosses like that [and] no defenders, I’ll never score it,” added Press.

[Fun fact: Special mention also goes to Carli Lloyd, as Press revealed post-game that she had spent over two years watching the former USWNT No. 10 practice her headers. Though she never trained alongside her, simply observing and learning helped Christen channel her ‘inner Carli Lloyd’ when she found the net.]

But yes, keeping aside this fun fact, we’d like to stick with the 36-year-old’s story about how she managed to give a classy tribute to her mother. Honestly, we’d like to believe her, cause that’s what makes it a beautiful game and more than just a sport.

Christen Press’ mother wanted her daughter to ‘rise’ up for the perfect occasion

Another reason why Christen Press scoring a goal was more surprising is because she simply wasn’t asked to do so. Aside from the factor of getting a risky start in the semifinal, she was set up for a more defensive role by Jill Ellis. The plan was simple; let Tobin Heath or Alex Morgan do the talking by scoring while Press will try to keep Lucy Bronze busy. But even the Angel City star had an intuition that she had a major role to play on that night of July 2, 2019.

“In our life, we have this story arc that plays out. You do what you can do to contribute to making the life you’re supposed to have. It’s generally when you surrender to the biggest thing that you get these gifts. I felt the will of my mother was like, ‘No, you are not going to play a defensive role; you were going to rise up and score header goal,'” emphasized Press in during a similar discussion.

The rest, as you all know, is history. Unluckily, Press’ rare and beautiful header was canceled out by Ellen White just nine minutes later. But thankfully, Alex Morgan stepped up as a true leader, scoring the decisive goal around the half-hour mark.

At the final whistle, the USA had secured their spot in the final. Later, they went on to defeat the Netherlands with goals from Megan Rapinoe and Rose Lavelle. Sadly, Christen Press played less than 10 minutes in the final. But we reckon it’s the semifinal that holds the most significance for her.