Top 5 Goals: Morgan Weaver’s Back Heel Flick, Champions League Action, and More

This week’s action of women’s soccer was incredible, and with the European season ending, it’s the perfect precursor to the World Cup this summer. Both the Women’s Champions League Final and Coppa Italia Final had dramatic endings that will go down in history. Plus, the NWSL had league and Challenge Cup action throughout the week. We’re blessed to have this much soccer on at the same time, but with European seasons ending, the focus shifts solely to the NWSL for the rest of June. There are some incredible highlights to get you caught up on. Here are the Top 5 Goals from the UEFA Women’s Champions League Final, the Coppa Italia Final, and the NWSL Challenge Cup. 

5. Barbara Bonansea – Juventus

AS Roma was looking to cap off an incredible season with a domestic double by winning Serie A and the Coppa Italia. Well, Barbara Bonansea of Juventus, one of the best Italian strikers ever, had other ideas.

Late in regulation with two minutes to go, extra time was looming. Bonansea saw a sliver of space and put her hand up, calling for the cross. The defender had her back to Bonansea, and while her positioning wasn’t terrible, Bonansea showed the desire necessary after 93 grueling minutes of action.

In a tie game where two sides can’t be separated, that’s when the great players step up for their teams. Barbara Bonansea has done it repeatedly for club and country and should play a significant role for Italy at the World Cup. 

4. Ewa Pajor – Wolfsburg

Wolfsburg stunned Barcelona inside three minutes in the Champions League Final thanks to Ewa Pajor. Pajor knew Lucy Bronze was returning from a knee injury and might not be at full strength. The Champions League Golden Boot winner read the play perfectly and pressured Bronze into coughing up the ball in a dangerous area.

Once Pajor had the ball, she knew immediately to go for goal. No one on Barcelona had enough time to react and stop her. Pajor went far post, and while Sandra Panos was able to get a hand to it, the damage had been done. Wolfsburg blitzed Barca within the first five minutes.

It’s a shame Poland didn’t qualify for the World Cup. We’ll dearly miss the talent of someone like Ewa Pajor. 

3. Parker Goins – Racing Louisville

Parker Goins had a storied career at Arkansas and was the Razorbacks’ leading goal scorer in her final season. With two goals in her last two games off the bench, she’s rewarded Louisville’s faith in her. Headed goals like these rarely happen. Yet Goins showed she will be a force to be reckoned with in and around the box.

Savannah DeMelo put the ball in with pace, and Goins somehow found a way to take enough off the ball and loop it over Alyssa Naeher for the goal. Naeher might get criticism for being off her line, but no one saw that header coming from that position, a great set-piece goal. 

2. Patri – Barcelona

Patri was named Player of the Match and Barca’s hero for bringing her team back from 2-0 with two goals. The Spanish striker embodies what it means to play for Barcelona and refused to give up along with the rest of her teammates.

Kiera Walsh showed great ingenuity with this chipped pass out wide to Aitana Bonmati. Bonmati made great use of her space and juked the defender in front of her with a fake and then cut back to make room for the cross. No one on Wolfsburg tracked Patri, and she glided into the box and waited for the inviting cross from Bonmati. All she had to do was redirect it past the keeper, and suddenly, it was 2-2.

Two goals in five minutes changed the game on its head and helped Barcelona win their second Champions League Title. Enjoy this moment because Patri announced she won’t go to the World Cup, leaving Spain’s chances in limbo with the ongoing strike. 

1. Morgan Weaver – Portland Thorns

This goal has already made its rounds through ESPN and Twitter, but it’s impossible not to show everyone what Morgan Weaver did. The Thorns already had one shocking game-winner against Angel City when Bella Bixby backheeled the ball in at the end of the game. Weaver would provide two in the same season against the same team, which is an unbelievable coincidence.

Even Christine Sinclair, who crossed the ball, couldn’t have guessed that Weaver would attempt something like that. The ability to contort her body into a backheel scorpion kick is absurd. Trying that at the end of the game is gutsy, to say the least. If Weaver missed completely, she’d look silly trying that with the game on the line.

Instead, she created a moment of magic that we’ll enjoy for a long, long time.  

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