Gopher Non-Revenue Review

The Non-Rev review is back to recap how the Gopher non-revenue sports have fared in the last week, and what is upcoming this week in action. We had a thrilling upset, a few good wins, and the first heat related cancellation of an indoor sport I can remember in a long time if ever. Without further delay:

Minnesota Soccer:

The Gophers started Big Ten play at home for a pair of games. Friday night the Gophers hosted Illinois. The Gophers could not not anything going all night and would go down early after a goal in the 13th minute off of a corner kick for the Illini. Illinois would add a second similar goal in the 53rd minute, and the Gophers would fall 2-0.

Sunday afternoon the Gophers hosted #12 Northwestern. It was the complete opposite of Friday night’s game. The Wildcats would get awarded a penalty kick on a handball just eight minutes into the game, but the shot would be stopped by Gopher goalie Maddie Nielsen with a great diving effort.

Minnesota would get their chance at a penalty shot in the 25th minute after Molly Fielder was fouled in the box. Senior April Bocken would take the penalty kick and convert to put the Gophers up 1-0.

In the 71st minute the Gophers would strike again when Fiedler won the ball to freshman Patricia Ward who sent a gorgeous cross to TJ McKendrick to score the goal.

The Wildcats had given up 2 goals all season until the two the Gophers scored Sunday to win 2-0. Minnesota is now 5-4 overall and 1-1 in the Big Ten on the season. The Gophers head to Michigan for a pair later this week when they take on the Michigan State Spartans Thursday night at 6PM before heading to Ann Arbor for a matinee tilt against Michigan Sunday afternoon.

Gopher Volleyball:

The Gophers got to play one match of their Gopher Fall Classic this weekend when they swept Green Bay 3-0 on Thursday night by a score of 25-18, 25-15, and 25-22. Alexis Hart lead the way with 13 kills.

Saturday night the Gophers were supposed to host Kansas State at the Pav, but the game was cancelled to due unsafe playing conditions. The heat and humidity were too much to accommodate in the non-air conditioned Pavilion, and it became unsafe for the players.

The Gophers ended the non-conference portion of their schedule with a 6-2 record and are currently ranked #7 in the nation as they head into Big Ten play. There will be no slow ramp up to the conference season as the Gophers will host #4 Penn State Wednesday night at the Pav before a much easier task against Maryland on Saturday. The Penn State match will air live on BTN at 8PM Wednesday night.

Gopher Cross Country:

The Gopher men had a good weekend as they won the Greeno/Dirksen Invite hosted by the Nebraska Cornhuskers last Saturday. Minnesota totaled 33 points to lead the nine-team field at Nebraska’s Mahoney Golf Course. Iowa came in second at 68 points while Nebraska finished third with 71 points. Gopher sophomore Alex Bastain won the individual 8 kilometer race in 24:17.5 to achieve a personal best. It was his first individual race win with the Gophers. Three other Gophers finished in the top ten with Evan Ferlic finishing fifth, Seth Eliason coming in seventh and Hunter Lucas in ninth.

All three teams will be back on the same course in a month when Nebraska hosts the Big Ten Championships.

The Gopher women were off last weekend but will race at the Battle in Beantown Friday afternoon hosted by Boston College. Both teams will be back in action locally in two weeks when the Gophers host the Roy Griak Invitational.

Gopher Track and Field:

The Gophers won’t compete outdoors until the spring, but Monday the Gopher Trakc and Field Teams held the grand opening for their new track on campus. The facility will host its first meets this spring and has several gorgeous features including:

• A nine-lane track with the Beynon 2000 surface - A state-of-the-art surface set with nine lanes and three chutes, providing the flexibility to host major competitions at all levels.
• Full-field event hosting capabilities - Amenities and space will be available to host all field events on-site. This facility will be capable of hosting all events for a complete track and field competition in one place.
• Versatile configuration - The facility’s layout will provide opportunities to run sprints on both the front and backstretches, as well as opportunities to change directions for long jump, triple jump, pole vault and other events to work with the prevailing winds on competition days.
• Fully enclosed, heated warm-up and cool down areas: Private spaces beneath the grandstands will provide competitors areas to warm up prior to competing and cool down following their events.
• Grandstands with capacity to host major competitions: A combination of 2,400 permanent bleacher seats and event-based seating will create enough available seats to host many of the state’s and nations’ largest meets.

It is just another great facility that will only improve the Gophers track and field teams even more so than they already are.

Gopher Women’s Golf:

The Gophers finished 14th in the Minnesota Invitational hosted at Windsong Golf Club in Independence last week. Sophomore Grace Kellar shot -2 to finish in third place. San Jose State took the team crown.

This week the Gophers are hosting the ANNIKA Intercollegiate at Royal Golf Club in Lake Elmo. The field features the top four ranked teams in the nation, and nine of the top ten. The teams will play 18 holes each of the three days of the tournament (Monday-Wednesday). With the first round suspended due to weather as of the writing of this article, the Gophers were at +12, and in 12th place of the twelve teams in the meet, eight shots back of Stanford and Oklahoma State. Live results from the meet can be found HERE.

Gopher Men’s Golf:

The Gopher Men also hosted the Minnesota Invitational at Windsong last week and moved up from 9th place to finish in fifth place after a -1 final round. The Gophers tied with Purdue to finish seventeen shots behind Champion Oklahoma. Freshman Lincoln Johnson was the top individual finisher for the Gophers ending up in a tie for 11th place at +1.

Gopher Women’s Tennis:

The Gophers open their season with the Gopher Invitational this weekend at the Baseline Tennis Center. Minnesota will host seven schools, Drake, South Dakota, North Dakota, Nebraska, Arkansas, Iowa State and Northern Iowa.

Minnesota was originally set to open at the ITA Hall of Fame Classic last week in Williamsburg, Virginia, but the meet was canceled due to Hurricane Florence.

Gopher Softball:

The Gophers announced they will play three fall doubleheaders at Jane Sage Cowles stadium against local schools. Friday September 28th the Gophers will host St. Cloud State, Saturday the 29th the Gophers will host Minnesota-Duluth, and Friday October 5th the Gophers will host Concordia-St. Paul. Admission is free to all of the games.