Gophers Host Opening Rounds of Big Ten Tournament

The Gophers are the #7 seed and open play Thursday night

The Minnesota Golden Gophers were chosen to host the opening round and quarterfinals of the Big Ten Women’s Soccer Tournament this weekend at Elizabeth Lyle Robbie Stadium. It could be a boon for the Gophers who are undefeated at home this season, capped off by a massive upset of #11 Iowa last weekend 2-1. Minnesota earned the #7 seed in the tournament and will face #10 seed Penn State Thursday night at 6:30. The winner will advance to Sunday’s quarterfinal will they will face #2 seed UCLA.

Minnesota capped off one of the best seasons in school history last weekend with a 2-1 win over #11 Iowa. The Hawkeyes scored just 40 seconds into the game before Minnesota came back. The Gophers would tie it in the 10th minute when Khyah Harper passed the ball threw the box to Paige Kalal to put it in the back of the net. Minnesota took the lead in the 65th minute when Caroline Birdsell was fouled in the box and 5th year senior Sophia Boman converted on the penalty kick to put Minnesota up 2-1. The Gophers would hang on for their second top-15 win on the season, the first time in program history that had happened. It also capped off a perfect 12-0 season at home, the first time since 2008 that Minnesota has gone undefeated at home.

Boman was named the Big Ten’s Defensive Player of the Week. As she gets ready to end her Gopher career, its impressive to see just how integral she has been to Minnesota’s roster over the past five seasons. Boman has totaled 7,451:32 minutes in her career as a Gopher. Currently, she has a streak of 29 consecutive matches that she has competed for a full 90 minutes. Boman has started all 83 matches since her freshman season and has only missed 154 minutes on the field in five seasons.

Minnesota will need to get past Penn State on Thursday night to earn one last home game at ELR. Penn State finished in 10th place in the conference but did pick up a 3-2 win over the Gophers in University Park earlier in October. Penn State is ranked 9th in the nation in RPI, while the Gophers are currently #22. One more win over the Nittany Lions would all but clinch a NCAA berth for the Gophers.

The Gophers and Nittany Lions match will be the second one of the day at ELR which could mean a potentially sloppy pitch with the St. Paul weather. Eighth seeded Ohio State will take on #9 Wisconsin at 3:30 in the first opening round game, with the winner facing #1 seed USC on Sunday. The other two quarterfinals games will take place on Saturday at ELR with #4 Michigan State facing #5 Rutgers at 3:30 and #3 Iowa facing #6 Washington at 6:30.

The winners will advance to CityPark Stadium in St. Louis for the Semifinals and Championship Match the following weekend. The full bracket is below: