Lots of non-football things were happening to the Gophers this weekend
The fall sports season is kicking into high gear and it was a busy weekend for many Gopher sports teams this past weekend. We all know how the football game ended up, but here is some good news you may have missed and how you can next catch the Gophers in action this week.
Minnesota Soccer:
The Gopher soccer team picked up a big 3-0 win over Michigan on Thursday night on the foot of senior Khyah Harper who picked up her third hat trick on the season. Unfortunately the Gophers great start in Big Ten play would not last as on Sunday the Gophers would fall 1-0 at Wisconsin. Minnesota outplayed the Badgers for most of the match outshooting them 16-6 and gaining a 18-4 advantage in corner kicks But Wisconsin lead in the category that matters most when the Badgers scored in the 15th minute off a corner kick. Wisconsin delivered a ball to Erin Connolly who headed it up into the six yard box. Peighton Steffen took advantage of the bobbling ball and finished for the lone goal of the match.
Minnesota hots the road for their first ever conference road trip to California this week. Minnesota will face #25 USC on Thursday night at 8PM before facing UCLA who is receiving votes in the most recent poll Sunday at 3 PM. Both those matches will stream on B1G+.
Minnesota Volleyball:
The Gophers went 3-0 last weekend to win the Capital Credit Union Classic in Green Bay, Wisconsin. Minnesota swept all three matches defeating the host Green Bay 25-16, 25-21, 25-20 on Thursday, North Dakota 25-16, 25-9, 25-13 on Friday and Chicago State 25-17, 25-15, 25-18 on Saturday. Minnesota played two players on the All-Tournament team with Phoebe Awoleye and Julia Hansen honored. Hansen was named the tournament’s MVP after hitting .461 with 33 kills in three matches.
Minnesota moved up to #16 in this week’s national rankings, and will see their schedule toughness increase exponentially this week. Minnesota opens up Big Ten play at home and will host a pair of top ten ranked opponents as #7 Wisconsin Badgers comes to the Pav on Wednesday and #10 Purdue Boilermakers comes in on Saturday. The Badgers match will begin at 8 PM, and the Purdue match will begin at 5:30 with both airing live on Big Ten Network.
Gopher Cross-Country
Minnesota hosted the 38th Annual Roy Griak Invitational at the Les Bolstad Golf Course last Friday. It was a triumphant day for the Gopher women as they won the team event for the third time in the last six runnings. The Gophers also finished 1-2 individually as Ali Weimer won the event with Emma Atkinson right on her heels for second place. Minnesota’s other placing runners took 11th, 14th and 19th places. Weimer’s win was the first for an individual Gopher since 2018. It’s also the last time Gophers finished 1-2 with the Hasz sisters, Bethany and Megan doing that achievement. Utah valley came in second behind the Gophers with Wyoming in third place.
On the men’s side the Gophers would finish in third place as a team behind Wyoming and Navy. It was the programs highest team finish since a second place result in 2018. Emmet Anderson was the team’s top finisher, clocking a 25:19.7 to finish 11th overall.
Minnesota has a weekend off before competing in the Loyola Lakefront Invitational in Chicago the following Friday October 4th.
Gopher Tennis:
Minnesota opened the fall season by hosting the Gopher Invitational last weekend. Minnesota hosted twelve teams to compete on campus: St. Thomas, Marquette, North Dakota, South Dakota, Omaha, Northern Iowa, Creighton, Northern Illinois, Milwaukee, Drake, and University of Chicago. Over the course of the three-day tournament, each day began with two rounds of doubles, followed by a round of best two-out-of-three singles play.
The Golden Gophers finished the weekend with a 13-5 record in doubles and 21-5 in singles. The highlights for the Gophers included Sophomore transfer Jeselle Ante leading the Gophers, going undefeated on the weekend, with five wins in doubles and three wins in singles play. Freshman Deniz Turan opened her collegiate career going 3-0 in singles and 4-1 in doubles. The Gophers had dominant singles play from Aiva Schmitz, Ariva Valitova and Anlin Xie, each finishing 3-0 on the weekend.
Minnesota will be off until October 9-14 when the Golden Gophers travel to Memphis, Tennessee to compete in the ITA Central Regionals.
Gopher Women’s Golf
Minnesota competed in the Mary Fossum Invitational Sunday and Monday hosted by Michigan State at the Fort Akers Golf Club in East Lansing. Minnesota finished in third place overall as a team behind Ole Miss and the host Spartans. Junior star Isabella McCauley placed tied for seventh, grabbing her third straight top-ten finish. Bella’s sister, Freshman Reese McCauley placed tied for 13th place. She nabbed three birdies in round three and closed out the event with a score of 71-75-73-219 (+3). Sophomore Mariana Mesones closed out the competition with a final score of 220 (+4). Mesones shot a round three 77 (+5) and tallied 41 pars, the highest in the individual field. Junior Ruby Chi ended the competition with a three round score of 76-71-74-221 (+5), her best tournament score as a Golden Gopher. She grabbed two birdies and 12 pars in round three to close the event tied for 20th place. Sophomore Sara Tomaszewski made two birdies and ten pars in round three to close the day with a 79 (+7). She finished with a score of 74-73-79-226 (+10).
The Gophers are next in action at the Ron Moore Intercollegiate from October 4-6 in Highlands Ranch, Colorado.
Men’s Golf
The Gophers hit the road for the first time this season heading to the Get-R-Done Invitational hosted by Nebraska on Monday and Tuesday. After the first 36 holes on Monday the Gophers sat in a tie for 10th place at +11. The high Gopher was senior Bennett Swavely who finished the day tied for sixth-place, tallying eight birdies through his first 36 holes. The Gopher senior’s 36 holes score of 139 (69-70) places him at 3-under par heading into Tuesday’s final round. As of the completion of this the Gophers had moved up to 7th place overall as they neared the end of Tuesday’s round keeping their team score of +11. Swavely was even par for the day and in a tie for 7th place overall through 15 holes.
Minnesota heads to Madison this weekend for the Badger Invitational at University Ridge Golf Club Sunday through Tuesday.
Minnesota Women’s Hockey:
The Gopher women kick off their season this weekend at UCONN. We will have a full season preview coming later this week here on TDG>