espnW Soccer Player Of The Week: Minnesota's Simone Kolander
Kolander played a role in all three of the goals Minnesota scored in the wins. Trailing 1-0 into the second half at Ohio State on Thursday, and in danger of losing a fourth consecutive conference opener on the road, Minnesota pulled level on a quality long-range shot by Sydney Squires in the 67th minute. The finish required a deft touch and setup passes from Haley Helverson and Tori Burnett, but Kolander's long throw-in moments before the goal set the entire sequence in motion. That set the stage for her winner in the 80th minute, a second effort after her initial shot was denied at close range.
Three days later at Penn State, then ranked in the top five and a team had lost just four conference home games dating back a decade, Kolander spotted a Squires run, held off a defender for position on the cross and scored from close range in the 32nd minute for the only goal in a 1-0 win that left Minnesota tied atop the Big Ten standings.
Few teams will make more productive road trips this season, and not entirely because of what showed up in the box scores.
Not included in her player-of-the-week portfolio was Kolander's place on the team that won the intrasquad sand volleyball tournament staged to pass the time between soccer games. Whether it was that, the pleasantly unfamiliar experience of charter flights from the Twin Cities to Columbus, Ohio, and back home from State College, Pennsylvania, or the more familiar feeling of hours on a bus between stops, the road can be as much opportunity as disadvantage.
http://espn.go.com/espnw/news-commentary/article/13720046/minnesota-golden-gophers-simone-kolander
Go Gophers!!
