Gopher Soccer 2016



Defending national champs here Friday - Penn State.
 

While still absolutely loaded with talent, Penn State has 4 of their better players redshirting this year while training for the Women's U20 World Cup.

Should be ripe for the picking, and the Gophers beat them in State College last year anyway.
 





Player of the Week - Kolander
Defensive Player of the Week - Hobbs

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Caught the match vs. Indiana last night on the internet. Looked good in possession and created plenty of chances. The Albrecht goal from Stiever's corner was a thing of beauty. Good way to kick off the Big 10 road campaign with a win over the Hoosiers. Hopefully, they can follow up against Purdue tomorrow.

http://www.gophersports.com/sports/w-soccer/recaps/092316aac.html
 

Minnesota overcame an aggressive Purdue defense burying two second half goals (Stiever in the 61st minute and Bockin in the 75th) to defeat the Boilers in West Lafayette 2-0. Stievers goal came after she retrieved her own rebound. Bockin's goal was a beautiful one-two play set up by a wonderful long run by Kolander.
 

Hobbs won her second straight DPOY award.

She made a whole 2 saves in the 2 shutouts.

Hey Big Ten, how about honoring some of the defenders on front of her that makes 2 clean sheets with one save game each possible.

Tori Burnett played all 180 minutes this weekend, Nikki Albrecht played 156 & Rashida Beal played 153. Honor one of those players.
 




The ladies dropped a very tough one against Wisconsin yesterday in overtime. Only got a chance to see the last 15 minutes and the overtime, but it looked like Wisconsin was the better team during that time span. Disappointing, but hopefully the ladies can pick themselves up and still contend for a Big 10 title.
 

Minnesota took out Iowa 3-0 on a rainy Robbie evening. I took a look at the replay for the goals. Stiever's first goal occurred in the 59th minute off a nifty pass from Kolander. Stievers then beat a defender before forcing the ball between the keeper and the post.

Stiever's scored her second goal in the 86th minute. Unfortunately it happened during a camera black out (because of the rain). Two minutes later, with the camera operating again, Kolander launched a rocket from just inside the 18 yard line beating the goalie for the final tally.
 

The 15th ranked Gophers began their Michigan swing with a 2-1 afternoon win versus Michigan State. Minnesota goals: in the 8th minute by Kellie McGahn off a cross from Fielder and in the 79th minute by Sydney Squires of a pass from Stiever. Minnesota controlled most of the play but saw several shots rejected off the goal line by Spartan defenders.
 

Minnesota clichéd a B1G co-championship with a 6-0 rout of Maryland at the Robbie. Maryland, I believe, did not put a shot on goal.
 

http://grfx.cstv.com/photos/schools..._pdf/2016-17/misc_non_event/16wsocbracket.pdf

The #1 seeded Gophers host the Hoosiers to open the B1G tournament. The winner plays the winner of #4 Michigan/#5 Wisconsin.

http://www.gophersports.com/sports/w-soccer/recaps/102616aab.html

Minnesota finished the regular season with a 13-3-3 record, 7-1-3 in conference play. Penn State and Northwestern also posted 7-1-3 records in Big Ten action to split the title. It was the first time there was a three-way split in conference women's soccer history.

Julianna Gernes earned the first goal for the Gophers early in the fifth minute of play off big cross from Stiever.

In the 40th minute, Sydney Squires scored her first of the match on an unassisted run.

Rookie Nikki Albrecht opened the second half, recording the third goal of the game and her third goal of the season in the 47th minute off an assist from Molly Fiedler.

It was a family connection in the 66th minute, as junior Kellie McGahn found the back of the net from senior Simone Kolander. The duo are first cousins. McGahn has now scored three in the past five games after going two seasons without a goal.

Squires scored again in the 72nd minute off a ball from Fiedler.

Maya Rajacich was able to capitalize on a penalty kick to give the Gophers a big 6-0 win.

"Everything just clicked tonight," Kolander said. "There were so many people on the scoreboard with goals and assists, it feels awesome."
 

http://www.gophersports.com/sports/w-soccer/recaps/103016aac.html

Minnesota, with some nifty quick strike goals, defeated Indiana 3-1 at the Robbie and will host the B1G semifinals on Friday. The Gophers face Michigan in game one followed by Rutgers versus Northwestern.

Minnesota led all aspects of the game over Indiana including: shots (15-11), shots on goal (5-4) and corner kick opportunities (6-5). Josee Stiever and Sydney Squires both had a goal and an assist on the day.

In minute three of the match, junior Julianna Gernes found the back of the net off a ball from Molly Fiedler to get Minnesota on the scoreboard early.

Josee Stiever scored in the 36th minute to give the Gophers a 2-0 lead heading into the half. Sydney Squires was credited the assist.

Indiana's Mykayla Brown scored in the 80th minute of the match to move the game to 2-1, Minnesota.

Just three minutes later, Squires answered with a goal off a ball from Stiever. It was her third goal in the past three games.
 

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Sunday at 1:00 vs Northwestern or Rutgers
 

The Big Ten awards came out today and three Gophers were honored.

Simone Kolander - Forward of the Year
Rashida Beal - Defender of the Year
Stephanie Golan - Coach of the Year

Congratulations to all!!!


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk
 

Enjoyed watching the Big Ten semi's on TV this afternoon. Nice win, ladies! Looked like a lovely afternoon and the pitch (field) was fantastic on TV.
 



http://www.forums.gopherhole.com/boards/showthread.php?69810-Gopher-Soccer-2016/page2

If the Gophers advance, they will play the Cal/Pepperdine winner. Stanford is the number 1 seed in Minnesota's bracket.

No. 4 seeded Minnesota will host NC State in the first round of the 2016 NCAA Division I Women’s Soccer Championship this Saturday, Nov. 12 at the Elizabeth Lyle Robbie Stadium. Kickoff is scheduled for 7 p.m. CT. The Gophers earned an automatic bid after winning the 2016 Big Ten Tournament title in a 2-1 decision over Rutgers on Sunday afternoon.

"We're excited," head coach Stefanie Golan said. "For us to get a seed is a really cool thing for the program. This team has worked hard to put themselves in a position to guarantee we'd be at home."
 

How do the Gopher's win the Regular Season title, and go into the B1G tournament ranked #8 in the country, and then win the B1G conf tournament Title, and yet only get a #4 seed in the NCAA tourney, and get put in the same Region as Stanford, a team we've already played?

Am I the only one who sees this as a major slap in the face, a major, "F you B1G Conf, we think you suck"

I mean, a top 8 ranked team that goes 3-0 to win their Conf Tourney, should get at #2 seed. Why would they not?

I mean, maybe you could argue that other teams ranked lower than them did more in their conf tournaments to impress the selection committee, but I can't see how they could EVER justify dropping them down 2 whole seeds???

Maybe I am one of those wacko conspiracy theory guys, but this seems like some Anti-B1G conf bias to me, or Anti-Minnesota bias or something?


Am I wrong or can any of you Gopher Soccer fans out there explain to me how the Gophers deserved to be so disrespected????
 


Well, that does sort of explain it to me, but all that does for me is reaffirm my opinion that the "RPI" is the most overrated, overused, useless, worthless, POS rating system EVER invented!!!!!!
 

#1 Stanford lost to Santa Clara 1-0 in the second round. Gophers could've had an opening to the Elite 8 had they beat NC State! NC State won their second round match 1-0 vs. Pepperdine.

Big Ten went 1-5 in the second round. Only Northwestern is left.
 




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