Gophers Win Last Game of Regular Season

Golden Gophers Beat Indiana 1-0

STATS

In the final game of the regular season, the Minnesota Golden Gopher Women’s Soccer team defeated the Indiana Hoosiers.

With the win, Minnesota moves into 4th place, tied with two other teams, Purdue and Michigan State. Each sit in that spot with 14 points, with Purdue and Michigan State yet to play today, Saturday, October, 7th.  Purdue takes on last placed Iowa at West Lafayette, IN and Michigan also plays at home in Ann Arbor, Michigan and takes on 1st place Penn State. The win for Minnesota dropped the Hoosiers to 9th place.

This may have been the final home game for the Gophers but they will have to wait and see what happens on Monday when the NCAA Tournament selection committee decides their fate. Minnesota (12-5-3, 5-3-2) came into the game needing this win to strengthen their NCAA Tournament resume before the selections are made Monday evening.

Although the stats showed Minnesota leading in shots 10-6 at the end of the game, and corners 9-2, it didn’t do justice to the dominance of the Gophers who saw chance after chance but seemed to struggle getting off the final shot.

However, it was a couple of the usual suspects who came through for the Gophers in the 78th minute of play. Minnesota were awarded one of their 9 corner kicks of the game. Katie Bethke stepped up and delivered one of her patented driven corner kicks just above the goal box. Molly Rouse, who had looked dangerous all night with several mazy runs and shots through the Hoosiers’ defense, this time rose high to meet Bethke’s ball.  The junior midfielder made solid contact with her head, nodding the ball downward and left of Indiana goalkeeper Lauren Hollandsworth and into the goal for Minnesota’s only goal of the evening.

The assist was a team-leading seventh on the season for Bethke and moves her into an eighth place tie with Alison Rackley on the Gophers’ career assist list with 19.

The goal was Rouses’s 6th of the year, a career high for the junior from Cambridge, Minnesota.

“Molly scored, she’s clutch, she scored the game-winner, she deserved it,” Denney Wright said. “I’m just really proud of our team, our ability to kill the game, and what a great win for our program.”

“I was really proud of our team and I think we made a great case for an NCAA bid,” Denney Wright said.

Should the Gophers make the field for the second consecutive season, they will open NCAA Tournament play one week from today with an opening round game on Friday, Nov. 13. The selections and first round sites will be announced live on ESPNEWS at 7:00 p.m. (CT) on Nov. 9.