University of Minnesota Athletics
Gophers To Take On Illinois in First Round of Tournament
11/3/2007 12:00:00 AM | Soccer
The University of Minnesota Golden Gopher soccer team received its first round Big Ten Tournament opponent Saturday morning. As expected, the Gophers will square off with the University of Illinois at 8:00 p.m. on Thursday, Nov. 8 at Elizabeth Lyle Robbie Stadium in St. Paul. Friday night's 1-0 loss to Iowa gave Minnesota (9-8-1, 5-5 Big Ten) the No. 6 seed in the annual tournament, while the idle Illini (11-5-1, 6-3-1 Big Ten) had previously clinched the No. 3 seed.
If the Gophers can beat the Illini in Thursday's quarterfinal match, they would play the winner of the Purdue/Northwestern match at 8:00 p.m. on Friday evening. Friday's matches will be televised via tape delay on the Big Ten Network.
Other first round match-ups will feature Big Ten regular season champion Penn State (9-1-0 in conference play) against eighth-seeded Iowa (4-6-0) at 11:00 a.m., No. 4 Indiana (5-4-1) versus No. 5 Ohio State (5-5-0) at 2:00 p.m. and then the No. 2 Boilermakers (8-1-1) and No. 7 Wildcats (4-4-2) preceding the Gophers' game at 5:00 p.m. All matches will take place at Elizabeth Lyle Robbie Stadium on the University of Minnesota's St. Paul campus (click here for directions).
The winners of the Penn State/Iowa and Indiana/Ohio State matches will play their semifinal match at 5:00 p.m. on Friday evening. The Big Ten Tournament Championship will take place on Sunday afternoon at 1:00 p.m. and will be broadcast live on Big Ten Network (on a regional basis or via alternate channels). The conference tournament champion will receive an automatic bid into the 2007 NCAA Tournament.
The Gophers and Illini played to a hard-fought 1-0 decision Oct. 5 in Champaign. The Gophers were out-shot 27-5 but turned in a standout defensive effort to stay with the then-nationally ranked Fighting Illini. The Gophers and Illinois previously met in the first round of the 2005 Big Ten Tournament, the last time Minnesota advanced to postseason play. Minnesota is 4-8-0 all-time against Illinois, with their only postseason match-up coming in 2005.
Stay tuned to gophersports.com for a complete tournament preview next week. Live stats will be available for every match. Click here to view the official tournament results page. Tickets can also be purchased online by clicking here or by calling 1-800-U-GOPHER.
