University of Minnesota Athletics
Soccer Opens Season with UCF and Tennessee
8/30/2007 12:00:00 AM | Soccer
The Minnesota Golden Gopher soccer team begins regular season play Friday at the first annual Lady Vol Classic in Knoxville, Tennessee. The Gophers will take on the University of Central Florida Knights on at 4:30 p.m. (CST) on Friday and the Tennessee Lady Volunteers at 2:00 p.m. on Sunday. The Lady Vol Classic will take place at the newly-opened Regal Soccer Stadium at the Tennessee Soccer Complex, and Friday afternoon's match will mark the first regular season collegiate soccer contest at the new facility.
Live stats will be available via the Lady Vols' website (utladyvols.com). Click here as game time approaches for to follow the Gophers live.
About Central Florida
After a solid 2006 season that saw them go 11-6-2 overall (including 7-1-1 in Conference USA), the Knights will feature a number of fresh faces in 2007. The team lost 10 letterwinners from a year ago, including five starters, from a team that finished second in the conference for the second straight year.
In the preseason SoccerBuzz Southeast region poll, Central Florida is currently ranked 15th, one of seven ranked opponents the Gophers will take on this season. The Knights were tabbed to finish second once again in Conference USA this season in the annual preseason poll, as they have posted a 15-2-1 record within the conference since joining in 2005.
The Knights’ top returners are junior midfielder/forward Hanna Wilde and sophomore defender Nikki Moore, both of them preseason All-Conference USA picks. Wilde has played in all 41 matches during her two-year career and scored 10 points in 2006. Three of Wilde’s four goals were game-winners.
Moore was a freshman sensation for UCF last season, earning spots on the All-Conference USA Second Team, All-Conference USA Freshman Team, All-Southeast Region Freshman Team and the SoccerBuzz All-Region Third Team.
About Tennessee
Tennessee, the host of this weekend’s Lady Vol Classic, should be one of the tougher non-conference opponents Minnesota squares off with this season. The Lady Vols, who finished third in the SEC last year with a 6-3-2 conference record and 15-7-4 overall. The Lady Vols also made it all the way to the NCAA Regional Semifinals before falling to Maryland 1-0.
Tennessee is currently ranked 24th nationally in the SoccerBuzz preseason poll and 24th NSCAA/adidas Preseason National Rankings. The Lady Vols return eight starters from a year ago, including All-SEC Preseason honorees Jaimel Johnson (junior goalkeeper), Kylee Rossi (junior forward) and Emily Redberg (senior forward). Johnson posted a 1.05 goals-against-average last year, including two shutouts in the NCAA Tournament. Rossi made the preseason Herman Trophy Watch List (the Herman Trophy is awarded annually to the best player in Division I men’s and women’s soccer) and was the SEC Offensive Player of the Year in 2006. Redberg is a Brooklyn Park, Minn. native and was second on the team with 17 points a year ago. She was also the Offensive MVP of the 2006 Lady Vol Classic.
For Openers
The Gophers boast an 8-5-1 all-time record in season openers. Minnesota topped Drake 3-0 in their opener last season, the most goals the program has scored in an opener since 2003 when they topped Buffalo 4-2. The margin of victory was also the team’s largest in an opener since 1999, when the Gophers defeated Valparaiso 10-0.
Traditionally Strong Starters
The Golden Gophers will look to continue a trend of recent years by starting the season strong. The Gophers went 7-1-1 in their first eight games last season and won three of their first five matches in 2005. In 2004, the Gophers started 3-1.
Grueling Non-Conference Schedule
In order to be the best you have to play the best, and the Golden Gopher soccer program has taken that mantra to heart this season. In addition to their already-grueling Big Ten schedule, which features four teams (Penn State, Indiana, Illinois and Purdue) that made the 2006 NCAA Tournament, Minnesota will play non-conference games against a number of high-quality opponents. Tennessee, who the Gophers take on Sept. 2, is ranked 24th nationally in the Soccer Buzz preseason poll.
Also ranked are non-conference opponents Central Florida (15th in the Southeast region), Boston University (third in the Northeast) and Dartmouth (12th in the Northeast). In fact, the Gophers’ 2007 non-conference opponents posted an overall winning percentage of .530 (79-51-19) in 2006, in addition to a combined .560 winning percentage within their respective conferences (41-22-10).
Big Ten in the Preseason Polls
Three Big Ten women’s soccer programs earned spots in the NSCAA/adidas National Preseason Poll. Defending Big Ten regular-season champion Penn State was slotted as the nation’s No. 7 team while Purdue was ranked 15th and Illinois earned the 20st spot.
Coach Denney Wright on This Weekend's Match-ups:
"Our goal has been to create an environment to challenge our team before the conference season," said head coach Mikki Denney Wright on the team's opening weekend games. "In order to be the best you have to play the best, and we want to get that fire right from the get-go."
Denney Wright also stressed the strength of this season's non-conference schedule.
"Seven of the eight teams we play in the non-conference season are favorites to win their conference," Denney Wright said. "Both Central Florida and Tennessee are great teams, and we're got a young team that's going to rely heavily upon our veterans to provide leadership. Right now, our players have to just focus on themselves and grow as athletes."
