University of Minnesota Athletics
University of Minnesota
South Dakota St.
Gophers Advance in NCAA Tournament
11/13/2015 12:00:00 AM | Soccer
Nov. 13, 2015
Box Score
MINNEAPOLIS - The University of Minnesota women's soccer team defeated the Jackrabbits of South Dakota State University 5-0 in the first round of the NCAA tournament at Elizabeth Lyle Robbie Stadium on Friday night.
"You have to tip your hat to South Dakota State," said head coach Stefanie Golan. "Last year, they put up a great battle against Carolina and this year, they gave us a fight. We're fortunate to walk out of here tonight with a 5-0 result."
"This game completely exemplified our team word for this year, "unbreakable,"" said redshirt senior Taylor Stainbrook. "We had a little lapse the past couple of games, but tonight, we showed that we can carry out our work."
"We were played off the field tonight," said SDSU head coach Lang Wedemeyer. "Our team really didn't show up tonight and a lot of that is due to how well Minnesota played."
Coming into tonight's home match, the Gophers were on a five game loss streak, with the tie against Michigan to account for a non-victory result. At the final home game of the regular-season, thought to originally be Minnesota's final game at ELR for 2015, the Maroon and Gold dropped to Illinois 3-1.
"After that tough stretch, we wanted to focus on getting back to who we are," said Golan. "Even when it was tough, all the goals that were being scored against us were coming off of silly mistakes that we were making, not that we weren't playing well as a whole. We had to continue to stay positive and continue to believe that the possession game we play will fall into place and it's going to pay off. This team did a great job with that tonight."
In the 18th-minute of play, Stainbrook picked up a deflection from the top of the six to net her third goal of the season.
"To go in 1-0 at half and finish with the end result of 5-0 is testament to what our team can do and our capability. The players on the right and the left right now [speaking about junior Josee Stiever and Stainbrook] had everything to do with it.
"Scoring that first goal meant everything," said Stainbrook. "Obviously our momentum the last couple of games wasn't as up-to-par as the beginning of the season and I think that with that first goal, that really pushed us in the right direction."
In the first half, the Gophers notched 13 shots to SDSU's two, along with tallying three corner kicks, three fouls and made one save.
"At half, I told the team in the locker room that this is fun," said Stainbrook. "I don't know if a lot of people felt that the last couple of games but this was way different. I think we were exploring the areas we did in the beginning of the season and that's where we found our strengths."
The intensity displayed in the first half of play ramped up in the second, as the Gophers would tally four more, two within four minutes of one another.
Four minutes into the second half, a Jackrabbit attempted to head a dangerous shot from Stiever near the SDSU frame, resulting in an own goal.
Following that goal, Stiever found service from Stainbrook to score her fourth goal of the season.
Minnesota's fourth point of the night came from Stainbrook's foot, her second of the night, off double service from junior co-captain Simone Kolander and freshman April Bockin.
With five minutes left in regulation, sophomore Julianna Gernes was fed the ball by senior Allie Reinke from the back line, bringing the final mark to 5-0.
"Getting our offense going was something that we focused a lot on yesterday," said Golan. "We worked on getting our numbers up in the attack and finishing in the final third and I thought our team worked really hard, made some really good decisions in the runs and executed well on the finishing end of it. A lot of the goals tonight were directly connected to things we worked on in training. The great thing was that we continued to create, we continued to believe and we continued to fight."
"We talked about taking a lot more risks in our last few practices and I think we really did that tonight," said Stiever. "Any time we had an opportunity or had a chance, we knew we had to just take it and that meant everything."
On the night, the Maroon and Gold had 23 shots, five corners, one save and had nine fouls.
In goal, junior goalkeeper Tarah Hobbs' record moves to 11-6-3.
Minnesota stands at a 6-2-2 home record for the 2015 season.
"Today was a really emotional day for me," said Stainbrook. "Just finishing off and scoring two goals and an assist all comes from different parts of the field and it was a team win, but obviously for the seniors, it's a huge deal and it feels really good."
"This next week, we just have to go into practice focused and remember to take one game at a time," said Stiever. "Having the last weekend off was really helpful to us and we all got in the right mind set. We were able to focus in and realize that we don't want to season to be over. No one was or is ready for this team to be over yet. We'll be ready."
LOOKING AHEAD
The first round matches will continue to be played through Nov. 15, with second round matches set for Nov. 20 and third round action on Nov. 22, all on campus sites. Quarterfinals will be played Nov. 27 or Nov. 28 on campus sites. The 2015 NCAA College Cup will be held at WakeMed Soccer Park in Cary, N.C., with semifinal games on Dec. 4 and the championship match on Dec. 6.
Minnesota will either face the No. 3 seed Cal Berkeley Golden Bears, or the Loyola Marymount Lions on the road in the second round. Click here for the full NCAA Division I Women's Soccer Championship bracket.
FOLLOW THE GOPHERS
Are you following the Gophers on the road or from home? Make sure to follow @GopherSoccer on Twitter and use the team's new hashtag #Unbreakable. You can also check for updates on Facebook and Instagram by "liking" Golden Gopher Soccer on Facebook or following the Gophers on Instagram.
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