University of Minnesota Athletics
Minnesota Readies for NCAA Second Round
11/18/2015 12:00:00 AM | Soccer
MINNEAPOLIS - The University of Minnesota women's soccer team will travel to Morgantown, W.V. to face the Loyola Marymount Lions on Friday at 3:00 p.m. EST in the second round of the NCAA Division I Women's Soccer Tournament.
The Gophers match against LMU will preface the 6:00 p.m. game featuring the host, the West Virginia Mountaineers and fellow Big Ten conference team, Northwestern.
All five of the Big Ten teams that made it to the tournament (Minnesota, Northwestern, Penn State, Ohio State and Rutgers) advanced in the first round.
The winners of Friday's games will face off on Sunday at 1:00 p.m. EST at Dick Dlesk Soccer Stadium in the third round of the tournament.
Click here for this weekend's tournament central website.
With the victory over the South Dakota State Jackrabbits last Friday at Elizabeth Lyle Robbie Stadium, the Maroon and Gold are 12-6-3 on the season.
LAST TIME OUT
Last Friday, the Gophers hosted the first round of the NCAA tournament and shutout the SDSU Jackrabbits 5-0.
Redshirt senior Taylor Stainbrook put Minnesota on board first after picking up a deflection from the top of the six, netting her third goal of the season.
The teams went into half with the Gophers up by one, but after a Jackrabbit attempted to head away a dangerous shot by junior Josee Stiever, resulting in an own goal, momentum continued in favor of Minnesota.
In the 53rd-minute, Stiever found service from Stainbrook, notching her fourth goal of the season.
The Gophers 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.
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.
THE OPPONENT
In the first round of the NCAA tournament, the Loyola Marymount Lions upset the 17th-ranked Cal Berkeley Golden Bears with a single goal.
In the 38th-minute, senior Callie Taylor found service from classmate Jocelyn Blankenship to net the matches' lone goal.
Cal outshot the Lions 19 to nine and had six corner kicks to LMU's five.
The No. 4-ranked West Virginia Mountaineers, host for this weekend, defeated the Duquesne Dukes on Friday, 4-0. The Mountaineers are 17-2-1 going into Friday's 6:00 p.m. game vs. Northwestern.
The Wildcats of Northwestern, a team Minnesota did not face in the regular-season, have a record of 14-5-2 after upsetting No. 24-ranked Washington State, 1-0, in double-overtime.
MINNESOTA IN THE NCAA TOURNAMENT
The last time the Maroon and Gold made an appearance in the NCAA tournament was in the 2013 season when Minnesota fell to Texas Tech 1-0 in Lubbock, Texas in the first round.
In 1995 and 1996, the Gophers fell in the opening round to Wisconsin 1-0 and to Nebraska 3-2 in overtime.
In 1997, the Gophers advanced to the second round with a 2-1 win over Milwaukee in the first round, but fell to Santa Clara, 5-1. The next year, a 6-0 victory over Kentucky propelled the Gophers to the second round where they fell to Portland, 3-0. In 1999, Minnesota defeated Eastern Michigan 2-0 in the first round with a 5-0 defeat at the hands of Nebraska in the second.
2008 and 2010 were banner years as Minnesota advanced to the third round, the farthest the team has gone in history. A 2-1 victory over Marquette, 2-0 win against SDSU and a 1-0 OT loss to Notre Dame stamped the tournament dance in 2008. In 2010, Minnesota defeated Creighton 4-2 and Texas A&M 2-0 in the opening two rounds before falling 1-0 to Georgetown in the third 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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