University of Minnesota Athletics
University of Minnesota
North Dakota State
Gophers Down Bison, 3-0
8/21/2015 12:00:00 AM | Soccer
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RECORDS: University of Minnesota (1-0-0, Big Ten Conference 0-0-0); NDSU (0-1-0), Summit League Conference 0-0-0)
MINNEAPOLIS - The University of Minnesota women's soccer team kicked off the 2015 season with a 3-0 victory over the North Dakota State University Bison in front of a crowd of 1,221 at Elizabeth Lyle Robbie stadium.
"We're definetely very pleased with the overall performance," said head coach Stefanie Golan. "A 3-0 win is a great way to start the season and this was going to be a tough game for us. There are a lot of kids from both teams on Minnesota who know each other and they were coming in to compete. For us, I thought we settled in pretty early and found our rhythm, played an uptempo style, kept the ball on the ground and kept moving it, we opened them up and created a lot of opportunities as is evident by the shots on goal tonight."
In the twenty-fifth minute of the game, co-captain Simone Kolander recorded the first official goal of the season and her junior campaign off a cross into the box from junior Josee Stiever.
Just three minutes after her first goal, Kolander landed on the scoresheet again for another goal off a long ball assist from fellow captain, senior Haley Helverson.
The dominance continued coming out from the locker room as sophomore Sydney Squires found the net off Stiever's second assist on the night from eight yards out in the fiftieth minute.
Gopher freshmen Molly Fiedler and April Bockin made their first official collegiate soccer starts and impressed with each recording two shots, both on goal, respectively. Sophomore Maddie Gaffney led the Gophers in most shots on the night tallying four with one on goal.
With the first victory of the 2015 season, goalkeeper Tarah Hobbs recorded her first shutout recording one key save. The Bison's goalkeeper, senior Sierra Bonham tallied 13 saves on the night.
"This team is fantastic," said Golan. "The strength of this team is the team. We had 15 players get a lot of playing time and all contributed in a solid way. This year, our hope is that Sunday games work just as good as we work on Friday night games. We have a lot to build upon but we're calling tonight a good night, we're flipping the page and moving forward to Kansas."
LOOKING AHEAD
The Gophers will return to action on Sunday to face the Kansas Jayhawks at Elizabeth Lyle Robbie stadium with action set to begin at 2:00 p.m. Next week, the team will begin their travel schedule the following two weekends as they head to Baton Rouge, La. to take on Stephen F. Austin and LSU followed by Milwaukee to face Marquette on September 4 and Lubbock, Texas to play Texas Tech on September 6.
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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