Gophers Soccer Back To Winning Ways Against North Dakota State
St. Paul, MN-
It took the Golden Gophers nearly 45 minutes to untangle the web, but when they did they did it convincingly with a 4-0 win over North Dakota State University.
Molly Rouse celebrates her two goal game. Photo By Jeremy Olson - www.digitalgopher.net
Minnesota started out sluggish for nearly the whole first half, which could be attributed to the warm conditions at kick-off and that the Gophers had played a tough opponent in the University of Tennessee on Friday evening. That game went to double overtime before ending in a 0-0 draw. Coach Mikki Denney Wright said she deserved the blame for the Gophers’ slow start out of the gate because of a change in formation. The Gopher coach had shifted the team to a 3-4-3 from their normal 3-5-2.
“They (NDSU) play with a sweeper so we wanted to put a little bit of pressure on that sweeper,” said Denney Wright. “As soon as we tried that new formation that we really hadn’t ironed out, they looked confused–obviously! So that’s my bad. Our team is better than that. They tried to make it work, but when we switched back into our normal formation you could see their rhythm come back.”
Denney Wright said she was also looking for some goals up front which have been a bit hard to come by recently. The team switched back to the 3-5-2 minutes before half. That’s exactly when the Gophers came to life, scoring two goals within a minute and nearly scoring a third a minute after that.
Molly Rouse, who has now been switched from left outside midfield to center midfield and who scored two goals on Sunday, had a different take on the switching of formations.
“That happens sometimes with us,” said Rouse. “We’ll change something and it won’t work and then we will go back to what we were doing before, which wasn’t working either and was the reason we switched, and then all of a sudden it just clicks.”
Rouse added that the switch to center midfield position isn’t really that hard for her because of her training with Plymouth Soccer Association (PSA), the club she played for as a youth.
“I played all over with them. Attacking, forward, defense, midfield and outside,” said Rouse. Those years of training in different areas of the field are now helping the junior midfielder from Cambridge, MN. She went on to say that she’s feeling very comfortable in the middle of the field. “I really like the center of the field,” stated Rouse. “I feel like I have more room to do things and I’m really enjoying it.”
After the Gophers switched back to their traditional 3-5-2 about 35 minutes into the game, Katie Shelander (Roseville, Minn.) made a run down the right side of the field and was marked tightly by a Bison defender. Shoulder to shoulder the two made their way toward the Bison endline. As Shelander muscled her way into the penalty box, she was accidentally tripped by the defender. Referee Fotis Bazakos called the foul and issued the penalty kick.
Sara Clancy (Cedar Rapids, Iowa) was called upon to take the spot kick and slotted the ball low and left while Bison goalkeeper Kalani Bertsch dove right. The goal came in the 42nd minute of play and was Clancy’s second of the season.
The second Golden Gopher goal came just one minute later and caught both fans and players off guard, including Bison goalkeeper Bertsch who was caught off her line by the very aware Rouse. The ball had been taken to the endline and then intercepted by NDSU. They cleared the ball to the top right hand corner of the box. Rouse set herself up with a nice first touch and blasted a 25-yard shot into the upper left hand corner of the far side of the Bison goal.
“I don’t think anyone really knew what was going on because it happened so fast,” said Rouse. “The ball was cleared out, I took a touch and shot it. I don’t think anyone was ready.”
One minute later Angie Olson (Eagan, Minn.) who was in the back of another Gopher attack, collected a cleared ball and uncorked a 35 yard sizzler that flew over Bertsch’s head again, but this time the ball pinged off the crossbar and out of danger for the Bison.
MN Allie Phillips (#7) battles NDSU player Laura Wagner (#15) from Plymouth, MN. Photo By Jeremy Olson - www.digitalgopher.net
The second half started with good possession, even though coach Denney Wright said she tried the 3-4-3 once again.
“About 5 minutes in I decided this still wasn’t working,” said coach Denney Wright. “You could tell it just wasn’t working. It was like a key, as soon as I switched them in it was like oh – I get this, I can do this. It was as if it was unnatural for us in the beginning. I told them, I take this on myself. We thought this might be a good game to look at something different — a good game to take a risk.”
At the 60-minute mark, Olivia Bagnal took a 25-yard shot that was heading towards the top right corner. Bertsch made an acrobatic diving save to tip the shot wide of the goal.
Three minutes later, with a relentless Minnesota attack, Olson collected the ball on the right side deep in Bison territory. She slotted the ball low, back to Rouse who one-timed the ball and redirected a soft shot to the far post that slipped through the arms of keeper Bertsch.
NDSU made a switch in nets and put in Christie Stemple. But even though Stemple looked sharp in nets, it wasn’t enough to stop the Gopher attack. Just 7 minutes later Katie Bethke (Eau Claire, Wis.), dribbled toward the box passing off to Marissa Price (Apple Valley, Minn.). Price took a touch forward and fed the ball back to Bethke who never stopped her run. The ball was placed perfectly and Bethke fired in for a team-leading third of the season. That goal would cap off the scoring for the game.
Just like Minnesota, the majority of rostered players for North Dakota State University are originally from Minnesota, so the game on Sunday had a very local feel to it, with most of the women familiar with each other. In fact, 13 of the 25 rostered members of NDSU were from Minnesota and helped to boost the great attendance of 1,023 for the Labor Day weekend game. No small feat considering the proximity of the Minnesota State Fair and the increased traffic and parking issues.
According to Gophersports.com, Minnesota remains unbeaten at Robbie Stadium in their last 15 matches, holding a 14-0-1 mark over that span. They will have to hit the road to extend their current three-match unbeaten streak on the season, though. Next weekend they travel to Milwaukee, Wis. to take on Wisconsin-Milwaukee and Marquette on Sept. 11 and Sept. 12 respectively.
Minnesota will enter next weekend with a 3-1-1 record.
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