Gophers Take Big Ten Opener from Hawkeyes

The Minnesota Gophers opened their Big 10 season on Thursday evening with a 1-0 win against the Iowa Hawkeyes.

The contest seemed to take on a life of its own with plenty of ebbs and flows and tactical changes. The home team dominated large portions of the contest and the statistics proved that point, but no matter how much the Lady Gophers pressed the Hawkeye defense, it didn’t seem they would find the key that would unlock the game and allow Minnesota to score. That was until junior midfielder Molly Rouse took the game into her own hands and finally delivered what the 682 home fans had come to see. An 84th minute goal that was purely Molly Rouse all the way.

I just took a touch to the outside. I saw a couple defenders on the inside, so I just tried to take a touch around that, and then I tried to hit it far post and luckily it went in. I had like 20 shots tonight so when it finally went it, it was a like a big weight off my shoulders.
Junior midfielder Molly Rouse

“What a beautiful finish”, said head coach Mikki Denney Wright. “That’s the Rouse clutch – I love that she puts it on her shoulders and wants to be the one to score.”

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The first 10 minutes of the match saw Iowa play a high pressure defense that marked Minnesota tightly. The Gophers struggled to adjust to the pace of the game and the tight marking allowed the Hawkeyes the better possession and several threats at goal. Eventually Minnesota regained their composure and had the better possession throughout the first half. The best chances for the Gophers came on several quality crosses into the box. Sadly, the Gophers women’s finishing did not equal the quality of those crosses as most of the final shots and headers went high or wide. The Gophers best chances came when twice Minnesota forced Iowa keeper Emily Moran to go high to tip shots over the bar.

Minnesota ended the half with an 11 to 3 shot advantage and Moran needed to stop 5 of those shots to keep a clean sheet. The Gophers goalkeeper Cat Parkhill only had to make one save to keep the ball out of her net. Minnesota also dominated with corner kicks 4-1.

The second half seemed to opened up for both teams and Minnesota had numerous chances to score.

At the 50th minute, Tamara Strahota took a hard shot from inside the box that was deflected by a defender.  The ball caromed away to the left side of the goal. Julie Rezac spun 180° and forced a shot that went right to Moran ending the attack.

10 minutes later Molly Rouse was taken down while on the attack and closing in on the penalty box. A free kick was awarded to Minnesota. Shari Eckstrom took the free kick from 20 yards out, curled the ball over the wall and keeper Moran only to have the shot knock off the underside of the crossbar. Again Iowa was able to clear the ball out of danger.

70 minutes in, the game started opening up in both directions. As Minnesota pressed  harder it seemed to open up one-on-one battles with the Hawkeye attacks catching the Gopher defense with numbers down. The all-out Minnesota attack allowed several good Hawkeye chances that called on Gopher keeper Parkhill to come up with her best to keep Minnesota in the game.

Finally, in the 84th minute and after some nifty passing from the lady Gophers, Shari Eckstrom knocked a ball into Rouse who was dead center of goal and about 25 yards out. She pushed the ball to the right to clear space for herself to shoot. From 22 yards out Rouse sliced a scorcher into the lower left corner. Moran dove to her left but the ball was just out of reach of the Iowan goalkeeper. Rouse’s goal that broke the deadlock was her third of the season for the Gophers.

Minnesota ended up on the high end of most of the statistics. The Gophers outshot Iowa 17-8. Corner kicks were 4-1 in Minnesota’s favor and Iowa’s goalkeeper Moran had to make 8 stops to Parkhill’s 3.

With the Gophers notching their first 2009 Big 10 win, they also celebrated their 100th home victory in the team’s history.

The Gophers now hit the road as they travel to Illinois on Sunday, Sept. 27 for a 1:00 p.m. match, which will be aired live on Big Ten Network. The Illini are 5-3-1 on the season. Last season Minnesota beat Illinois 1-0 in St. Paul.