March is here, and thus so is that championship time of year. Women’s Hockey, Women’s Basketball and Wrestling all have conference championships this weekend while the outdoor track and field team makes their season debut! Add in some end of regular season battles, the start of Big Ten play in tennis and softball, and its another busy weekend of Gophers sports action. Below find the entire schedule and how you can catch the action!
Friday March 6th:
Track and Field @ Beach Opener 1 PM
The Gopher men’s outdoor track and field teams kick off their season
this weekend at the Beach Opener hosted by Long Beach State. Action kicks off at 1 PM on Friday with with the men’s hammer throw. All of the track competition will take place on Saturday. Live results will be available HERE.
The Gopher women will wait a few weeks to kick off their outdoor season. Four Gophers qualified for the NCAA Indoor track and Field Championships which will take place next weekend in Fayetteville, Arkansas. They include Anthonett Nabwe in the weight throw and shot put, , Hadley Streit in the hammer throw, Diarra Sow in the triple jump and Zoie Dundon in the 800 meters.
#19 Women’s Basketball vs #11 Ohio State 1:30 PM BTN
The Gopher women kick off their action in the Big Ten Tournament with a 4/5 matchup against Ohio State Friday afternoon at 1:30. A full preview of the game is available HERE.
Tennis vs #17 USC 4 PM
The Gopher tennis team kicks off the Big Ten season with a California doubleheader this weekend. First up is #17 USC on Friday afternoon. Minnesota enters the Big Ten season with a 9-4 record. They swept a pir of Summit League teams last weekend in #49 Denver and St. Thomas.
USC is ranked #17 in the nation and enters the weekend with a 7-4 record. USC opened the season 5-0 before dropping four of its last six matches. The Trojans have three players ranked in the ITA singles rankings: No. 38 Jana Hossam Salah, No. 39 Emma Charney and No. 98 Eugina Zozaya Menendez. USC also has two doubles pairs ranked in the ITA rankings: No. 15 Daniela Borruel and Lily Fairclough, and No. 32 Jana Hossam Salah and Lily Fairclough.
This will be the second matchup ever in the program’s history with USC sweeping Minnesota in Los Angeles last spring. A free stream is available HERE.
#13 Gymnastics @ #18 North Carolina 5:45 Pm ACC Network X
The #13 ranked Gopher gymnastics team hits the road for the final time in the regular season this Friday as they head to Chapel Hill, North Carolina for a duel meet with the North Carolina Tar Heels. The action starts at 5:45 PM and will stream on ACC Network Xtra via WatchESPN. Heading into Friday night the Gophers rank #9 nationally on beam, #14 on floor, #16 on bars and #17 on vault.
Minnesota is coming off of an impressive win in the Big 4 Meet last Sunday at The Pav. The Gophers knocked off #11 Michigan State, Illinois and Rutgers with a season high score of 197.700. The Gophers finish the Big Ten season with a 7-2 mark (9-3 overall), and a second place finish in the Big Ten and will compete at the third and final session at the Big Ten Championships with UCLA, Michigan and Michigan State later in the month.
Gophers freshman Arianna Ostrum was named Big Ten Gymnast and Freshman of the Week while junior Jordyn Lyden earned Event Specialist of the Week. Ostrom had the best day of her Gopher career posting a 39.625 all-around score. She won event titles in the all-around, uneven bars and on the floor with a career-best 9.925 on the uneven bars, and a 9.925 on the floor. Her score was the Gophers best all-around score since AAI Award Winner Lexy Ramler in 2022. Lyden tied for her third floor title of the season with a 9.925 and helped Minnesota earn its best floor score of the season at 49.525. She won an event title on balance beam with a 9.950, adding to the team’s best score of the season at 49.525.
North Carolina ranks #18 in the nation but has only a 7-8 overall record and a 1-5 ACC record on the season. They rank #11 on vault, #18 on beam, #19 on floor and #23 on bars nationally.
Softball @ Indiana 6 PM B1G+
The Gopher softball team opens Big Ten play this weekend with a three game series at Indiana. Minnesota enters the weekend with a 7-13 record on the season after going 1-4 in Arizona last weekend.
Indiana is 16-4 and ranks #44 in RPI entering the start of conference play.
First pitch is set for 6 PM on B1G+.
Men’s Hockey vs #2 Michigan State 7 PM Fox9+/ B1g+
The Gopher men close out the regular season with one final game against the Spartans. A full preview of the series is HERE. Minnesota will head to xxx next Wednesday night for the Big Ten Quarterfinal.
Baseball vs UNLV 7:05 PM B1G+
The Gopher baseball team remains home for one more weekend playing at US Bank Stadium. This wekeend the Gophers host the annual Cambria Classic. They open play Friday night with a matchup against UNLV. Minnesota enters this weekend with a 9-3 record on the year. Last week they split a four game series with Kansas and then took a pair of midweek games from Milwaukee.
UNLV heads into the weekend with a 10-4 record but have yet to play a Power 4 team this season. They most recently split a pair of games with Northern Colorado this week.
First pitch is set for 7:05 and will stream on B1G+.
Saturday March 7th:
Wrestling @ Big Ten Championships 9 AM BTN
The Golden Gopher wrestling team heads to the Big Ten Championships hosted by Penn State this weekend. The initial session of first round matches, quarterfinals and wrestlebacks are scheduled to start at 9 AM on Saturday morning with the second session of consolation matches beginning at 4 PM and the semifinals beginning at 6 PM all on Big Ten Network.
Minnesota has a wrestler pre-seeded in all 10 weight classes. They include:
125 Jore Volk #5
133 Jager Eisch #14
141 Vance VomBaur #3
149 Drew Roberts #10
157 Charlie Millard #6
165 Andrew Sparks #4
174 Ethan Riddle #7
184 Max McEnelly #2
197 Gavin Nelson #11
285 Koy Hopke #7
Minnesota’s highest seed comes at 184 pounds with reigning All-American Max McEnelly earning the No. 2 for the second year in a row. The redshirt sophomore was 17-1 in the regular season and 8-0 against the Big Ten, improving his career record to 16-0 in conference matches.
The Gophers will be looking to place high enough to earn one of the Big Ten’s Automatic bids to the NCAA Championships. To earn one of the auto bids the Gophers must finish in the following place or higher. Otherwise they will need to rely on receiving one of just the 42 at-large qualifiers across all ten weight classes.
125: 9th
133: 8th
141: 7th
149: 9th
157: 8th
165: 9th
174: 10th
184: 8th
197: 9th
285: 10th
Track and Field @ Beach Opener Noon
The track events kick off at Noon with the Gopher men competing in most sprints and distance events. Live scoring is available HERE
Softball @ Indiana 2 PM B1G+
Game two of the series between the Gophers and Hoosiers on the diamond begins at 2 PM on B1G+.
Baseball vs South Dakota State 7:05 PM B1G+
Game two of the Cambria Classic sees the Gophers taking on the SDSU Jackrabbits at US Bank Stadium. First pitch is set for 7:05 PM and will stream on B1G+.
Men’s Basketball vs Northwestern 8 PM BTN
The Gopher basketball team closes out their regular season with a Senior Night tilt against Northwestern at Williams Arena at 8 PM Saturday on Big Ten Network. A full preview will be coming later this weekend.
Minnesota appears to look to finish somewhere between #11 and #13 in the Big Ten conference and will look to open play at the Big Ten Tournament next Wednesday in Chicago.
Sunday March 8th:
Men’s Swimming—Last Chance Meet 10 AM
The Gopher men’s swimming team will hold a Last Chance Meet at the Jean K Freeman natatorium Sunday morning in a final attempt to earn NCAA Qualifying times before the NCAA Championships field is set next week. The meet is free and no stream will be available.
Wrestling @ Big Ten Championships 11 AM BTN
Session Three of the Big Ten Championships kicks off at 11 AM Sunday with the consolation semifinals and the Seventh place matches. The championship matches, third-place matches and fifth place matches are all scheduled for a 3:30 PM start on Big Ten Network.
Tennis vs #6 UCLA Noon
The Gopher tennis team finishes their pair of Big Ten opening matches with another top-20 duel against a California team. UCLA comes into the Baseline Tennis center looking to move to 5-0 all-time against the Gophers. UCLA opened the season 2-2 before winning six straight matches, including a 6-1 victory over USC in its most recent outing. The Bruins have three players ranked in the ITA singles rankings: No. 40 Anne-Christine Lutkemeyer, No. 54 Mayu Crossley and No. 108 Bianca Fernandez, while Olivia Center and Kate Fakih are ranked No. 31 in the ITA doubles rankings.
First serve is set for Noon with a free stream HERE.
Softball @ Indiana 1 PM B1G+
The Gophers and Hoosiers close out their weekend series with a 1 PM first pitch on B1G+.
Baseball vs Omaha 6:05 PM B1G+
Minnesota closes out the Cambria Classic with a matchup against Omaha at 6:05 Sunday evening on B1G+.
