It’s hard to believe that we are already hitting the end of some of the fall sports seasons, and are just days away from the beginning of basketball season for both the Gopher women and men. It’s Halloween weekend, and there are plenty evets this weekend to pay attention to before dressing up and handing out candy—or sneaking a good chunk of your kids haul late Saturday night. We have our first Big Ten Championship of the season kicking off on Friday, and the final soccer game of the season along
with the opening of the Big Ten Hockey season. The seasons are a changing, just like the clocks. Here is a full weekend preview of all the Golden Gopher action and how you can catch it.
Friday October 30th:
#21/25 Cross Country @ Big Ten Championships 10:35 AM BTN
The #21 ranked Gopher men and the #25 ranked Gopher women’s cross country teams head to Madison for the Big Ten championships on Friday morning. The 6K women’s race will begin at 10:35 AM with the 8K men’s race following at 11:35 AM. Both races will air live on Big Ten Network. They will both look to best their 7th place finishes from a season ago.
The women come in as the third highest Big Ten team in the national ranking behind #15 Oregon and #23 Northwestern. They will try and ear their first top three finish at the meet since 2021 when they won the championship. 5th year senior Ali Weimer comes in peaking at the right time. Her last time out on the same course she will un this weekend came at the Nuttycomb Invitational in Madison where she posted the eighth-fastest mark in school history at 19:46.9. She finished in third place in 2024 before taking a redshirt season a year ago.
The Gopher men also are the third highest ranked team in the conference behind #6 Oregon and #14 Wisconsin. They will be looking for their first top three finish since a 3rd place performance in 2021. Minnesota returns its top runners from a year ago including Aiden Jones and Emmett Geres.
All 18 teams will compete in the women’s race, while the men’s race will feature 15 teams. Outside of the team championships, awards will be handed out to individuals who finish in the top 10 (First Team All-Big Ten) and between 11th and 20th (Second Team All-Big Ten). Placement on the All-Freshman Team will consist of the top five (5) freshman and redshirt freshman finishers for men’s and women’s.
Soccer @ Illinois 6 PM B1G+
The Gopher soccer team closes out the regular season and likely their season Friday night in Champaign facing Illinois. The Gophers made a great run to try and extend their season closing out the home portion last weekend earning four points with a 1-1 tie with #13 Washington and a 4-0 win over Oregon, but it may have been too little too late. The Gophers currently sit in 10th place in the Big Ten table with 14 points. Only the top eight teams in the conference make the Big Ten Tournament that kicks off next week. If the Gophers can defeat the Illini Friday, they could move up as high as a tie for 8th place if 8th place Michigan can lose to Big Ten Regular Season Champion Ohio State and 9th place Iowa loses or ties with 7th place Wisconsin. Unfortunately, even if the Gophers and Wolverines tie for 8th place with 17 point, Minnesota loses the tiebreaker. The teams did not face one another head to head, but when moving on to wins against common opponents, Michigan has a huge win over fourth place Michigan State while the Gophers lost to the Spartans.
Thus the Gophers will try and close out their season on a high note against the Illini. Minnesota holds a two game winning streak against Illinois and will look to break the tie in the all-time series between the two schools that currently sits at 12-12-5. Kick is set for 6 PM and will stream on B1G+.
#2 Women’s Hockey @ #12 Minnesota-Duluth 6 PM B1G+
The Gopher women’s hockey team heads up to Duluth for a big WCHA series against their in-state rival from Duluth. The Gophers have been on a roll in October entering the weekend with a 7-1 overall record and a 3-1 record in WCHA play including a split with #1 Ohio State. The Gophers return to conference play after a record setting home sweep of Lindenwood last weekend picking up an 11-0 shutout win on Thursday before taking a program record 73 shots on goal in a 5-2 win on Friday.
The Bulldogs were off last weekend after sweeping Bemidji State in a pair of shutouts the weekend before. Eva Gascon was a star in net as usual and is looking like the best goalie in the nation thus far leading the country in goals against average (0.40), save percentage (.982), and shutouts (4). Caitlin Kraemer leads the UMD offense with seven goals and nine points on the year. Fortunately for Minnesota, neither player will play for UMD this weekend against the Gophers.
Both teams will be missing players to international hockey commitments this weekend. The Bulldogs are hit the hardest with their offensive and defensive stars playing with the Canadian World Championship team in their pre-Championships series against the US, and will be missing three other players including Paulina Salonen and Tuuli Tallinen who are at Finland Camp trying to make the world team. And Ida Karlsson is with Sweden. The Gophers also will be missing a trio of players as defender Chloe Primerano is joining Kraemer and Gascon with Team Canada, Mercyhurst transfer Julia Schalin is also in Finland Camo, and sophomore forward Teresa Plosova is playing for Team Czechia this weekend. While Minnesota should still have enough depth to field a full roster, the Bulldogs will be hampered with only enough players to play 10 forwards and five defenders. It should play into a huge advantage for the Gophers.
They will be out for revenge after getting swept at home to end the regular season a year ago. Prior to that the Gophers had dominated the Bulldogs winning seven of the previous eight. Friday’s faceoff is set for 6 PM and will stream on B1G+.
#18 Men’s Hockey vs Penn State 7 PM Fox9+/ B1G+
The Gopher men’s hockey team will look to build on their sweep of North Dakota last weekend as they open the Big Ten schedule against Penn State at 3M Arena at Mariucci. A full series preview is HERE. Faceoff Friday night is set for 7 PM on Fox9+.
#21 Volleyball @ UCLA 9 PM B1G+
The #21 ranked Gopher volleyball team begins a Southern California swing with a match at UCLA Friday night. Minnesota currently is 12-6 overall and 6-4 in the Big Ten on the season. They currently sit in a three-way tie for 8th place in the conference with UCLA and Washington.
Thus it’s a huge match on Friday night in Westwood for the Gophers and Bruins. Minnesota last is off a huge 3-0 sweep of #21 Washington at the Pav led by a career high six blocks from freshman Makenna Crosson. UCLA split their action last weekend getting swept by #1 Nebraska and having to fight 16th place Iowa n a 5-set battle before earning the win. UCLA is third in the Big Ten in blocks, averaging 2.59 per set. The Bruins are hitting .250 as a team led by Maggie Li who averages 3.20 kps.
Minnesota is 3-5 all time against the Bruins including a three set loss last year. First serve is set for 9 PM on B1G+.
Saturday October 31st:
Rowing @ Wisconsin 11 AM
The Gopher rowing team faces off against the Badgers on Lake Mendota in Madison in a scrimmage on Saturday before their fall finale meet the following weekend in Virginia.
Football @ #4 Indiana 2:30 PM CBS
The Gopher football team will look to pull an upset over the #4 Hoosiers on Saturday afternoon on CBS. Our full game preview is HERE. Our staff predictions are HERE.
#2 Women’s Hockey @ #12 UMD 3 PM B1G+
The second game of the series between the Gophers and Bulldogs gets underway with a 3 PM puck drop in Duluth on B1G+.
#18 Men’s Hockey vs Penn State 6 PM Fox9+/ B1G+
The Gophers will be looking for treats not tricks in a Halloween night series finale against Penn State. Puck drop is set for 6PM—plenty of time for the students to get dressed up for their Halloween parties later that night.
November 1st:
#21 Volleyball @ USC 3 PM B1G+
The Gopher volleyball team closes out their Southern California trip with a matchup at USC. The Trojans have struggled this season with a 9-11 overall record and just a 3-7 record in Big Ten play. They had the same fate as UCLA did last weekend earning a five-set win at Iowa before being swept by #1 Nebraska. The Trojans are also good at the net and rank second in the Big Ten in blocks (2.68 bps) and is 23rd in the NCAA. Abigail Mullen and London Wijay are nearly tied for the team lead in kills per set at 3.05 and 3.04 respectively.
The Gophers are just 2-6-1 all-time against USC and lost a five-set heartbreaker at home a season ago. First serve will be 3PM and will stream on B1G+.
