It’s Homecoming Weekend at the University of Minnesota, and the Gophers have a packed weekend of action for all their fans. Check out the schedule below and how you can catch all the action!
Friday October 10th:
Swimming and Diving vs South Dakota/ Nebraska 3:30 B1G+
The Gopher
men’s and women’s swim and vie teams kick off their season this weekend at the Jean K Freeman Natatorium when a pair of schools to the west come to Minneapolis. The Men’s program will take on South Dakota while the women will face both Nebraska and South Dakota. Both Minnesota teams ender the season ranked #24 in the nation.
The Gopher men’s program returns 19 athletes to the roster, five of which competed at the 2024-25 NCAA Championships last season. The Gopher women’s program returns 24 athletes to the roster, five of which competed at the 2024-25 NCAA Championships last season. Both meets will stream live on B1G+
Baseball/ Softball 5 PM
Both the Gophers baseball and softball teams will continue their fall ball action at 5 PM on Friday. The softball team will face Bryant & Stratton while the basement team will continue their maroon vs gold fall series. Admission is free to both games.
#3 Women’s Hockey vs #10 St. Cloud State 5:30 PM B1G+
The #3 ranked Gopher women’s hockey team opens WCHA play when #10 St. Cloud State comes don I-94 for the first game of a home and home series. Minnesota had started the year 4-0 with sweeps of Boston College and Boston University. Abbey Murphy leads the nation in scoring with 15 points and in goals with 9, but will miss at least Friday night’s game as she is with the US National Team at a week long Olympic Training Camp. The Gophers will need to reply on other scorers to pick up some tough fought wins over the Huskies who were predicted to finish fifth in the WCHA this season.
Minnesota will look to some of their younger players to help out the scoring this weekend. Ava Lindsay is tied for second in the nation with 9 points—all assists so far. Freshman Belle Fanale has seven points on the season and leads all freshmen in the country with four goals. Captain Nelli Laitinen sits second nationally among defenders with three goals as well. In net the Gophers have split time between sophomore Hannah Clark and freshman Layla Hemp. Both have played well with Clark allowing just one goal in two games and Hemp two goals.
St. Cloud State was off last weekend after a season opening split at #11 UCONN. Both games ended in 2-1 finals. They will want to clamp down on the Gophers and not let Minnesota turn the series into a track meet. SCSU is now coached by former Gopher Mira Jalosuo, who joined SCSU after helping guide the Minnesota Frost to back-to-back PWHL Walter Cup titles as an assistant coach.
Faceoff is set for 5:30 PM and will stream live on B1G+
#12 Men’s Hockey vs Boston College 6PM Fox9+/ B1G+
The Gopher men will play game two of their series against Boston College at 6 PM Friday night. The teams played in a hard battle in the first game of the series but the Eagles shut down the Minnesota offense and came away with a 3 -1 win on Thursday.
Faceoff is set for 6 PM and will air live on Fox9+ and will stream on B1G+.
Saturday October 11th:
Women’s Hockey @ SCSU 1:00 PM Fox9+/ B1G+
Game two of the series between the Gophers and Huskies moves up I-94 to St. Cloud for a 1 PM faceoff on Saturday afternoon. This game will air live on Fox9+ in Minnesota and will stream on B1G+.
Football vs Purdue 6:30 PM BTN
The Gophers will play their Homecoming game against Purdue on Saturday night with a 6:30 scheduled kickoff. Minnesota will look to move to 4-2 after their loss at Ohio State last weekend. Purdue comes in at 2-3 after a loss at home to Illinois last weekend. Our full preview of the game is HERE. The game will air on Big Ten Network.
Sunday October 12th:
Volleyball vs Ohio State 1:00 PM B1G+
The Gopher volleyball team will take on Ohio State at the Pav on Sunday afternoon. Minnesota has lost a pair of matches in a row at Michigan and at home to UCLA. IN the Michigan match Minnesota lost sophomore outside hitter Alex Acevedo to a knee injury for the year. She is now the fourth Minnesota starter who is out for the rest of the season. The losses finally appear to be catching up with the Gophers as they have dropped matches that the regularly should not be losing. Hopefully they can turn things around on Sunday. First serve is 1:00 PM and the match will stream on B1G+.
Soccer vs #4 UCLA 1:00 PM B1G+
The Gopher soccer team will take on a Top 5 ranked opponent on Sunday when #4 UCLA comes to St. Paul The Bruins will be dropping in the rankings after falling to 8-4-1 after back to back 1-0 losses at Washington and at Wisconsin.
The Gophers moved to 6-6-1 on the season after a rain-delayed 2-1 win over USC at Elizabeth Lyle Robbie Stadium on Thursday night that snapped a four game losing streak. Minnesota scored just 1:54 into the match when Paige Kalal scored her team leading 5th goal of the season. Just 15 minutes into the game the teams headed to the locker room for a weather delay that would last nearly 90 minutes. When the game resumed USC tied the match in the 22nd minute. The Gophers got the game winning goal in the 82nd minute when Caroline Birdsell headed in a free kick from Kalal to put Minnesota up 2-1. Gopher goalkeeper Sarah Martin made six saves in the win.
