It’s a busy weekend for the Minnesota Golden Gophers with tons of action from multiple sports including several home games with cheap tickets to get in the building. If you ever wanted to check out a Gopher sporting event in person this weekend would be a great chance with home games starting at Noon and going late into the evening on Friday and starting at 2 PM Saturday. Here is a full schedule of this weekend’s action, a preview of each, and how to watch.
Friday November 14th:
Cross Country @ NCAA Midwest Regional 9 AM ESPN+
The Gopher cross-county teams are in Stillwater,
Oklahoma Friday morning for the NCAA Midwest Regional. The women’s 6K race kicks off action at 9:00 while the men’s 8K race starts at 10:00. Both the Gopher men’s and women’s teams took home seventh place finishes at the Big Ten Championships in their last event and will need to improve to keep their seasons alive this weekend.
Coming into the 2025 NCAA Midwest Regional the Maroon and Gold are ranked No. 5 in the women’s Midwest Region rankings while the men’s team is ranked No. 10. The top two teams in each of the nine regionals secure automatic bids to the championship. The first four regional individual finishers not from an automatic qualifying or at-large team also secure an auto-bid to the championships. If a team doesn’t secure an automatic bid, it will have to rely on the NCAA DI Cross Country Subcommittee to select it as one of the remaining 14 at-large teams to fill the expanded 32-team field in 2025 at the NCAA Cross Country Championships in Columbia, Mo.
You can watch the action stream live on ESPN+ HERE.
#2 Women’s Hockey vs Bemidji State Noon B1G+
The Gopher women’s hockey team returns to action this weekend after a week off for an international competition break with a home series against Bemidji State. Friday’s game is set for a Noon faceoff and will be played at 3M Arena at Mariucci not Ridder Arena. The game is the Gophers second annual field trip game where elementary school students from around the state could get free tickets to watch the game. It will be the Gopher women’s first game at Mariucci since March 1, 2002.
The Gophers last played two weekends ago in Madison earning a split against #1 Wisconsin. Minnesota played ten games in a row against ranked opponents and went 8-2 in that stretch dropping a game each to WCHA rivals Wisconsin and Ohio State.
Minnesota has been led by stars on offense and defense. Graduate forward Abbey Murphy and sophomore goaltender Hannah Clark were named Hockey Commissioners Association National Players of the Month for September–October. Murphy was recognized as Co-National Forward of the Month after leading the NCAA with 24 points (15g–9a), while Clark earned National Goaltender of the Month honors with an 8-1-0 record, .955 save percentage, and 1.32 GAA. Murphy collected her second career HCA award, while Clark became the first Gopher netminder to claim the national honor since Skylar Vetter in December of 2022.
Minnesota remains ranked #2 in the nation with a 10-2 overall record and a 6-2 record in conference play. They sit in third place in the WCHA standings three points back of Wisconsin and two back of Ohio State. The Gophers have played the toughest schedule of the three having played the top half of the teams in the conference. Bemidji State enters the weekend sitting seventh in the WCHA standings with a 3-6-1 overall record and a 1-6-1 mark in league play. The Beavers are coming off a 2-1 victory over then-No. 14 St. Thomas. Junior Hailey Armstrong leads BSU with six goals, while sophomore Morgan Smith paces the team in points with seven (2g, 5a). In net, sophomore Kaitlin Groess has started six games and recently earned her second career WCHA Goaltender of the Week honor. Senior Ava Hills has also impressed with a .933 save percentage and 2.44 GAA through five appearances.
Minnesota has owned Bemidji State in the program’s history. The Gophers are 99-9-7 all-time against the Beavers. Friday’s faceoff is noon and will stream on B1G+
Women’s Basketball vs NJIT 5 PM B1G+
The 3-0 Gophers women’s basketball team takes the court again Friday night against the New Jersey Institute of Technology Highlanders. Minnesota is coming off of a huge 90-47 win over a Marquette team that was predicted to finish second in the Big East this season behind UCONN. Grace Grocholski had her best scoring game of the season with 19 points to lead the way. But the Gophers have been getting a very balanced scoring attack so far this season. Sophie Hart and Tori McKinney have been in double figure all three games this season for Minnesota and they have had four players scoring in double figures in all three games this season while scoring 90 or more points in all three games as a team. It was the first time in program history the team has scored 90 or more points in three consecutive games.
They are getting well rounded efforts from some of their stars. While Mara Braun and Amaya Battle have not left off the score sheet yet this season, they have been playing complete games with season high totals in assists and rebounds. Both players had seven assists in the win over Marquette to tie for the team lead. Battle now has 498 career assists as a Gopher and needs just two more to become one of just five Minnesota players with 1000 career points and 500 career assists. The Gophers have been good defensively as well as all three opponents have shot below 40% against the Gophers this season.
NJIT comes into the game as well at 3-0 on the season with wins over Sacred Heart, Fordham, and Wagner. Senior Alejandra Zuniga was selected to the America East Preseason All-Conference team. She’s a three-time America East All-Conference selection and ranks third on the team in scoring this season with 12.3 points per game. The Highlanders are led by sophomore guard Olivia Kulik who is averaging 17.7 points per game and was the America East freshman of the Year a season ago. Junior guard Marissa Gingrich also is averaging 17.3 ppg. The Highlanders do not have much depth as they play six players regularly and a seventh as a spot sub.
Minnesota will need to use their depth and play high defense as the Highlanders have several players who can shoot well from three point range. NJIT does not have much size, so Hart is due for another dominating game in the paint for the Gophers.
Minnesota is 2-0 all-time against NJIT with wins at Williams Arena in 2011 and 2015. Tip is set for 5 PM and will stream on B1G+
#20 Volleyball vs #24 Penn State 7 PM Big Ten Network
The #20 ranked Minnesota volleyball team will face their fourth ranked opponent in a row when #24 Penn State comes to the Pav on Friday night. Minnesota has dropped three macthes in a row losing to #22 USC, #11 Wisconsin and #1 Nebraska. Yet Minnesota moved up in the national rankings from #22 to #20 this week.
The Gophers have been led by senior Julia Hansen who has been on fire. She leads the team and ranks in the top five in the Big Ten in kills (4.16, 4th) and points (4.82, 4th) per set. Her 343.0 total points put her at fifth in the conference and 42nd nationally. In her last seven matches, Julia is averaging 4.79 kills, 1.61 digs, 0.36 aces, 0.71 blocks and 5.61 points per set in those matches, hitting .342.
Penn State has dropped back to earth a bit after winning the NCAA Championship a season ago. They come in with a 14-10 overall record and a 8-6 Big Ten record. They have struggled against good teams and feasted on weaker opponents. In 2025, the Nittany Lions are 4-7 against ranked opponents this season and 10-3 against unranked teams. They are led by Florida transfer Kennedy Martin who leads both PSU and the Big Ten with 5.30 kills per set.
The biggest thing to watch for the Gophers down the stretch will be not how that bounce in the coaches poll, but the RPI rankings. The NCAA Selection Committee uses the RPI ranking to help rank the NCAA field. Coming into the weekend the Gophers sit at #13 in the RPI. The Top 16 seeds in the NCAA Tournament will host the first and second round matches on their home court, so the Gophers want to be as high in those RPI rankings as possible. A big win over the Nittany Lions on Friday can only help.
Minnesota has not has success against PSU in their history. The Gophers are 15-52 all-time vs. Penn State with the Nittany Lions winning the past three matches. First serve on Friday is set for 7 PM and will air on Big Ten Network.
Men’s Hockey vs Long Island 7 :30 Fox9+
The Gopher men close out their non-conference portion of their schedule when Long Island University comes to town. It will be the first ever meetings between the two schools since LIU started their program six years ago.
Minnesota is back on a role after a home sweep of Notre Dame last weekend. Minnesota got great play in net from Michigan State transfer Luca DiPasquo who was named the Big Ten’s #2 Star of the Week after holding the Irish to one goal on 53 shots on the weekend. Brody Lamb picked up a goal in each game for d is not the pthe Gophers.
Long Island is not the pushover than many casual fans might think they would be. The Sharks are 4-5 on the season and are coming off of a sweep of Robert Morris. They took Penn State to overtime in State College in October losing 5-4 before being swept 3-0 in their second game. LIU enters the weekend ranked 24th nationally in both scoring offense (3.2 goals per game) and scoring defense (2.7 goals per game). Dylan Kinch leads the Sharks with five goals and shares the team’s scoring lead with Brett Rylance, the team’s assist leader, at 11 points apiece. Goaltender Daniel Duris has started eight of LIU’s nine games, posting a 2.62 goals-against average and a .924 save percentage/
One thing the Sharks do is take a lot of penalties. They are sixth in the nation averaging nearly 18 penalty minutes per game. This weekend would be a great time for Minnesota’s anemic power play to get jump started in the best way. Minnesota did get one power play goal last weekend against the Irish, but for the season they still rank 58th in the nation at just 12%. LIU kills just under 80% of their penalties so the opportunity is there for the Gophers.
Friday’s face off is scheduled for 7:30 and will air locally on Fox9+ and stream on B1G+.
Football @ #8 Oregon 8 PM Fox
The Gopher football team heads to Eugene for a 8 PM kick on Fox against the #8 ranked Oregon Ducks, Our full preview is here.
Saturday November 15th:
Wrestling vs Virginia Tech 11 AM FLOWrestling
The Gopher wrestling team is in the 16-team National Duals Invitational in Tulsa, Oklahoma this weekend. Minnesota will face off against Virginia Tech at 11 AM in one of the opening round matches on Saturday. It’s a sponsored tournament with over a $1 Million payout to the winning team. Payouts will go all the way down through 8th place who will receive $20,000. The full bracket is below:
Action for the Gophers will continue Saturday at either 3 PM on the consolation side of the bracket or at 5 PM with a win over the Hokies in the Championship Quarterfinals against either Ohio State or Wyoming. The Consolation Quarterfinals are at 7 PM Saturday as well. All action will stream on FloWrestling .com for a fee.
Women’s Hockey vs Bemidji State 2 PM B1G+
The Gophers and Beavers return across the alley to Ridder Arena for the finale of the series at 2 PM Saturday. The game will stream on B1G+.
Men’s Hockey vs Long Island 5 PM Fox9+
The second game of the series between the Gophers and Sharks is set for a 5 PM puck drop live on Fox9+ and B1G+.
Men’s Basketball vs Green Bay 8 PM Big Ten Network
The Gopher men’s basketball team will look to bounce back from a loss at Missouri Wednesday night when they take on Green Bay in the Barn Saturday at 8 PM. Green Bay is coming off of a 80-61 loss to St. Thomas on Thursday night in St. Paul. The Phoenix are 1-3 this season with their lone win over Division 3 Team Ripon. They are 0-3 against D1 teams losing to Kansas and Buffalo as well as the Tommies. We will have a full preview of this game up later in the weekend. Tip is set for 8 PM and will air on Big Ten Network.
Sunday November 16th:
Wrestling @ National Duels Invitational TBD
The Gopher wrestling team will hopefully cap off their action in the money on Sunday in Tulsa. Times and teams ate TBD depending on Saturday’s results.
Volleyball @ Iowa 2 PM B1G+
The Gopher volleyball team heads south to Iowa City for a 2 PM match against the Hawkeyes on Sunday. Iowa is 13-13 overall and 4-10 in Big Ten play this season. Minnesota has owned the lifetime series against the Hawkeyes leading 87-11 against Iowa. The Gophers have won 49 straight matches against the Hawkeyes, dating back to 1995! The match will stream live on B1G+.
