The 2025 Fall Sports schedule really kicks into drive for the Minnesota Golden Gophers this weekend. With a bye week for the football team, every other fall spot is in action, many at home. We also have some fall ball action for both the Gopher baseball and softball teams and yes a women’s hockey exhibition game. Hockey season is allready upon us. Below check out the schedule for the weekend and how you can catch all the action in person=, or from your couch.
Friday September 19th:
Women’s Golf @ Lady Paladin Invitational 9 AM
The Gopher women’s golf team is back in
action after an 11th place fish at the Annika Invitational that they hosted last weekend. This weekend its to South Carolina and the Lady Paladin Invitational hosted by Furman University. Minnesota will be joined by 15 other teams in the three day event that runs through the weekend with a 9 AM shotgun start all three days.
The Minnesota lineup will include senior Isabella McCauley, junior Mariana Mesones, sophomore Reese McCauley, and seniors Olivia Deakins and Madison Le. Freshman Lauryn Finley will make her Gopher debut competing as an individual. Live stats are available HERE.
Women’s Tennis— Gopher Invite 9 AM
The Gopher women’s tennis team kicks off the season by hosting the Gopher invite this weekend at the Baseline Tennis Center. Minnesota will welcome St. Thomas, Marquette, North Dakota, South Dakota, Northern Iowa, Milwaukee and Drake to campus for the tournament that will run all-weekend long with matches starting at 9 AM all three days. The schedule includes two doubles matches and one singles match Friday and Saturday, and one doubles and one singles match Sunday. Doubles will be one regular set with no-ad scoring, and singles will be two tiebreak sets with a 10-point match tiebreak if the sets are split. Competing for Minnesota are senior Sofia Pinto, juniors Yinong Ma and Anlin Xie, and sophomore Nora Knezevic. Live video can be found on Gophersports.com HERE.
Cross-Country—Roy Griak Invitational 10 AM
The Gopher cross-country teams will host their biggest meet of the year when the 39th Annual Roy Griak Invitational kicks off Friday morning. It’s sure to be an emotional one as it will be the final one on the course at Les Bolstad Golf Course after the U of M announced earlier this summer they will be closing the club and selling it off this winter.
The Men’s Gold (DI) 8K race will take off at 10:00 AM followed by the Women’s Gold (DI) 6K race at 10:45 AM, Both fields are slightly down in a level of compettion from past seasons. Joining the Gophers in the men’s race will be Cal Baptist, Iowa, North Dakota, North Dakota State, Pacific, South Dakota, South Dakota State, St. Thomas and Wyoming. The women will feature Cal Baptist, Iowa, North Dakota, North Dakota State, Pacific, South Dakota, South Dakota State, St. Thomas, Wyoming.
Expectations remain high for the Gopher women’s squad as they are ranked the #20 team in the country by the USTFCCCA. Ali Weimer, Izzy Roemer, Isabelle Schmitz and Nadia Phillips all finished inside Minnesota’s top seven at the 2024 NCAA Championships and returned to the roster in 2025.
You can catch a free webcast of the races HERE.
Baseball Maroon vs Gold 5PM Siebert Field
The Gopher baseball team will continue their series of inter-squad fall ball games at 5 PM at Siebert Field. Admission is free.
Volleyball @ Loyola-Chicago 6 PM ESPN+
The Gopher volleyball team closes out the non-conference schedule with a pair of games on the shores of Lake Michigan this weekend. A full weekend preview is HERE. Minnesota kicks off the weekend at 6 PM on Friday at Loyola-Chicago in a match that will be streamed on ESPN+.
Softball vs St. Thomas 6 PM
The Gopher softball team takes on cross-town foe St. Thomas in a fall ball exhibition tilt on Friday night. First Pitch is set for 6 PM at Jane Sage Cowles Stadium and admission is free. The Gophers are running a food drive at all of their home fall ball games this year and request you bring non-perishable food items to the game if you attend.
Saturday September 20th:
Women’s Tennis @ ITA All American Championships 8 AM
A trio of Gopher tennis players are missing their home tournament and will travel to Cary, North Carolina to take place in the ITA All-American Championships. Aiva Schmitz and Mia Liepert earned spots in the singles draw, while Liepert and Anali Kocevar qualified for the doubles draw. They will begin play in the Pre-qualifying event on Saturday. The pre-qualifying rounds begin Sept. 20–21, with matches starting at 8 a.m. CT. If Minnesota advances, the Gophers will compete in the qualifying rounds Sept. 22–23. The main draw begins Sept. 24 and continues through Sept. 28. Kocevar, Schmitz and Liepert are the first Gophers to compete at the ITA All-American Championships since 2015, when Minnesota sent Caroline Ryba, Julia Courter and Paula Rincon-Otero.
Women’s Tennis—Gopher Invitational 9 AM
Women’s Golf @ Lady Paladin Invitational 9 AM
Day two of both events kick off at 9 AM.
Women’s Hockey vs Bemidji State @ Brainerd, MN 3 PM
The Gopher women’s hockey team will begin action this weekend when they travel northward to the Essentia Health Sports Center in Brainerd to face off against Bemidji State in a exhibition game. Minnesota will look to adapt their seven freshmen and three transfers to the squad in their first taste of on-ice action. Minnesota was predicted by the WCHA Coaches to tie for second in the league this season, and were ranked #3 n the country in the Preseason USCHO.com poll this week. We will have a full season preview of the Gophers next week here on TDG.
Sunday September 21st:
Women’s Tennis @ ITA All American Championships 8 AM
Women’s Tennis—Gopher Invitational 9 AM
Women’s Golf @ Lady Paladin Invitational 9 AM
Day two and three of each of these events kicks off on Sunday morning.
Soccer @ #12 Iowa 1 PM B1G+
The Gopher soccer team heads down to Iowa City for their toughest task of the season thus far to face the #12 ranked Hawkeyes. Iowa is 6-1-2 o the season with their only loss coming to #7 TCU. Iowa is 1-0-1 in conference play with a tie against Northwestern and a win over Purdue.
Minnesota enters the weekend 4-2-1 with a game Thursday night at home against Rutgers that was delayed due to weather. Along with the result to be determined against the Scarlet Nights, the Gophers are 0-0-1 in the conference after a 2-2 tie in Lincoln last week to open conference play. Minnesota blew a 2-0 lead over Nebraska with under ten minutes to play.
Volleyball @ Marquette 5 Pm FS1
The Gophers play their final non-conference game of the season in Milwaukee on Sunday afternoon against Marquette. Minnesota will look to finish the non-conference season on a ten game winning streak after dropping their season opener to Texas A&M before opening Big Ten play Thursday at home against Michigan State,
