Gophers soccer has spring in its step, hosting Big Ten tourney after 12-3-3 regular season

The Gophers women’s soccer team started this season knowing it would host the opening rounds of the newly expanded Big Ten tournament.

It qualified to get there by beating Maryland late in the season and now takes a three-game winning streak into Thursday’s first-round game with Penn State, seeking to get on a roll.

The Gophers finished seventh in the Big Ten with a 6-3-2 conference record by beating rival Iowa on the season’s final day and will play 10th-seeded Penn State, which defeated the Gophers 3-2 in State College, Pa., a little more than two weeks ago.

The Gophers started the season 8-0-1 in mostly nonconference play and finished 12-3-3 overall despite injuries.

“I think when that [tournament site] was announced it just gave a little extra motivation,” Gophers coach Erin Chastain said. “We get to play at home, in a place we love, on an awesome field in front of great crowds. The first goal was to be playing, and now it’s if we can make it a run.”

A Big Ten tournament run could get the Gophers back in the NCAA tournament for the first time since 2018. Chastain was hired in 2021, and they went 23-20-10 in her first three seasons.

This postseason opportunity begins with a rematch against Penn State, but this time under the lights at the Gophers’ own Elizabeth Lyle Robbie Stadium. The winner plays second-seeded UCLA on Sunday afternoon before the tournament moves to St. Louis for its semifinals and finals.

The Gophers lost to the Nittany Lions last time by a goal in the 82nd minute. They lost 3-1 at UCLA in September.

“I think having those [rematch games] in the back of our heads is a little bit of revenge and giving an edge to us,” said Gophers forward Khyah Harper, whose 17 goals are second in the nation. “Even making the Big Ten tournament, we already have the fire and the want and will to win more. We’re just going to keep holding it strong.”

The Gophers will have to do it in a revised 18-team Big Ten that now includes USC, UCLA, Washington and Oregon from the Pac 12.

USC and UCLA finished first and second, respectively, in the regular season, Washington sixth and Oregon second to last.

Chastain calls the new-look league comparable to the SEC as the nation’s most competitive conferences.

“The Big Ten is 18 teams so truthfully, when I looked at it, I was like ‘Dang, it’s going to be twice as hard to win,’” USC coach Jane Alukonis said after her team won the regular-season title.

The University of Minnesota was picked to host the first two rounds of the Big Ten tournament because it’s between the newly added West Coast teams to Maryland and Rutgers in the East.

“It’s a central location and we know we have a wonderful facility,” Chastain said. “That played into it. We also don’t have men’s soccer, so our field can handle it. I think it says they love our facility and Minneapolis as a whole. So that could be a spot they go back to in the years to come just based on it being easier for teams to get to now that we span across the country.”

Now it’s time to learn if the Gophers, their seniors and fifth-year players, can get on a Big Ten tournament roll and reach the NCAA tournament.

“Coming into the season we had really high expectations, and we’ve met that,” said senior captain Elizabeth Overberg, who because of injury has moved from defensive midfielder to center back. “Now it’s on to the next level because I don’t think there’s a cap for this team and what potential we have. We’ve been to the Big Ten tournament before, but there hasn’t been a team like this with the NCAAs as a realistic goal.”

First two rounds at Elizabeth Lyle Robbie Stadium, in St. Paul

Thursday

No. 8-seed Ohio State vs. No. 9 Wisconsin, 3:30 p.m.

No. 7 Gophers vs. No. 10 Penn State, 6:30 p.m.

Saturday

No. 4 Michigan State vs. No. 5 Rutgers, 3:30 p.m.

No. 3 Iowa vs. No. 6 Washington, 6:30 p.m.

Sunday

Ohio State/Wisconsin winner vs. No. 1 USC, 12 p.m.

Gophers/Penn State winner vs. No. 2 UCLA, 3 p.m.

Semifinals (Nov. 7) and championship game (Nov. 10) in St. Louis