Last week the Gophers opened conference play with a massive win over the #25 Iowa Hawkeyes. They closed the weekend with a tight loss to the Penn State Nittany Lions, their first Big Ten loss of the season. An early goal for Minnesota put the Gophers up, but the defence was broken through twice by Northwestern for the Wildcats. But with less than five minutes remaining, the Gophers were given a penalty kick they scored on to force a draw with the Wildcats.
With a full week off between matches, Gophers head coach Erin Chastain retained her entire starting eleven from last Sunday against Penn State. Chastain has seemingly found her main eleven early on in the season as she has been retaining around nine players each match.
Northwestern made a similar decision as the Gophers, retaining most of their starters from a recent 2–0 loss at Wisconsin. Only Alex Fallon jumped into the eleven replacing Elle Phillips in the Wildcats starting set.
Northland Soccer Journal
