Minnesota's second match of the season came off the back of a 4–0 thrashing of the North Dakota Fighting Hawks just a few days prior. After scoring twice inside the opening five minutes in the season opener, Minnesota faced a much bigger challenge on Sunday afternoon in #19 Georgia. The Bulldogs controlled the first half of play, and ultimately ended up scoring on a late penalty kick.
Head coach Erin Chastain brought out a pretty standard 4-3-3 for the Gophers to counter Georgia's 4-4-2. Minnesota retained ten of eleven starters from their huge 4–0 win over North Dakota, with Hannah Heinlein replacing Tenley Senden in the eleven.
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Unlike earlier in the week that saw the Gophers dominate from the opening whistle, the second match of the season was much more competitive. Georgia controlled possession for a large portion of the half, but didn't see any success in open play or set pieces. One quarter hour in and Caroline Birdsell (River Light FC) subbed in for Sawyer Danielson as Minnesota's first sub of the match.
Both the Gophers and Bulldogs had a few good chances come their way in the opening half. Georgia had the first chance of the afternoon on a free kick from Honoko Hamano, but it was a slow roller that Sarah Martin was easily able to grab. As the half wound down Martin made another pair of saves to keep the match at nil-nil, but that lead didn't stay for long. In the final minute of the half Martin was called for a foul inside the box handing Georgia a penalty that Emma Pettersen converted to open the scoring on the day.
For the second half the styles flipped with Georgia playing defensively to hold the one goal lead while the Gophers went on the attack to get back the goal. Five minutes into the half it looked as if the Gophers would get their first goal following a foul and yellow card to Georgia's Assa Kante (former Minnesota Aurora). Taylor Heimerl took the free kick from just outside the box on the side of the 18. Her low hard cross went into the box and was cleared by the Bulldogs.
Ten minutes into the second half of play Minnesota earned what was their best chance of the afternoon to that point. Following a low cross Katie Krohn corralled the ball inside the box with an open net in front of her. But Krohn's shot missed just wide and hit a support post of the goal. Less than 10 minutes later Minnesota leveled the match at 1–1 on the back of a low shot from Davy Mokelke into the back corner of the goal.
Davy Mokelke's goal for the Minnesota Golden Gophers against the Georgia Bulldogs
As the second half progressed following the match tying goal the Gophers continued to push hard for a match winning goal while Georgia kept playing defensively to try and hold a draw. Minnesota had quite a few chances in the second half with Ava Westlund coming extremely close to scoring on a shot from the Georgia keepers right side. But each time Jordan Brown was able to snatch a save and keep the match level at one-all.
Next up for the Golden Gophers is a trip to Fargo, ND to face the North Dakota State Bison at the old NDSU gridiron football stadium Dacotah Field. Kickoff on Thursday night is set for 6:00pm in Fargo and our non-league editor (and Fargo correspondent) Tim Abbott will be on the scene with coverage.
