Thursday night in St. Paul was Gopher soccer's first big conference test of the 2026 season. Not only a rival in town, but that rival was the #25 Iowa Hawkeyes (5-1-1) for the Big Ten opener. Minnesota needed only a single goal to get the win over the rival Hawkeyes and their first win over a ranked opponent in 2026 as Tenley Senden's first half strike put Minnesota over the top.
With nearly a week between matches, the Gophers retained much of their lineup from their dominant win over Colorado College. Head Coach Erin Chastain made just two changes to the eleven with Ellen Neuharth and Matigann Vixayvong replacing Kate Childers and Katie Krohn.
Iowa's lineup featured three Minnesotans, with Berit Parten (Minnehaha Acd.), Julia Freed (Roseville/Bemidji State), and Elle Wildman (East Ridge) all starting for the Hawkeyes in their home state.
Northland Soccer Journal
Much of the opening half of play was done in the centre of the pitch, with each team getting a few decent chances to score. Minnesota's first chance came in the 7th minute of play, but the Gophers weren't able to get a clean touch on it and Iowa keeper Braelynn Galt jumped on the ball. Just ahead of the 20th minute Iowa got their first real chance to score. But the shot was easily palmed down and saved by Minnesota keeper Sarah Martin.
Minnesota got the better chances from there on out in the half, but Hannah Heinlein's 21st minute shot and Caroline Birdsell's in the 27th missed just wide of the goal. Birdsell nearly opened the scoring in the 30th, but a huge kick save from an Iowa defender right at the line prevented the Hawkeyes from going down at the half-hour mark of the match.
As the match ticked past the 40th minute Iowa's Sofia Bush clanged the crossbar in the closest the Hawkeyes got to scoring. Right off that play Minnesota's Tenley Senden was able to break out on her own down the left side of the pitch. After beating a defender, Senden lofted a shot into the corner to break the match open and put the Gophers up 1–0 before the half.
Tenley Senden's 41st minute goal for the Minnesota Gophers
Coming out of the break Minnesota had a much more free flowing attack and managed to get a number of scoring opportunities on the #25 Hawkeyes. Ava Westlund and Tenley Senden both got very good chances inside the first twenty minutes of the second half. But Westlund's shot was saved Galt while Senden's narrowly went over the bar.
Iowa went into overdrive after Senden's shot forcing play to mostly stay in their offensive half of the pitch. Forcing the Gophers to go from the free flowing style they started the half with to a defensive setup proved no issue for Minnesota though. Iowa was able to get a few chances, but much of their attack was stopped by one of two things; sloppy passing or a hard nosed Gophers defence forcing the ball out of the Minnesota defensive third.
Minnesota has two days of rest before heading on the road for the first time since 20 August. Sunday the Gophers face Penn State in Pennsylvania for their second Big Ten match of the season. Penn State currently sit 2-2-2 overall and 0-0-1 (W-D-L) in Big Ten play after suffering a loss to Ohio State in Columbus on Thursday night. This will be the one and only regular season meeting between the Gophers and Nittany Lions on Sunday afternoon.
