Sunday afternoon at Elizabeth Lyle Robbie Stadium in St. Paul saw the 2026 edition of the Twin Cities Derby take place as the Minnesota Golden Gophers hosted cross-town rivals St. Thomas Tommies. A first half goal and an early second half goal for the Gophers were enough to outlast the Tommies and their stellar defence to earn the Gophers a 2–1 win and their third tally in the w column on the season.
Both the Gophers and Tommies came off less than stellar results heading into the Twin Cities Derby. Minnesota came in off a loss to #15 BYU Cougars and head coach Erin Chastain made one change to her side, bringing Ellen Neuharth in for Hailee Christensen.
St. Thomas entered Sunday with a 0-1-2 (W-D-L) record and a draw to Green Bay in their last match. Interim head coach Becca Brandt made two changes to the Tommies. Sophia Alvarez came in at goal for Ayden Gagner and Ana Oenning jumped in for Norah Benson.
Northland Soccer Journal
From the outset of the match the game was controlled by the Gophers. University of Minnesota put their first shot on target just two minutes into the match and continued to hammer on the gas from there. Minnesota took three shots in just seven minutes and never slowed their pace the entire half. Even with the chances it took a bit for the Gophers to put the ball in the back of the net.
Minnesota finally opened the scoring with a 20th minute goal after Hailee Christensen slipped a low through ball to Ellen Neuharth. Neuharth took the ball into the box and put the shot into the upper corner of the goal from close range.
Ellen Neuharth's 20th minute goal for the Minnesota Golden Gophers
Gopher women continued to dominate for the remainder of the half, putting 15 shots up with seven going on target. Tommies goalkeeper Sophia Alvarez was forced into making five saves. But for the most part the Tommies were able to hold Minnesota at bay. Collapsing the defence into the centre of the box and forcing the Gophers to play wide resulted in many of those 15 shots being of relatively low quality.
Coming out of the half the hosts immediately made up for the struggles to hit the net on so many shots with a 50th minute goal to double the lead. Taylor Heimerl took the corner for Minnesota, which hit the turf just outside the six. After a quick flick to the middle Caroline Birdsell took an easy shot into the open corner to put Minnesota up 2–0.
Caroline Birdsell's 50th minute goal for the Minnesota Golden Gophers
Minnesota's two goal didn't last long as the Tommies answered back just six minutes later to cut the lead back down to one goal. After a cross into the box a quick back pass sent the ball to Izzy McEwan right at the top of the penalty arc. McEwan fired a rocket past a diving Sarah Martin to bring the match to a 2–1 score with just over 30 minutes to play.
Izzy McEwan's 56th minute goal for the St. Thomas Tommies
After the Tommies goal the game went into a much more back and forth affair between the two sides. While Minnesota did continue to hammer shots, it was a similar affair to the first half. St. Thomas condensed most of their players into the centre third and forced the Gophers out wide. The defensive strategy resulted in Minnesota continuing to get a lot of lower quality chances from wide or far outside the box. St. Thomas' strategy paid off as they did not allow a third goal to be scored by the Gophers, holding the match to a 2–1 scoreline.
Next up for the University of Minnesota is a home match next Sunday against the Tigers of Colorado College with kickoff set for 1pm at Elizabeth Lyle Robbie Stadium. For the University of St. Thomas, the Tommie women will host the Butler Bulldogs on Saturday afternoon at South Field in St. Paul.
