Soccer Travels to Wisconsin, Hosts South Dakota Golden Gopher Soccer continues Big Ten play with a road trip to Wisconsin, before hosting South Dakota in nonconference action.
Doin' the Splits The Golden Gophers split things up this week, hitting the road for a conference tilt, before returning home for their final nonconference battle. In Big Ten play, Minnesota hits the road to Madison on Thursday, Oct. 1, for a 7:00 p.m. tilt with Wisconsin, but then gets to return home and take a break from league play when they host South Dakota on Sunday, Oct. 4 at 1:00 p.m.
The Records The Badgers enter with a 5-4-2 record on the season, and identical 1-0-1 mark after the first weekend of Big Ten play. Wisconsin tied Purdue in the league opener, before upsetting #19 Indiana. South Dakota begins the week with a 2-6-1 record, looking for their first win since Sept. 6. On Oct. 2, the Coyotes face off with rival North Dakota.
The Series This week the Golden Gophers kick off with their oldest and most frequent opponent as well as with a brand new one. The 19 meetings since 1993 with Wisconsin are the most Minnesota has with an opponent. The Golden Gophers trail the all-time series 9-10-0, but have made up ground lately, winning four of five. Minnesota is 5-5-0 at Wisconsin. Sunday will be the first match-up between the Golden Gophers and Coyotes, as South Dakota transitions to Division I.
Last Match-Up Last season when Minnesota hosted Wisconsin, the Gopher defense held the Badgers without a shot on goal in the second half, while the offense came through with the game winning goal midway through the period in the 2-1 win. Always intense when the two teams meet up, last year's contest was plagued with 23 combined fouls and eight combined yellow cards.
Watch Live When the Gophers are in Madison on Oct. 1, fans can follow along from home with live stats courtesy of UWBadgers.com. And when Minnesota returns home on Oct. 4, live stats will be offered through GopherSports.com as always.
Last Time Out Last weekend the Golden Gophers began Big Ten play with a 1-0 win over Iowa at home on Sept. 24 in the opener, and then went on the road to Illinois, earning a 2-2 tie.
Next Up The Golden Gophers hectic pace slows a bit next week with only one game on the schedule. The lone match-up of the week is a 1:00 p.m. contest at Purdue on Sunday, Oct. 11.
