(Keeper Olivia Graupmann, Photo via Tommie Athletics)
Minnesota women’s soccer fans have been anxiously awaiting the 2021 soccer season to see the performance and results of the newly promoted Division 1 soccer program at the University of St. Thomas. As announced in early 2020, the Tommies will join the Summit League, a league that is no stranger to Minnesotan talent. Head Coach Shiela McGill brings plenty of returning players and has also added the first Division 1 recruiting class in preparation for the program’s move to the Summit League. So what will St. Thomas’ addition mean for the Summit League? In 2021, the addition of the University of St. Thomas will bring the number of teams in the conference to an even ten. The Summit League, known for its physical play and tough nosed rivalries seems like a perfect fit for the Tommies. It will be an interesting race to the Summit this year as we see how St Thomas will match up against Denver, South Dakota State, and Omaha, three teams who lead the league in 2020. For a perspective inside the league, we spoke with South Dakota State’s head coach and multiple-time Summit League Coach of the Year, Brock Thompson. Thompson characterizes the league as intense and full of rivalries. He also notes that the Summit League is on the rise. Not only is the league growing in numbers with the addition of UST starting in 2021-2022, but it is receiving more recognition for its talent: “I think that anyone who has been close to the Summit League would agree with that, there are a number of institutions that are making an investment in women’s soccer which is allowing more coaches within staffs, facility projects, and etc. When you have a number of institutions that make an investment, that benefits the whole league, and I think that’s what you see from an on-the-field standpoint”, Thompson shared. When asked specifically about what St. Thomas means for the Summit League, Thompson explains that the Tommies being the tenth team in the league make for an easier travel schedule that benefits student-athletes. A tenth team allows for uniform travel- where teams are paired up with another team in the league as “travel partners” to ensure that each team can host an entire two-game weekend at home or play two games away as much as possible. At this point, the success of the Tommies in the Summit League seems promising. Their dominance at the Division III level has given them a national profile that they will look to add to in the coming years in Division I. Although UST will not be eligible for the conference tournament until their transition to Division I is complete, the Tommies are able to win the regular season. Thompson describes St. Thomas as a bit of a mystery: “I know they’ve got a great coaching staff that will do a good job whether that means this year or a few years down the road”. With the first Division I recruiting class stacked with talented Minnesotans and out of state talents, the Tommies will look to have a breakout year debut D1 season. 
(Head Coach Sheila McGill and team, photo via Tommie Athletics)
Going into preseason and the regular season, head coach Sheila McGill described the Tommie’s style of play: “We have had in the past certain styles of play. I would say we are a fast possession team. We defend as an entire unit”. McGill also mentions that there will also be things that might change throughout the season. It seems there will be room for some change in formations if needed. But regardless of formation, we can expect a defensively organized, hard working team from St. Thomas. As far as goals for their first Division I season, McGill brings an approach that focuses on specific themes rather than wins and losses; “Our goal has never been the winning piece,” she explains. “Our goal has always been team chemistry, intensity of play, style of play, and work rate”. More than wins and losses, the Tommies will focus on these things to measure their success. This is something that won’t change from Division III to Division I. McGill is confident that her team will be able to hold that mindset while adjusting to the speed and strength that comes with Division I soccer. After graduating a large senior class, this year will be an opportunity for all players, returners and newcomers to step up. Team unity will be key in St. Thomas’ success. The program will rely on returning players and new players working together to face the challenges of the transition, “We have a great core with knowledge on how we play and the way we play McGill mentions. “We have newcomers coming in who are learning from that knowledge. It’s going to be a great blend of those two groups coming together to create the team image of who we want to be”. This will be an exciting group to watch as the season continues. After two exhibitions against far different opponents -- Viterbo of the NAIA and the DI Minnesota Gophers -- one thing remained incredibly consistent: St Thomas’ ability to keep a disciplined defensive shape and consistently stay in front of their opponents. 
(Alex Balfour, photo via Tommie Athletics)
Senior Alex Balfour, an All-American during St Thomas’ DIII MIAC days, said a lot of the focus in the jump to DI and battles against teams like the U has been improving fitness to match the increased physicality. So many of the players in the Summit League and other teams on the Tommie’s schedule are former teammates and friends. “We’ve all played on club teams with these girls,” Balfour explained. So it’s not the first time they’re stepping onto the same field. But after years of playing as more of a possession team at the DIII level, it’s understandable that there will be some adjustments and some need to adapt. “It’s just a huge transition overall,” Balfour added. After a while the Gophers were able to break down the defense at times and put a number of goals on the board, but not until after they struggled for most of the first half to really put dangerous chances on goal. If St Thomas can consistently stay in front of attackers and force other teams to really earn every goal, they should at least be able to compete for results during their first campaign in the Summit League. Tommies draw in first D1 match St Thomas battled to a 0-0 extra time draw against Northern Iowa on Tuesday to officially kickoff the Division 1 era for Tommie Soccer. In what was largely a defensive battle, the Tommies continued to show solid defensive shape as a team -- as we’ve seen them do in their exhibitions this fall -- but at times were a bit off in tracking opposing runners from UNI who took advantage of gaps between defenders on the back line. Multiple times during the first half, and then at times later in the game, UNI was free on goal with pretty high quality chances to score but at each turn goalkeeper Olivia Graupmann was there to make a big save -- many times at point blank range.
The Tommies largely seemed to rely on quick counter attacks and aggressive attempts over the top to allow some of their athletic front line attackers, like freshman Abby Brantner, to run on to the ball and take their chances -- even if outnumbered by defenders. UNI had a bit more possession to their attack but played in a similar direct style throughout the match as well, finishing with a 9-3 advantage in shots on goal. In the end, a 0-0 tie was likely fitting for two programs that played with plenty of grit and hustle down to the last whistle but with some early season rawness to their attacking play. (Full highlights from the match can be found on our Twitter account).
Annie Williams
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Mark sits down Meredith Haakenson, who as an all-everything midfielder growing up in Minnesota and has been starring for the Michigan Wolverines ever since. They talk about how she got into soccer with her now-pro brother Luke, her crazy in-depth school selection process as a freshman, Michigan's veteran laden team this year, and more! You can watch the show as a video embedded below or as a podcast on Soundcloud, iTunes, Google Play, or Stitcher.
(Photo credit - Jeremy Olson)
The Erin Chastain era of Gopher Soccer has started off with a win and a draw in non-conference play. And while some of the early trends seem eerily familiar to the past couple seasons for University of Minnesota fans -- playing to the level of the opponent, lack of scoring, etc -- it’s clear that in other ways this year’s team has already raised the floor on their potential. Let’s dive into 3 key takeaways from the Gophers opening win against Baylor and tie against University of Illinois Chicago. 1) Some things never change The Gopher defense has looked strong and kept opponents off the board while struggling to score themselves and they’ve sorta played up and down to their competition so far -- sound familiar?! But don’t let (seemingly) continued trends downgrade how truly impressive it is that this year’s Gopher squad is as locked in defensively as last year’s. Katie Koker (no longer playing) and Patrica Ward (yet to pass the fitness test, and playing forward this season anyway) are both gone from the outside back rotation. As is Alana Dressely, who had shifted to centerback before suffering a season ending leg injury in the St Thomas exhibition. As is Athena Kuehn who made the All Big Ten Third Team but felt like an all-american with the impact she had last spring. So this defense is relying on Megan Plaschko, a stout but still fairly new starter in goal, and Delaney Stekr, who’s played roughly 1.5 full seasons in her career, to be the veterans of a completely rebuilt defense. And you know what, they are absolutely pulling the damn thing off! Freshman Elizabeth Overberg has gone from a possible end of the rotation midfielder (because Lauren Donovan and Sophia Boman are 90 minutes players at the central midfielder spots already) to a starting *CENTERBACK*. I will not apologize for that all-caps, because it is *incredibly* rare for any freshman to start on the backline, even less common for a centerback specifically to start that young, and absurdly and bonkers rare for a random midfielder -- with some spot experience filling in at the youth level -- to just go ahead and look solid from jump after almost truly not training there with this team.
Kenzie Langdok has looked like a natural at right back after spending four years exclusively at forward. Abi Frandsen has mountains of potential at left back thanks to her length and athleticism mixed with a willingness to try some shit (the technical term US Soccer uses in coaching training, we’re sure). More on these two later. And as much as they maybe let UIC dictate the style of play a bit (and got a little distracted by the physicality and scrappiness the Flames brought) there are early signs that the lack of finishing won’t really continue. 2) The floor has been raised Yes, Minnesota is scoring less than a goal a game and has already had their first “drag this thing into extra time even though it’s the second match of the weekend” let down result. *But*, even without break out statistical performances, this team has shown it has what it takes to inch that chance creation higher. Khyah Harper is working her ass off to put pressure on opposing centerbacks and consistently getting the ball in dangerous positions, even as she’s struggled to get the perfect turn that can release some shots on goal. Izzy Brown hasn’t even really found her rhythm yet offensively and she’s still finding ways to impact the game by tracking back on defense and battling on 50/50 balls. Both of these two are going to click eventually and score multiple goals a piece. We are 100 percent sure of that. Jaden Peck is just an absolute pest when she gets minutes up top. She’s covering ground, burning hot, and doing what fresh legs are supposed to do -- jolt the offense a bit after the starters have been a little worn down. We’ve haven’t even seen Patricia Ward up top yet (see note above) or Maddie Baker (seems to be doing full warm ups but not yet seeing game minutes).
And yes, they have continued their trend of piling up a ton of corner kicks all for maybe zero (?) dangerous chances on goal. But those feel like they may come. Christa Van Loon and Kenna Buisman can both serve a dangerous ball in, it just hasn’t been super consistent service just yet. Meg Gray has been slippery with the ball at her feet. Boman is just *frightening* for defenses once she gets moving down hill. Lauren Donovan is somewhat reluctant to shoot but at times has the space too -- and hopefully gets more comfortable shooting from distance like she did for her goal against St Thomas in the preseason. Our guess is the team averages more than a goal a game from here on out. 3) Gophers game to game progression is impressive Last spring, when everyone kept talking about how athletic and talented Sophia Boman was as a freshman (both true) and how fantastic she looked from jump (also true), we were more impressed by the little game to game improvements she kept making. And now, that same block-by-block improvement she and others had last spring is happening team wide. Remember, Head Coach Erin Chastain has been able to work with this team for a total of like 20 minutes. They started training camp, had a few days, and almost immediately had an exhibition match. But that quick introduction of 11v11 play (rare for this team, because internally they’ve haven’t really had the numbers to play full sided basically at all) also meant they were able to immediately start testing what worked and getting things on tape. They started by getting the basics right: simple passes, keep your defensive shape, etc. Then they moved on to avoiding basic pitfalls: don’t drift too narrow, keep your width. Then some focus on progression: can we build possession and control the midfield and run of play. And each of these things has been at least somewhat obvious in terms of game to game improvement. But easily the most clear progression has come from the outside backs. Chastain mentioned in the very first interview we did with her that her ideal system would involve plenty of attacking down the wing from her outside backs. Of course she also admitted that it might take a while to actually *get to* that ideal system. And yet, even just four games (two exhibitions, two regular season) the team has progressed to a point where Langdok and Frandsen sort of know how they can make an impact there.
As we mentioned, UIC was a savvy, scrappy opponent (as Minnesotan Jelena Zbiljic speaks to above) and able to keep Minnesota off the scoreboard. But some of the most exciting silver linings to that grind of a game was seeing Frandsen immediately claim space when opponents left too big of a cushion when she had the ball at her feet and seeing Langdok run big overlaps on the right and serving super tight bending service into the box. Frandsen’s experience as an attacker is evident the moment she starts slicing through opponents like a hot knife through butter, with the ball almost stuck to her foot on the dribble. Langdok’s experience, mixed with the opportunity -- for the first time -- to play in the back with the whole field in her sight line, has helped her find open space and receive the ball and whip it in for runners. Those two adding numbers in the attack will only further bolster attackers like Meg Gray and Izzy Brown who do well combining in the final third but desperately need teammates to *be* in the final third with them to do so. Next up: Gophers play AT Drake, Thursday at 6PM. Broadcast on ESPN+. Live tweet highlights on the Equal Time Soccer Twitter account (I’ll be there to cover in person) |