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Authors: Mark Privratsky and Matt Privratsky
Photo: Katelyn Beulke of SDSU. Photographer: Travis Gallipo
The 2024 college soccer season has officially kicked off! That once again means attempting to round up every single Minnesotan playing DI women’s soccer across the country. So far, you’ve helped us find 118 players suiting up for 46 different programs. This year, we've even put that entire master list of DI MNs into a publicly viewable, sortable google sheet that you can access and sort! Now, let’s take a look at where those players are concentrated, some early top performers, and some games to watch over the next couple weekends.
"Most Minnesotan" Programs Though Minnesotans are rostered on 46 different programs, the bulk of local players suit up for just a handful of programs. Not surprisingly, nearly all of them are either in Minnesota or just beyond the border. Only Army cracks the list without having geographic proximity in their corner. Here’s the full top ten:
Catch our Weekly Shows! For the fall season, we’ve switched to a weekly format where every Tuesday at 7PM we’ll do a full round up of all the Equal Time Soccer beats. It will be a different mix of guests, analysis, and updates every week based on the top stories of the day. Check out this week’s show, featuring star Gopher Soccer forward Caroline Birdsell and a full rundown of some top performing DI MNs, below. Early Top Performers Pohlidal Sisters Pace Army: Senior Hannah Polidal has been joined by her younger sister freshman Grace Polidal (as well as sophomore keeper Jordan Hecht) at the United States Military Academy and they’re off to a strong 3-1 start. After a respectable 0-1 loss to Wake Forest to start season, they’ve had a 3-0 win over Manhatten, a 3-2 win over Umass, and a 2-0 win over Central Conn St – with the Pohlidals seeing time in every match so far. Izzy Making an Impact for the Irish: Izzy Engle has come onto the college soccer scene in an absolutely atomic way, scoring a hat trick in Notre Dame’s win over Samford (the first Freshman since 2008 to have a hat trick at Notre Dame) and putting up 2 goals in a win vs TCU after that. To play as a freshman is impressive, to do so for a team like Notre Dame is incredibly impressive, to play *this way* on top of it is just flatout unreal. Twin Cities Crosstown Showdown: The University of Minnesota and the University of St Thomas have now faced in back to back seasons and the Gophers once again (as you’d expect on paper) came out on top — this time with a 4-1 win at the South Field of St Thomas. The Gophers now sit at 2-0 and St Thomas is 0-2-1 with both squads hitting the road this weekend (MN at MKE & Marquette, UST at Marist & Sienna: more details below) From Brown to Teal: Clare Gagne an Orono native and long time keeper for highly touted Brown in the Ivy League has transferred to UNC to play alongside fellow Minnesotan Maddie Dahlien. Dahlien notched an assist in UNC’s opening win against Denver (though is now away with the USYNT on U20 World Cup duty) and Gagne has claimed the starting spot in goal. Both will be leaned on heavily as UNC fights to maintain their place toward the top of the newly expanded ACC following the departure of ten starters from last season and the recent retirement of longtime UNC Head Coach Anson Dorrance. Berit’s Invisible Brace for Iowa: Berit Parton started her college soccer career off with a bang, scoring two goals in 30 seconds as Iowa took a commanding lead against Oregon State. In the second half, however, the game had to be called for weather – but not with enough game played for the result to be final. According to Iowa staff, Oregon State ultimately declined to schedule a makeup date/time so the game (and Parton’s goals) won’t count in the official record books – don’t worry, we made sure there’s a record (watch them for yourself below). Parton absolutely cooked in the UPSL Midwest West this summer and looks to continue the moment this fall alongside fellow Minnesotan and former South Dakota State legend Maya Hansen, who has now officially returned from injury and seen time in multiple games for the Hawkeyes this fall.
Upcoming Games to Watch! North Dakota at UNC, Thur Aug 29 3PM, ACC Network Plus USD at Drake, Thur Aug 29, 3PM Midco Sports MN at Milwaukee, Thur Aug 29 7PM, ESPN+ Penn St vs WV, Thur Aug 29, 6:30PM, BTN+ St Thomas at Marist, Thur Aug 29 St Thomas at Siena, Sun Sept 1 MN at Marquette, Sun Sept 1 1PM, Flo Sports Penn St at St Louis, Sun Sept 1, 1PM, ESPN+ SDSU at UW Green Bay, Sun Sept 1 12PM, ESPN+ Army at Providence, Sun Sept 1 12PM, ESPN+ Minnesota v Army, Thur Sept 5 5PM, ESPN+ Boston College at Cornell, Thur Sept 5 5PM, ESPN+ UNC v Duke, Thur Sept 5 6PM, ACC Network Penn St v Princeton, Thur Sept 5 6PM, ESPN+ Wisconsin v Milwaukee, Thur Sept 5 7PM, ESPN+ St Thomas at UNI, Fri Sept 6 4PM, ESPN+ Minnesota v Brown, Sun Sept 8 1PM, BTN+ Marquette v #9 Notre Dame, Sun Sept 8 12:30PM, ACC Network #18 Wake Forest v UNC Asheville, Sun Sept 8 1PM, ACC Network Penn St v Georgetown, Sun Sept 8 Noon, Flo Sports SDSU v Drake, Sun Sept 8 1PM, Midco Sports South Dakota v Portland State, Sun Sept 8 1PM, Midco Sports STREAMING Every other week we will update you with games that feature Minnesotans that you can potentially watch in person (Twin Cities focus) or via stream. There are a lot (too many?) of individual streamers in sports these days, so we will focus on the most accessible games with the most bang for your buck. Check your team’s schedules to see how many games will be on each platform to see if it’s worth it for you. If you’re a Big Ten fan, BTN+ is a bit spendy but could be worth it for the season at $12.99/month or $89.99/year. If you are a bit more in the weeds you may look into Flo Sports, but the most games by far will be found on ESPN+. Plenty of non conference games and a handful of our MN heavy conferences feature on ESPN+, along with lots of other soccer content, so you could find value there. While 100+ Minnesotans are playing (almost) coast to coast this fall, there is no Conference that comes close to the Minnesotan-ness of the Summit League, where 46 of the 109 (and counting) D1 players make their home. The Summit League Network is home to all of the soccer games in the Conference, along with all of the Conference’s sports. The Summit League Network broadcasts via the Midco Sports App, or at MidcoSportsPlus.com. The membership is $9.99/month or a slightly cheaper rate for a year. Support our Work! Appreciate our coverage of DI Minnesotans and all of Minnesota women's soccer? You can support us for a little as $2/month!
1 Comment
Jeanne Privratsky
8/29/2024 10:38:56 am
Excellent summary full of descriptive info. Like the new changes. Looking forward to Tuesday eve broadcasts. Leave a Reply. |