 (Photo credit: Jeremy Olson) It’s November 2017. The Gophers have just been bumped from the Big Ten Conference Tournament and they’ve been waiting to hear about their season’s fate until the NCAA Tournament selection show. It was a simpler time. I used a New Kids on the Block song to structure my “what can the Gophers do” piece for Fifty Five One. And when the Gopher eventually found out they missed the cut and their season was officially over, I only tweeted once. Oh how times have changed. We journeyed back to 2017 because that season serves as a key root for the Gophers’ struggles in 2019. After a historic double championship (regular season and tournament), and a proverbial sweep of post season awards in 2016, the Gophers came back the following year with a strong team. They posted a generally impressive non-conference performance against a generally winnable slate of opponents. But a few bad losses meant the selection committee was able to dismiss the Gophers as empty calories and keep them on the wrong side of the bubble (we’ll ignore the realities of NCAA selection that *heavily* bias schools that are close to each other because the NCAA pays for all travel costs.)  (Photo credit: Jeremy Olson) Head Coach Stefanie Golan and the coaching staff were already working to beef up their future schedules, but building and finalizing schedules takes years. And we hadn’t really seen the impact of those changes until this season. A tougher schedule alone isn’t really to blame for the Gophers’ 0-4-2 start. The other half of the equation is the natural ebb and flow of college rosters. When you have players like Emily Heslin, Molly Fiedler, April Bockin, and Emily Peterson play big minutes for several years, it means they’re holding space in the lineup that limits opportunities for younger players to develop. To be clear: this isn’t a bad thing. It’s just a weird way to describe having good players. But the four year cycle of college careers means the loss of many top contributors can mean a drop is experienced players in the lineup. Somewhat by coincidence, the biggest impacts of tougher scheduling and a particularly impactful senior class graduating happen to be hitting at the exact same moment. Not only are there many freshmen seeing major minutes (Paige Elliott, Manthy Brady, Katie Duong, Sadie Harper), there are plenty of sophomores, juniors, and seniors having to step into a significantly bigger role than they’ve played previously.  (Photo credit: Jeremy Olson)  (Photo credit: Jeremy Olson) Still, some players have absolutely stepped up. Nikki Albrecht is still very good at playing soccer. Athena Kuehn is an absolutely warrior. Maddie Nielsen is playing confidently. Celina Nummerdor has clearly taken another step. Alana Dressely is quietly earning a big role. Haley Hartkemeyer has decided to be downright fearless. Katie Duong is also very good at playing soccer. The truth is, this team is actually performing ok considering the context. They probably should have been able to battle to a win in their opening tie. A bad giveaway led to dropping a loss against Ole Miss that could have been a tie. But there are stretches where they’ve played better soccer than we’ve seen from much more experienced Gopher teams in the past. The truth is, this team is actually performing ok considering the context. They probably should have been able to battle to a win in their opening tie. A bad giveaway led to dropping a loss against Ole Miss that could have been a tie. But there are stretches where they’ve played better soccer than we’ve seen from much more experienced Gopher teams in the past. The last two games, with Kuehn in the back line, has led to some interesting counter attack opportunities. She or Albrecht sometimes just explode out of the back when they turn the other team over and the potential in those moments is tangible. When certain groups are in the game in the front six the press has looked lethal. But there are other times when the group has some lack of athleticism or hustle - or maybe they’re worn down from playing from behind.  (Photo credit: Jeremy Olson) If someone decides to get a little gutsy as a runner on set pieces (where Duong’s service has been fantastic), or find some space when the Albrecht/Kuehn break is on, or if the team can tighten up the press just a little bit, the results will come. There have been years when the team had the grit to battle through to results week in and week out. And they would put up a pretty impressive record. This team, for now, has been the opposite. They’ve actually played a pretty attractive and fun brand of soccer on the field, but the results haven’t quite been there.
But with two thirds of the season remaining - and mountains of potential on the roster - there’s still plenty of time for them to change that.
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