The Gophers women's soccer team (5-3-3) will play Nebraska (2-5-3) at 4 p.m. Thursday in Champaign, Ill., in a regional qualifying game for the Big Ten tournament.
The winning team will advance to play the winner of Iowa vs. Illinois on Sunday in Champaign. The winner of Sunday's matchup will move on to a four-team, four-day Big Ten tournament, scheduled to start on Thursday of next week at a site to be determined.
Minnesota is coming off a 1-1, double-overtime tie at home with Wisconsin last Saturday. The Gophers also tied at home with the Cornhuskers this season. That was a double-overtime scoreless tie on Feb. 21 in the season opener. The Gophers are 5-0-2 in their past seven meetings.
Twin Cities Marathon
registration to begin
Registration for the 2021 Medtronic Twin Cities Marathon will open to the public at 10 a.m. Thursday. It will be conducted online through the Twin Cities In Motion website, tcmevents.org. At the same time, the public can sign up for Medtronic TC family events and TC 5K and 10K.
The marathon and the rest of the events during the Medtronic Twin Cities Marathon Weekend on Oct. 1-3 will take place in a reduced-size, COVID-safe manner.
The marathon, which was canceled last year because of the pandemic, will be limited to 4,000 runners (more than 7,000 ran in 2019), with COVID safety measures in place throughout the race. The marathon course will run from downtown Minneapolis to the State Capitol grounds in St. Paul on Oct. 3.
Etc.
• Greg Shepherd, the WCHA supervisor of officials, was unanimously picked by league members to receive the Otto Breitenbach Distinguished Service Award. He finished his 42nd season with the WCHA and 29th as supervisor of officials in 2020-21.
• The Gophers rowing program climbed to No. 17 in this week's Pocock/CRCA Division I rankings after competing in the Big Ten/ACC Regatta last weekend in Ohio.
• Two Upper Midwest Athletic Conference players were selected to the D3football.com team of the week. Junior linebacker Damon Clapper of Northwestern (St. Paul) had two interceptions, six tackles and a blocked extra point in a 27-23 win over Minnesota Morris. Senior running back Joshuah Kren of Martin Luther College had 210 yards rushing and a touchdown in a 34-16 win over Ripon.
