Minnesota Scene: Gophers to play Nebraska in Big Ten soccer semifinals

The Gophers will play sixth-seeded Nebraska at 12:30 p.m. Friday in the semifinals of the Big Ten women's soccer tournament in Westfield, Ind.

Minnesota (10-8-1), seeded seventh, upset host and second seed Rutgers 1-0 on Wednesday on April Bockin's 11th goal of the season in the 88th minute. The Cornhuskers (10-6-4) won a shootout 3-2 with fourth-seeded Wisconsin a scoreless match through overtime.

The Gophers did not play Nebraska in the regular season, but Minnesota has won the past four meetings, including 1-0 in double overtime on Oct. 25 of last year in Lincoln, Neb.

The first game of the series will be at 6 p.m. Friday, the second at 4 p.m. Saturday.

Minnesota has a commanding 72-9-7 lead in the all-time series, but the visiting Beavers got a split with the Gophers last November, losing 3-2 in overtime, then winning 4-2.

Last weekend the Gophers split at top-ranked Wisconsin, winning the opener 1-0 to give coach Brad Frost his 350th career win, and losing the second game 4-1.

Outside hitter Taylor Reiss of Southwest Minnesota State was named the NSIC Player of the Year in volleyball for the third consecutive season. Reiss, a senior who played for Minneota High School, is the NCAA Division II leader in kills per set (5.93) and total kills (557).

Lauren Hanson had 16 kills and 10 digs as Gustavus defeated visiting Augsburg 25-19, 23-25, 20-25, 25-20, 15-6 in the MIAC volleyball semifinals. Nora Holtan, the three-time Player of the Year in the conference, had 47 assists and 17 digs for the Gusties. Jade Boysen had 12 kills for the Auggies.

Host St. Benedict edged St. Thomas 22-25, 25-16, 23-25, 25-13, 15-13 in the other semifinal as setter Katie Koch had 50 assists, Haley Lavalle 36 digs and Madison Weiss 21 kills. All three of those statistics were career highs. Weiss also hit .429. Katharine Mallak had 58 assists for St. Thomas.