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Senior Jordan Leopold

Men’s Hockey
In his first season, Gopher hockey coach Don Lucia guided the Gophers to their first winning season in three years. Last year, he led the team to third in the WCHA and a spot in the NCAA playoffs. In this, his third season, Lucia appears poised to take the squad even higher. Preseason polls placed the Gophers as one of the three best teams in the nation, and after winning at North Dakota in the opener, the Gophers rose to number two. "It says we have a chance to be a pretty good hockey team, but one game in October is a far cry from where you end up in March," he said in mid-October. "Rankings don’t mean anything this time of the year." (In early November, the Gophers became number one.)

The rest of the hockey world is excited about the Gophers because they have 15 returnees from last year’s squad, including all-American defender Jordan Leopold, a senior from Golden Valley, Minnesota; three-year starter in goal Adam Hauser, a senior from Bovey, Minnesota; and three WCHA all-rookie team members from last year: forward Grant Potulny of Grand Forks, North Dakota, defender Paul Martin of Elk River, Minnesota, and forward Troy Riddle of Minneapolis. But the young team will need contributions from freshmen to be able to compete against the best. The good news is that goalie Travis Weber of Hibbing, Minnesota, played well against North Dakota, as did WCHA Preseason Freshman of the Year Keith Ballard, a defender from Baudette, Minnesota.

"We’re still going to need to get scoring from our freshmen, have our goaltender establish himself as one of the best in the league, and become a really good

Sophomore LaToya Clarke

five-on-five team," Lucia says. "But we should be one of the 10 or 12 teams in the hunt nationally." With early conference results showing several strong teams, Lucia says, "it’s going to be a great year for fans. There are no easy weekends."

Women’s Hockey
Five years ago, the Gopher women’s hockey program got a jump on most of the Midwest when a strong batch of freshmen arrived to start the program. By the third year, they were national champions. Now those players are gone and coach Laura Halldorson is looking at the rest of the WCHA teams getting better. "If you combine our losses with the fact that the league is another year older, it is going to be extremely competitive," she says. "The [WCHA] coaches think this could be the toughest conference in the country now." Number-one rated Duluth stands out at the top, while the next spot could be a battle between the Gophers, Wisconsin, Ohio State, and St. Cloud State.

Halldorson thinks her offense will be strong, led by senior captains Tracy Engstrom of Willmar, Minnesota, and Laura Slominski of Burnsville, Minnesota, and sophomore LaToya Clarke of Pickering, Ontario, an all-WCHA second-team pick last year. Junior Ronda Curtain of Roseville, Minnesota, is another strong forward who may be asked to play defense this year. The team returns only two defenders with significant game experience, although Halldorson has three talented young players seeking to take over in goal.

In all, 16 of the 21 players on the roster are freshmen or sophomores. "What’s good is that we will not have the pressure that we had last year," Halldorson says. "The players are enthusiastic, eager, and excited

Goalkeeper Julie Eibensteiner

about the opportunity. . . . But as coaches we’re going to need to be patient."

Hockey Update
Despite its youth, the Gopher women's hockey team got off to a great start, leading the WCHA and had a 10-game unbeaten streak through the end of November.

Just Wait till Next Year
While Gopher women’s hockey coach Laura Halldorson is focusing on the current team, she can be forgiven if her thoughts occasionally stray to next season. The women’s program will move into its own arena, just west of Mariucci, next year. Also, two big names plan to hit the ice in Gopher jerseys in 2002. Winny Brodt of Roseville, Minnesota, a former AWCHA Defensive Player of the Year who played on the U.S. team at the 2000 world championships, will return next year for her senior season. After just missing the cut for the U.S. Olympic team, the academic all-conference team member decided to sit out this campaign and focus on schoolwork. Forward Krissy Wendell of Brooklyn Park, Minnesota, was the leading scorer on the U.S. team at the world championships last year. She plans to enroll at Minnesota after playing in the Salt Lake City Olympics this winter.

Iron Curtain
With a team struggling for wins and scoring chances, everything pointed to a Gopher soccer defeat September 21 in Columbus, Ohio. The Buckeyes peppered the Gophers with 21 shots on goal and had 16 corner kicks and 16 free kicks. But the defense, and especially senior goalie Julie Eibensteiner of St. Paul, came up big, knocking down everything that came near and keeping Minnesota’s net clear.

Meanwhile, in Ohio State territory, the Gophers’ only shot on

Senior Dusty Rychart

goal came late in the second half off their only corner kick of the game. Senior midfielder Alison Rackley of Birmingham, Michigan, collected the loose ball and scored. Minnesota held on to win 1–0 and move to 2–3 on the season.

Men’s Basketball
Just two seasons removed from the academic cheating scandal that hobbled the Gopher men’s basketball program, the Gophers seem ready to regain their place among competitive Big Ten programs. "We’re pleased with where we are, but definitely not satisfied," says head coach Dan Monson, hired in the wake of that scandal.

Dusty Rychart, a senior forward from Grand Rapids, Minnesota, is the only returning member of the ill-fated 1998–99 squad. Then a walk-on, he is now a two-year starter who will bring experience to a much-improved front line filled with talented Minnesotans: sophomore Mike Bauer of Hastings, freshman Rick Rickert of Duluth, and junior transfer Jerry Holman of St. Paul. Also returning is senior Travarus Bennett of Rosedale, Mississippi, who, despite being only 6-7, started at center late last year. Junior Kevin Burleson of Seattle and senior Kerwin Fleming of Chicago are experienced players who will compete at point guard and possibly shooting guard, although Bennett, freshman Maurice Hargrow of St. Paul, or sophomore transfer Steve Esselink of Hills, Minnesota, could start there as well. Monson says that point guard should not be a concern this year. "I am concerned that we have a lot of very talented players who are going to have to mesh together and figure out their roles," he says. "My system has always been to have players play multiple positions, and that is especially

Sophomore Lindsey Whalen

important when you only have 10 scholarship players [as a result of the cheating scandal]. We have a really good group for that this year."

The team could also light up the scoreboard. "Almost all our players have their strengths on the offensive end," Monson says. "We have to find a way to rebound and guard people, but hopefully fans will enjoy this team because they will be really offensive-minded."

Women’s Basketball
A new era in Gopher women’s basketball gets started with a lot of question marks and a thin bench. But new coach Brenda Oldfield has found a team with great chemistry and the willingness to work hard. "This is a close-knit group and I love their attitudes," she says. "They been through a lot of adversity and have bonded together." On the court, Oldfield’s team will show hard work, hustle, and team play, she adds.

Because of knee injuries to two returning starters, sophomore guard Lindsey Whalen of Hutchinson, Minnesota is the only real scoring threat returning. Sophomore forward Kadidja Andersson of Stockholm, Sweden, and junior center Kim Prince of Montgomery, Alabama, are also returning starters who will give inside scoring. Oldfield hopes that transfer Corrine Von Wald, a junior from Hudson, Wisconsin, will add outside scoring punch and that freshman Janel McCarville of Stevens Point, Wisconsin, will live up to her nickname of "Shaq" and provide inside power.

Unfortunately for the young and rebuilding squad, they play their toughest schedule in recent memory. "Our goal this year is going to have to be to get better every time out. We’ve got to get to where we can be competitive with Big Ten teams

Coach Brenda Oldfield welcomes three Minnesotans to her 2002 recruiting class

instead of losing by 30, 40, 50 points," Oldfield says, referring to last year’s nine losses by 18 or more points in 17 Big Ten games. "The good news is that a lot of our core players are in our younger classes."

Basketball Update
Despite the question marks, the Gopher women's basketball team got off to its best start in two decades, running to 6-1 and receiving votes in national polls for the first time in six years. Sophomore guard Lindsey Whalen was named Big Ten player of the week twice in November.

Success Recruiting in State
One of the first things fans wanted to know about new Gopher women’s basketball coach Brenda Oldfield was whether she could keep Minnesota’s best high-school players in their home state. Over the past several years, numerous high-profile players have gone elsewhere and ended up starters on NCAA playoff teams.

Oldfield has shown, at least for this year, that she can recruit talented Minnesotans. Shortly after her hiring, the state’s top two players, forward Shannon Bolden of Marshall and guard Shannon Schonrock of Blue Earth, said they would attend the University of Minnesota next year. In September, Eden Prairie center Christina Collison announced that she would accept the Gophers’ final available scholarship. U coaches can’t comment until the players formally sign their offers, which was expected to happen in early November. "I can say that we are focusing our recruiting effort on the state of Minnesota," Oldfield says. "This year’s sophomore and junior [high school] classes are just loaded with talent. The future is very bright."