University of St. Thomas Athletics
Gene's Blog: Saturday's short drive starts our long journey
8/13/2021 12:19:00 PM | Gene's Blog
St. Thomas Women's Soccer will travel 8.2 miles north to Falcon Heights on Saturday evening to face the Minnesota Gophers in an exhibition game.
The 6 p.m. contest at Elizabeth Lyle Robbie Stadium will make history -- the first time in any sport that two Minnesota Division I universities will have teams go head-to-head.
Those 8.2 miles are just the start for the Purple. Figuratively, Saturday's action marks the beginning of an interesting D-I journey for our entire university.
St. Thomas closed its Division III and MIAC chapters in June with the conclusion of the last athletics school year. Now it's the nation's lone new NCAA Division I athletics program for the 2021-22 school year.
So welcome to year one of the Tommies' "Heartbeat of America" tour. If that sounds like an exaggeration, consider that in the next eight months alone, St. Thomas sports teams will travel for tournaments and games held in 22 other states:
- Texas, Oklahoma, Florida and Arizona
- North Carolina and South Carolina
- Ohio, Michigan, Pennsylvania and New York
- Illinois, Indiana, Iowa and Missouri
- Nebraska, Colorado, South Dakota and North Dakota
- California, Washington, Idaho and Alaska.
St. Thomas will compete in four new conferences alongside 31 different universities representing 19 different states. We'll play in The Summit League in 18 sports; plus the Pioneer Football league; and for hockey the WCHA women's league; and CCHA men's league.
During this 2021 calendar year, Tommie team sports schedules will feature the likes of Ohio State, Wisconsin, Minnesota, Notre Dame, Yale, Iowa State, Creighton, Marquette, Gonzaga, Butler, San Diego, Drake and Wyoming.
Road trips in that span will include stops in Columbus, Madison, South Bend, San Diego, Chicago, Houston, Milwaukee, Denver, Tulsa, Omaha, Kansas City, Des Moines, Green Bay, Sioux Falls and Fargo.
Women's Hockey plays its first D-I games in Columbus, Ohio, against the Buckeyes, and later has four games against last year's national champion Wisconsin.
Men's Hockey has six games scheduled against new conference mates St. Cloud State and Minnesota State, programs that reached the 2021 Men's Frozen Four.
Football plays its first FCS game on the road against Northern Iowa, a perennial top-25 program.
Men's Basketball plays twice against Summit League opponent Oral Roberts, an NCAA tournament Sweet 16 round advancer last season.
Men's Soccer opens its D-I schedule with August road exhibition games at Wisconsin and Notre Dame.
The Tommies will play the Minnesota Gophers in 2021-22 in several sports, including women's soccer, volleyball and hockey.
Soccer Leads the Way
The first few Division I competitions for the Purple involve both Women's and Men's Soccer.
Coach Sheila McGill's women's team starts with Saturday's exhibition test against Minnesota, then travels to play Thursday Aug. 19 at UW-Green Bay for the regular-season opener.
Women's Soccer also has the first home regular-season game of the Tommie Division I era, set for Tuesday Aug. 24 here on South Field against Northern Iowa.
Coach Jon Lowery's Men's Soccer team starts its 2021 season at home Wednesday Aug. 18 with an exhibition game against Division II St. Cloud State. Lowery's team then will play exhibition games Aug. 19 and 21 on the road against the Wisconsin Badgers and the Irish of Notre Dame.
The St. Thomas men will play their first four regular-season games on the road. When Drake comes to South Field on Labor Day Monday Aug. 6, it will mark the first NCAA D-I Men's Soccer game in the state of Minnesota.
Goldy vs. Tommie
It seems appropriate that the Gophers are St. Thomas' first opponent since the two are now the lone Division I universities in our state.
St. Thomas and Minnesota teams will compete this school year in a few other sports, too:
As WCHA members, the two institutions will play four games in women's hockey next January and February.
Tommie Volleyball will compete in Minnesota's Diet Coke Classic in September 16-17, facing the Gophers and Iowa State in back-to-back days at the U of M Pavilion.
Both Tommie teams will compete in the D-I races at this fall's U of M Griak Invite, set this year for Friday Sept. 24.
Tommie Baseball will now have some fall weekend scrimmage options as a D-I program, and it's expected that one of those days will involve a short drive to Siebert Field to face Minnesota.
It's likely that future schedules will also include both schools competing in sports like women's tennis, golf, track and field and swim-dive.
Our "Heartbeat of America" tour is gearing up. Bring on the spacious skies… the amber waves of grain… and especially those Purple mountain majesties. A new chapter has arrived for the University of St. Thomas.
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Gene's Blog is a sports column penned by Tommie sports information director Gene McGivern. Gene is starting his 28th season at St. Thomas and 34th overall working with college athletics teams. He blogs periodically on various topics regarding the Tommies and college sports.
If you have comments or questions, e-mail Gene at ejmcgivern@stthomas.edu
