University Park, PA (gopherSports.com) - The University of Minnesota Gophers are off to the NCAA Tournament for their fourth straight season and for the 11th time in program history. 

The Gophers earned an automatic bid to the tournament after winning the Big Ten Tournament Championship. They will travel to Seattle, Wash to play in the NCAA Division I opening round.. Washington is the host and will take on Weber St. first on Friday. Minnesota will face North Dakota State.

The Gophers enter the tournament with a 41-12 overall record. They are 13-17 all-time in NCAA Tournament games. Last season they fell in the regional championship game to Arizona in an extra inning thriller.

The Gophers take a 14-game win streak into the NCAA Tournament. They are 13-5 against NCAA Tournament teams this season.
The Gophers won the Big Ten Tournament trophy in a thrilling game against Michigan Saturday night.

A wild game finished in a wild way as Sydney Fabian dodged a tag at home plate to end the ten inning three hour and forty minute marathon.


The Big Ten Tournament championship victory is the second in three years for the No. 23/19 University of Minnesota Gophers. They also won in 1999 and in 2014.

Sara Groenewegen was named the tournament MVP for what head coach Jessica Allister called one of the gutsiest performances she has ever seen. Groenewegen pitched every inning, 24, of the tournament for the Gophers. She struck out 11 batters only giving up two earned runs in the ten inning championship game.

 

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