Northwestern
Minnesota
No. 1 Minnesota Survives Scare from No. 18 Northwestern
12/18/2014 12:00:00 AM | Wrestling
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No. 1 Minnesota 21, No. 18 Northwestern 19 Sports Pavilion • Minneapolis, Minn.
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MINNEAPOLIS, Minn. - Northwestern put a scare into the nation's top-ranked team Thursday night with the outcome not decided until the meet's final match. The 18th-ranked Wildcats fell 21-19 to unbeaten Minnesota in Minneapolis after a Pierce Harger fall at 165 was overturned following a lengthy review.
Harger was awarded a first-period pin against No. 18 Nick Wanzek on the edge of the mat but was officially ruled out of bounds before the fall after the two officials convened for a video review. The fall would have tied the team score at 21. The eighth-ranked Harger ended up dominating the match to the tune of an 11-1 victory.
The Wildcats won five matches, including a Minnesota forfeit at 125 but gave up two forfeits of their own, resulting in 12 of the Gophers 21 team points. NU trailed 12-0 after the night's first three matches with a forfeit at 174, a 5-0 win for Brett Pfarr over Mitch Sliga at 184 and a narrow 5-2 loss by No. 8 Alex Polizzi against second-ranked Scott Schiller at 197.
The nation's top heavyweight, Mike McMullan, got the `Cats on the board with a 4-1 win over 12th-ranked Michael Kroells. McMullan upped his season dual record to 10-0.
After a forfeit by Minnesota at 125 that took the match to intermission, Dominick Malone came out of the break and won a decisive 8-3 victory against Jordan Kingsley, bringing the team score to a tie at 12. Jameson Oster battled undefeated and fourth-ranked Nick Dardanes at 141. Dardanes grabbed an early lead and managed to hang on 6-4 to grab the lead back for the Gophers.
Jason Tsirtsis continued his undefeated season and 32-match winning streak with a 5-3 win over Jake Short. The top-ranked Tsirtsis heads into the Midlands with a 16-0 record.
With the match tied at 15, Northwestern forfeited at 157 to give the Gophers a 21-15 lead heading into the last match between Harger and Wanzek. Harger continued his stellar season with the win, moving to 13-1.
The Wildcats head into the 52nd Ken Kraft Midlands Championships with an 8-2 record. The Midlands will take place inside Welsh-Ryan Arena on Monday, Dec. 29 and Tuesday, Dec. 30.
No. 1 Minnesota 21, No. 18 Northwestern 19
174: No. 4 Logan Storley (MINN) win by forfeit
184: No. 11 Brett Pfarr (MINN) dec. Mitch Sliga (NU), 5-0
197: No. 2 Scott Schiller (MINN) dec. No. 8 Alex Polizzi (NU), 5-2
285: No. 1 Mike McMullan (NU) dec. No. 12 Michael Kroells (MINN), 4-1
125: Garrison White (NU) win by forfeit
133: Dominick Malone (NU) dec. Jordan Kingsley (MINN), 8-3
141: No. 4 Nick Dardanes (MINN) dec. Jameson Oster (NU), 6-4
149: No. 1 Jason Tsirtsis (NU) dec. Jake Short (MINN), 5-3
157: No. 1 Dylan Ness (MINN) win by forfeit
165: No. 8 Pierce Harger (NU) maj. dec. No. 18 Nick Wanzek (MINN), 11-1
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