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Wrestling vs. Minnesota: This one stung

Every point, every bout. It came back to that against Minnesota.

By rvc73
Roy DeBoer - used with permission

This is a tweet I probably would not have put out the day before the Minnesota match:

As the old nursery rhyme says, "If wishes were horses, beggars would ride".

There was no win, as the Gophers edged the Knights, 17-16 on Sunday at the Sports Pavilion in Minneapolis.  The two squads split the matches five each, but Minnesota (6-6, 2-2 B1G) picked up a tech fall in the opening match while the Knights (11-3, 2-2 B1G) could only counter with a major in the day's finale.  All other bouts went the distance for regular decisions.

At 197, senior Hayden Hrymack did not wrestle, despite being originally listed as a projected starter.  In his place, redshirt sophomore Anthony Messner moved up from 184 to wrestle No. 4 Brett Pfarr.  It resulted in a tech fall, 23-8, and a 5-0 lead for the home team.

No. 16 Billy Smith recorded an upset over No. 7 Michael Kroells at heavyweight, followed by two more Rutgers wins.  At 125, Sean McCabe picked up win number 11 and Anthony Giraldo followed with his 13th win at 133 pounds.

But the Gophers reeled off three consecutive wins at 141, 149, and 157 to take a 14-9 lead, a lead they would not relinquish.  The biggest loss of those three, perhaps of the day, was at 141 where No. 12 Tommy Thorn upset No. 4 Anthony Ashnault.  Ashnault was shooting for win 19.

In a mad fight to turn things around, 184-pounder Nick Gravina went out knowing he needed a pin to win the match for Rutgers.  Wrestling in a frenzied mode, Gravina took an 11-3 major, but could not force the pin for the team win.

Rutgers returns home this Friday night for a 7 pm match against Wisconsin.