Results

ABERDEEN, S.D. – Despite competing without several of their ranked and regular starters, the nation's top-ranked St. Cloud State wrestling squad still managed to escape Wachs Arena with a 23-19 victory over Northern State Friday night in the season's opening Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference dual for both squads.
 
Both teams claimed victory in five of the ten matches, but the visiting Huskies used a forfeit, a pin and two major decision victories to pick up extra team bonus points for the win. 
 
The Huskies dominated the early going, taking the opening three matches in successive fashion.  Dylan Wright scored an overtime takedown to break what had been a scoreless tie with NSU's Anthony Brino through the first three periods of regulation.  Zach Stewart then came out to get the forfeit win in an uncontested match-up at 133 pounds.
 
Matt Liebforth then extended the Husky lead to 13-0 with a major decision over Terrance Fox before the Wolves came roaring back in the middle-weight matches.
 
Junior Beau Voegeli put the Wolves on the board with a hotly contested overtime victory over Josh Howk in the 149-pound match-up.  Howk opened with an early 6-2 lead after three straight takedowns in the first period.  Voegeli, however, worked a reversal and 2-point nearfall near the end of the period to tie the match at 6-6 and get right back into the match.
 
The two wrestlers took a 7-7 tie into the third period, but Howk quickly turned his down position into a reversal to go up by two.  Voegeli quickly earned the escape to cut it to one.  An SCSU injury time-out late in the period awarded Voegeli another chance to take the down position and earn the match-tying escape and send the action into overtime, where he scored the quick takedown for the 11-9 win.
 
At 157 pounds, Neil Sell kept the momentum going when he rallied from a 2-0 deficit in the second period and worked quickly from the down position to a pin over Jacob R. Horn and cut the score from 13-0 to 13-9.
 
SCSU looked to be getting back in control in the early going of the 165 pound match.  SCSU's Dan Dick scored an early takedown and had NSU's Blake Lundgren wrapped up in a tight pinning combination.  While the Husky bench clamored for the win by fall, Lundgren managed to escape the move while giving up just the three-point nearfall.  He then picked up a penalty point after working the action to a stalemate, then scored an escape to head into the second period down just 5-2.
 
Lundgren then dominated the second and third periods, capping the action with two penalty points after Dick was called twice for stalling.  The 11-6 win for Lundgren closed the team gap to 13-12 and put a premium on the final four matches of the night.
 
The Huskies earned a major decision at 174 pounds and a pin at 197, while NSU got a 7-2 decision from Chad Gibson at 184 pounds and a 14-0 major decision from second-ranked Matt Meuleners over Caleb White at 285 pounds. 
 
SCSU wrestled the dual with only one of their four nationally ranked wrestlers, that being top-ranked Tad Merritt, who moved up a weight class tonight to take on Donnie Bowden at 174 pounds.
 
NSU returns to the mat on Saturday afternoon to face yet another tough NSIC test.  Third-ranked Upper Iowa University arrives to take on the Wolves in a 4 p.m. match-up.