University of Minnesota Athletics
Gophers Fall 28-12 to Hawkeyes
1/10/2010 12:00:00 AM | Wrestling
Cedar Falls, Iowa - Iowa won seven of 10 bouts en route to a 28-12 win over Minnesota in the National Duals semifinals today (Jan. 10), at the UNI Dome on the campus of the University of Northern Iowa.
The No. 6 ranked Gophers will now head to the third place match where they will face No. 3 ranked Ohio State, who lost to No. 2 Iowa State in the other semifinal. Ohio State entered the tournament as the third seed, while Minnesota was the fifth seed. No. 1 Iowa now moves on to the championship match against Iowa State. Both the third place and championship match are at 3:00 p.m. today.
Iowa (12-0) opened with two wins at 125 and 133, before Minnesota (5-3) got on the board at 141. With the match tied 6-6, the Hawkeyes won five straight to seal the victory.
The highlight for the Gophers came at 141, as they were down 6-0. Mike Thorn was faced with Montell Marion with Gophers needing points. Before you could blink, Thorn had Marion on his back and the Gopher crowd at their feet. Just 42 seconds into the match, it was over with Thorn earning his fifth fall of the season, his first in less than a minute.
The Gophers were unable to hold the momentum as a shuffled line-up lost the next five matches. At 149 David Zilverberg (Wayzata, Minn.) wrestled in place of Mario Mason (Moorestown, N.J.) who was bumped up to 157. Zilverberg was tasked with the No. 1 149-pounder in the country in Brent Metcalf, who proved his worth. Metcalf tallied a first period fall over Zilverberg, earning the pin at the 2:18 mark.
In his first appearance of the season at 157, Mason scored first and led Aaron Janssen 4-1 at the end of the first period. Janssen, though, mounted his comeback late, as a series of late falls led to a 11-5 decision.
With Mason at 157, Joe Grygelko (Greenfield, Minn.) also got bumped up, wrestling his fist match of the year at 165. Nothing came easy against the Hawkeyes for the Gophers, and this match was no different as Grygelko had to face No. 5 Ryan Morningstar. The match started slow, but Morningstar poured the points on late, and after one final point for riding time had tallied a 17-2 tech fall to make the team score 20-6 with only four matches left.
With 11 straight wins entering the match, Scott Glasser (Bismarck, N.D.) had been the hottest Gopher of late. Against Central Michigan he beat the No. 5 ranked wrestler in the country, with his reward as the No. 2 ranked Jay Borschel. A close match at the start got away from Glasser late and Borschel finished with a major decision after the 11-3 final.
Cody Yohn (Alamosa, Colo.), who had shared the 174 spot with Glasser earlier in the season, was bumped to 184 against the Hawkeyes where he met No. 6 Phillip Keddy. Keddy score the first takedown, and went on to shutout Yohn 11-0 in what would be the final win for the Hawkeyes.
At 197, Sonny Yohn (Alamosa, Colo.) got the Gophers back in the win column, with a 6-1 win over Luke Lofthouse. Finally Ben Berhow (Hayward, Minn.) snapped a two-match losing streak with a win at heavyweight in the final match. A pair of late takedowns were the difference for Berhow as he won 7-3 over Blake Rasing.
No. 6 Zach Sanders (Wabasha, Minn.) opened with a narrow loss at 125, falling 6-4 to No. 4 Matt McDonough. The loss was just his third of the season with all coming against ranked opponents.
Up 3-0, Iowa gained another 6-4 decision at 133, taking advantage of the missing Jayson Ness (Bloomington, Minn.). Ness was dinged up in his match with Scotti Sentes of Central Michigan and was held out today. Thane Antczak (Prairie, Wis.) took Ness's spot and squared off with Nate Moore. Antczak scored first, but Moore proved to be too much, earning the 6-4 decision.
After closing the National Duals, the Gophers will get a much needed break, as they are off next week. The following weekend Big Ten action opens with Minnesota traveling to Michigan State on Jan. 22 and Michigan on Jan. 23.
125: #4 Matt McDonough (IOWA) dec. #6 Zach Sanders (MINN), 6-4 / 3-0
133: Nate Moore (IOWA) dec. Thane Antczak (MINN), 6-4 / 6-0
141: #7 Mike Thorn (MINN) fall Montell Marion (IOWA), 0:42 / 6-6
149: #1 Brent Metcalf (IOWA) fall David Zilverberg (MINN), 2:18 / 12-6
157: Aaron Janssen (IOWA) dec. Mario Mason (MINN), 11-5 / 15-6
165: #5 Ryan Morningstar (IOWA) tech. Joe Grygelko (MINN), 17-2 / 20-6
174: #2 Jay Borschel (IOWA) maj. #13 Scott Glasser (MINN), 11-3 / 24-6
184: #6 Phillip Keddy (IOWA) maj. Cody Yohn (MINN), 11-0 / 28-6
197: #15 Sonny Yohn (MINN) dec. Luke Lofthouse (IOWA), 6-1 / 28-9
HWT: Ben Berhow (MINN) dec. Blake Rasing (IOWA), 6-3 / 28-12
Players Mentioned
