University of Minnesota Athletics
Gophers Open Big Ten Season Friday Night
12/10/2015 12:00:00 AM | Wrestling
Dec. 10, 2015
After spending last weekend in Las Vegas competing in the Cliff Keen Invitational, Minnesota returns home and gets back into its dual schedule this Friday with its Big Ten opener against Indiana. The dual will also be the conference-opener for the Hoosiers.
The Gophers are 4-4 in duals this season, which includes a 4-0 record at Williams Arena and the Sports Pavilion. The team will look to continue its perfect season in its home city on Friday, as well as extend its active, seven-match winning streak in conference home-openers.
Indiana brings a 1-0 record to the Twin Cities after a 25-12 victory over SIU-Edwardsville last Saturday in Bloomington, Ind. The Hoosiers took seven of the dual's 10 matches, highlighted by tech falls from true freshman Elijah Oliver at 125 pounds and No. 11 Nate Jackson at 174, the lone ranked wrestler in the Indiana lineup. It's expected that Indiana will wrestle the same lineup on Friday that challenged the Cougars last week.
Minnesota's lineup will also look similar to its last dual, one which will include four ranked wrestlers: No. 11 Tommy Thorn at 141, No. 5 Brett Pfarr at 197, No. 8 Michael Kroells at 285 and No. 10 Jake Short at 149. For Short, Friday will be his first collegiate match as a ranked wrestler, a spot he earned after an impressive, runner-up showing at the Cliff Keen.
The one possible lineup change for Minnesota could come at 174, where either Nick Wanzek or Jordon Rothers, who has wrestled in that spot in Minnesota's last two competitions. Wanzek, who began the season as the 174 starter, has been out of the lineup for the past few weeks but could potentially return on Friday.
Regardless if Rothers or Wanzek starts at 174, Minnesota will send out an all-Minnesota lineup on Friday night, just as it did at Oklahoma State two weeks ago and last week in Las Vegas. This lineup, comprised entirely of wrestlers from the state of Minnesota, is the first such lineup the program has used under Head Coach J Robinson and likely the first for the Gophers in many decades.
The last dual between these two teams came in the 2013-14 season. Minnesota won that contest, 35-6, taking eight matches from the Hoosiers. Just three wrestlers from that last meeting will be in action on Friday night -- two Hoosiers and one Gopher. Despite those small numbers, that trio will produce a rematch from two seasons ago, when Sam Brancale earned a 15-3 major decision over Alonzo Shepard at 125 pounds. The two are scheduled to meet again on Friday, though this time at 133. Besides that pair, Indiana's 184-pounder, Matt Irick, is the only other remaining starter from that dual.
Outside of the Brancale/Shepard rematch, Friday's card includes one other pairing that has previously wrestled in college. During wrestlebacks at last year's Big Ten Championships, Kroells defeated Garret Goldman, 7-2. Kroells will look to improve to 2-0 against Goldman when the two square off again at the Pav.
Friday will be the 51st contest between the Gophers and the Hoosiers. Minnesota holds a commanding 45-4-1 advantage in the series, a mark buoyed by an active 13-match winning streak. During Head Coach J Robinson's tenure, the Gophers have lost only one dual to Indiana, a 29-13 defeat in the 1991-92 season. Sandwiching that loss, Minnesota has won 30 of its last 31 contests against Indiana.
Friday's dual will be streamed live on BTN Plus, which requires a subscription to view. Live, mat-side updates from every match will provided by Gopher Wrestling on Twitter, and live stats will be available on TrackWrestling.com.
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