The Gophers returned to the locker room on Friday while the Sports Pavilion crowd waited to hear the outcome of the match.
Minnesota and Indiana each finished with five match victories on Friday, but the victor wasn’t clear until officials announced that the Gophers lost 19-18 on tiebreakers.
It took a third tie-breaking criteria to declare a winner, as Indiana had 55 points on decisions, major decisions and technical falls compared to the Gophers’ 52.
“We [have] to be the guys who score the points,” head coach J Robinson said. “We [have] to be the guys who get the bonus. You can’t let matches, either individually or team, go down like that.”
Redshirt freshman Brandon Krone started off the dual for Minnesota against redshirt freshman Bryce Martin at 165 pounds. Krone got an early two points to start off the first period and earned another two points on a near fall against Martin. Krone won by a final score of 7-2 to give Minnesota the 3-0 lead.
No. 11 Nate Jackson tied the game up for the Hoosiers in the next match, defeating redshirt sophomore Nick Wanzek by a final score of 9-3.
Indiana took a 6-3 lead in the next match, but No. 5 Brett Pfarr earned a fall for the Gophers to put them ahead 9-6.
“I knew I had to do something big,” Pfarr said. “I didn’t go out there thinking I was going to get the fall, I just went out there and tried to score points.”
Minnesota extended its lead after the heavyweight match when No. 8 Michael Kroells defeated Garret Goldman 6-0 to give the Gophers another three points.
“I was in control the whole time,” Kroells said. “Maybe I could’ve opened up a little bit more. [I’m] not too disappointed.”
Indiana won three of the next four matches to take the lead again 18-15. The Hoosiers picked up six points when Minnesota redshirt junior Sam Brancale fell in the match at 133 pounds.
In the final match, redshirt junior Brandon Kingsley wrestled redshirt freshman Jake Danishek of Indiana.
Kingsley earned two points on a takedown to lead 2-0 after the first. He added another two points on a takedown in the second and finished the dual with an 8-4 victory.
Kingsley’s victory tied the score 18-18.
“We wrestled well last week,” Robinson said. “You have to come back and be able to do that again, and we didn’t do it.”
