The No. 1-rated Gophers wrestling team edged Northwestern 21-19 on Thursday night at the Sports Pavilion to stay unbeaten.
Minnesota (6-0, 2-0 Big Ten) and the No. 18 Wildcats (8-2, 0-1) were tied after six matches until Nick Dardanes won 6-4 at 141 pounds to put the Gophers ahead 15-12.
But Northwestern's Jason Tsirtsis, the defending NCAA champion at 149, edged Jake Short 5-3 to tie the score again. Tsirtsis improved to 12-0.
Dylan Ness put the Gophers ahead to stay at 21-15 with a forfeit win at 157. He is the nation's No. 1 wrestler at that weight.
Northwestern got a major decision at 164 pounds, worth fourth points, but that only closed the gap to two points.
This was Minnesota's 12th victory in a row over the Wildcats. The Gophers are 17-1 at home against Northw4estern since 1973-74.
Football honors
Two football players from Minnesota teams were named to the Associated Press Little All-America team, which includes the top players from Division II, III and NAIA schools.
They are senior offensive lineman Andrew Muer of Minnesota Duluth and junior linebacker Tyler Henderson of Minnesota State Mankato which is in the NCAA Division II semifinals.
Also on the first team is junior defensive back Solomon St. Pierre of Sioux Falls.
Henderson's teammate, junior defensive lineman Joshua Gordon, made the second team as did senior linebacker Grant Singer of Mary.
Junior running back Logan Lauters of UMD and senior offensive linemen T.J. Woodrow of St. Thomas and Josh Meeker of MSU Mankato are on the third team.
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