Gophers go for three-peat in National Duals

The Gophers wrestling team, coming off an 18-17 upset of then-No. 1 Penn State last Sunday, will try to accomplish something big again over the next two days.

Coach J Robinson's team will try to win the 14-team National Duals in Columbus, Ohio, for a third consecutive year and the eight time overall.

The Gophers, the new No. 1 team in USA Today/NWCA ratings, are seeded first. Cornell, 10-0 and ranked No. 4 nationally, is seeded second.

Eight other teams in the field are ranked: No. 11 Oklahoma, No. 13 Ohio State, No. 16 Virginia Tech, No. 17 Iowa State, No. 18 Illinois, No. 19 Chattanooga, No. 20 North Dakota State and No. 25 Oregon State. The Gophers have a first-round bye, as does Cornell.

The Gophers (10-1) will face the winner of the Chattanooga/NDSU match at 5 p.m. Sunday. Cornell has won the National Duals only once; Oklahoma has won the most titles with eight. Last year the Gophers beat Oklahoma State 28-9 in the championship match at Williams Arena.

Callum Crawford had two goals and six assists for the Minnesota Swarm on Saturday night at Xcel Energy Center. But his game-high eight points weren't enough against undefeated Edmonton, which won the National Lacrosse League game 14-9.

The Rush (7-0) built a 12-4 lead going into the fourth quarter. Crawford's second goal and two assists led a 5-2 rally that quarter, but it started too late.

"It takes 60 minutes to win anything in any sport," Crawford said. "The coaches said afterward that the only solution is within our dressing room right now, and we have to find that solution."

The Gophers baseball team improved to 2-0 this season, beating Northern Illinois 6-4 in Glendale, Ariz. Minnesota took a 3-0 lead in the bottom of the first on designated hitter Tyler Hanson's ground-rule double and Matt Stemper's two-run single. Both of them are freshmen.

Hanson's sacrifice fly in the fourth inning gave the Gophers a 4-2 lead. He was 2-for-3 with two RBI and one run scored.

The Gophers got only eight hits but scored three unearned runs.

The Gophers used three pitchers. The most effective was righthander Brian Glowicki, a freshman who pitched three scoreless innings and gave up one hit. He got a save.

BYU took a 3-0 lead in the top of the first inning off Sara Moulton, who had not allowed a run in four complete games. But the Gophers scored four runs in the bottom of the inning. Three came home on bases-loaded walks, one on Taylor LeMay's single.

Center fielder Bree Blanchette led the Gophers (7-0) with a two-run homer and four RBI.

The No. 6 Gophers men's gymnastics team defeated No. 10 Iowa and No. 11 Nebraska in Iowa City. The Gophers scored a season-high 437.400 to Iowa's 433.050 and Nebraska's 418.150.

"We talked coming into this meet about not just trying to win but trying to dominate," Gophers coach Mike Burns said. Minnesota captain Steve Jaciuk won the parallel bars (15.300) and tied for first in the still rings (14.850). Teammate Sean Bauer won in floor exercise (15.500).

• After going 1-1 on the first day in the Big Ten Match Play Championship, the seventh-seeded Gophers men's golf team shocked the conference Saturday in consolation play in Bradenton, Fla. They beat top seed Illinois 3-2 in dramatic fashion. Alex Gaugert, Jon DuToit and Matt Rachey of the Gophers all had birdies on the last hole. Gaugert, a senior from Lake Geneva, Wis., won the No. 3 pairing 1-up, DuToit and Rachey halved their matches. Jon Trasmar also won for Minnesota, 3 and 2 in the No. 4 pairing.