Swarm loses by a goal as lacrosse season opens

The Minnesota Swarm opened its National Lacrosse League season with a 13-12 road loss to the Buffalo Bandits on Saturday.

The Bandits outscored the Swarm 6-3 in the fourth period and won on Dhane Smith's late goal

Ryan Benesch, the 2011 NLL scoring champion, led the Swarm with four goals and three assists. Rookie Shayne Jackson, the fourth pick in the league draft, had three goals and one assist for the Swarm and Callum Crawford two goals and three assists. Goalie Evan Kirk made 45 saves for the visitors.

"We thought we should have won that game," Benesch said. "Overall, I think it's pretty positive. We have a lot of rookies and they stepped up tonight. Shayne Jackson had a great game ... couldn't ask for a better game from a [rookie]."

Said Bandits assistant coach Rich Kilgour of the Swarm, "Minnesota is one of the teams that pretty much ran us out of the building last year."

Buffalo (1-1) lost 13-8 to Philadelphia on Friday.

U men excel on track Nine Gophers won individual titles in the Northwest Open at the University of Minnesota Fieldhouse. Among the winners were Sean King in the 60-meter run (6.82 seconds), Goaner Deng in the 400 (49.35), Jacob Capek in the 600 (1:20.89) and Mike Bolland in the 800 (1:55.96).

Upset victory for U gymnasts The Gophers women's gymnastics team upset No. 17 Washington 195.550 to 193.500 at the Sports Pavilion. Its score was the team's highest ever in a season-opening meet.

The No. 23 Gophers swept the four events. Kayla Slechta finished first in the vault (9.950) and floor exercise (9.875). Hannah Nordquist won the balance beam (9.850) and Janell Campbell and Lindsay Mable tied for first in the uneven parallel bars (9.825).