Gophers Falter to Purdue in 18-14 Road Loss
WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. – The University of Minnesota dropped a tough 18-14 road dual meet to the Purdue Boilermakers on Sunday afternoon, as they fell to the conference foe for the first time since 2004.
Narrow matches going the way of Purdue proved to be the difference in this contest as the Boilermakers took six of the ten matches in the dual, with three of those bouts being won by a one-point margin.
With the dual starting at the feature bout in the 157-pound weight class, Brayton Lee kicked things off with a 2-1 decision victory over top-ten foe Kendall Coleman. Brayton’s offensive pressure on the feet was the difference in the match, as the two traded escapes but Lee received a stalling point after his relentless attacks towards Coleman.
Bailee O’Reilly won at 174 pounds for the Gophers, earning himself yet another impressive victory on the season, as he controlled #22 Gerrit Nijenhuis en route to an 8-2 victory. Two first-period takedowns and a dominant ride in the second period gave O’Reilly the opportunity to go for bonus points in the final frame, but he wasn’t quite able to get it as he settled for the decision win.
At heavyweight, Gable Steveson continued his dominance with a quick second-period tech. fall over Michael Woulfe. Steveson used two takedowns and multiple turns in the first period to break the match open to 16-2 after one, then Gable clinched the tech. fall with a quick takedown early in period two.
Minnesota’s final win of the dual came from Michael Blockhus, who used two takedowns in the match to propel himself to a 6-4 decision win over Alec White.
Minnesota will fall to 4-5 on the season following Sunday’s loss and will be back in action for the regular-season finale next Friday night as they take on Ohio State at 8:00 pm CT on Big Ten Network. The dual will also act as the team’s senior night, where they will recognize the careers of Jake Bergeland, Brent Jones, and Gable Steveson.
Purdue 18 #11 Minnesota 14
157: #4 Brayton Lee (MINN) dec. #9 Kendall Coleman (PUR), 2-1
165: Hayden Lohrey (PUR) dec. #26 Cael Carlson (MINN), 3-2
174: #19 Bailee O’Reilly (MINN) dec. #22 Gerrit Nijenhuis (PUR), 8-2
184: #30 Max Lyon (PUR) dec. #22 Isaiah Salazar (MINN), 4-3
197: #17 Thomas Penola (PUR) dec. #31 Michial Foy (MINN), 8-2
HWT: #1 Gable Steveson (MINN) tech. Fall Michael Woulfe (PUR), 18-2
125: #15 Devin Schroder (PUR) dec. #9 Patrick McKee (MINN), 8-3
133: #32 Matt Ramos (PUR) dec. #27 Jake Gliva (MINN), 3-2
141: #30 Parker Filius (PUR) dec. Marcos Polanco (MINN), 9-3
149: #25 Michael Blockhus (MINN) dec. Alec White (PUR), 6-4
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