#5 Augsburg College (Minn.) 18, #4 UW-La Crosse 16La Crosse, Wis. - The University of Wisconsin-La Crosse wrestling team, ranked fourth in the National Wrestling Coaches Association (NWCA), fell 18-16 to fifth-ranked Augsburg College (Minn.) Thursday night in Mitchell Hall. The Eagles, competing in their regular-season home finale, drop to 16-5 on the season while the Auggies improve to 11-4 and now lead the all-time series, 8-4-1.
Each team won five matches. The dual started at 184-pounds Thursday night with UW-L's
Richard Carlson, ranked fifth in the NWCA, earning a win by major decision (8-0) over Augsburg's Tom Teigen to give the Eagles a 4-0 lead. The 197-pound match featured a pair of top-seven ranked wrestlers. UW-L's
Eric Twohey, ranked fifth, won by decision (5-1) over Augsburg's seventh-ranked Matt Hechsel to make it 7-0. Twohey improved to 21-1 on the season and earned his 85th career victory at UW-L.
Augsburg took the next three matches to lead 12-7. Seventh-ranked Donny Longendyke won by fall (1:54) over
Cody Endres at 285-pounds to cut UW-L's lead to 7-6. Top-ranked Mike Fuenffinger gave Augsburg's its first lead of the night at 9-7 with a win by decision (10-3) over UW-L's
Ryan Weinmann at 125-pounds. Fuenffinger improved to 25-1 on the season. The Auggies' Chad Bartschenfeld made it 12-7 with a win by decision (5-3) over the Eagles'
Dustin Weinmann at 133-pounds. Bartschenfeld is ranked ninth and Weinmann 10th in the NWCA.
UW-L cut the deficit to 12-10 as
Cody See won by decision (5-3) over Marcus Hamer at 141-pounds and the Eagles took a 13-12 advantage after fourth-ranked
Kasey Einerson won by decision (5-3) over 10th-ranked Will Keeter at 149-pounds.
The Auggies took a 15-12 lead at 157-pounds as Gable Frandsen won by decision (3-1) over
Derek Weinmann.
Tyler Schneider gave UW-L a one-point lead at 16-15 after winning by decision (11-5) over Eric Hensel at 165-pounds. Schneider is ranked seventh in the country.
The dual came down to the final match as Augsburg's Tyrell Martin won by decision (3-1) over UW-L's
Jarret Hoeppner at 174-pounds.
UW-L returns to action Sunday, February 15 at the Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (WIAC) Championship at UW-Oshkosh starting at 9 a.m.
