With the match tied at three, Safratowich rode Stith the entire third period to score the bonus point and come away with the 4-3 decision. The victory had all of the 2,131 in attendance on their feet, while Stith humbly walked off the mat with his head down in complete disappointment.
Safratowich, who has now faced the top-two ranked wrestlers in the country in Minnesota's last two duals, showed no effects of being intimidated from the opening whistle. After nearly scoring a takedown twice in the first 1:30 of the match, Safratowich finally got in on a single leg with 48 seconds remaining in the first period go ahead 2-0. He ended the period with a 2-1 lead after Stith got the escape. Safratowich started down in the second and quickly earned the escape to take a 3-1 lead. Stith tied the match with a takedown near the end of the second to set up the exciting final period.
Arizona State took an early 3-0 lead in the meet when Thor Moen defeated Justin Bronson by a narrow 1-0 margin at 197 pounds. Neither wrestler was able to generate any offense, with a second-period escape proving to be the difference.
The Sun Devils' lead was short-lived, however, as a forfeit at heavyweight quickly gave Minnesota a 6-3 advantage.
The Gophers quickly expanded the lead with bonus points in each of the next four matches. Ninth-ranked Jason Ness earned a tech fall over ASU's John Espinoza at 125 to give Minnesota an 11-3 lead. Ness scored two takedowns and a pair of three-point near falls in the first period to jump ahead of Espinoza 10-1 in the first period. After Ness took a 16-2 lead with just over a minute left in the match, a second stall warning on Espinoza with 36 seconds remaining provided the final outcome.
Mike Thorn and Manuel Rivera provided back-to-back first period pins to push Minnesota's lead to 23-3 before intermission. ASU's Shawn Jones jumped ahead of Thorn with a takedown just 21 seconds into the match. Thorn responded with a takedown with 1:12 remaining and quickly rolled Jones to earn the fall at 1:57.
Rivera followed by pinning Robert Galvan in 2:31. Rivera dominated the match, scoring two early takedowns and a three-point near fall before sticking Galvan with 29 seconds remaining in the first period. With the win, Rivera pushed his record to 22-0 on the season.
Top-ranked Dustin Schlatter was characteristically methodical in a 16-1 tech fall over Cameron Smith at 141 pounds. Schlatter scored a takedown just five seconds into the match and proceeded to roll Smith for four consecutive three-point near falls. After letting Smith escape with 1:11 remaining, Schlatter earned the decisive takedown with 56 seconds left in the first period.
Safratowich followed with the upset of Stith, completely eliminating any ray of light for Arizona State. The Sun Devils forfeited at 165, giving Minnesota a 37-3 lead.
Eighth-ranked Gabriel Dretsch added more bonus points to the Gophers' total with a shutout of Alex Pavlenko at 174 pounds. After a scoreless first period, Dretsch turned on the offense with a takedown and two near falls in the second. He added a takedown in the third and earned the bonus point for riding time to win 11-0.
No. 2 Roger Kish capped off the night with a high-scoring 13-10 decision over Greg Gifford at 184 pounds. An eventful first period saw Kish score three takedowns, while Gifford countered with a takedown and near fall to trail by just a single point at the end of the first. Kish added two takedowns in the second and added a pair of escapes in the third to come away with the win.
The Gophers will now be off until the National Duals in Cedar Falls, Iowa on Jan. 13-14, where they will look to re-gain the top ranking in the country.
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