He said this may not be the outcome they wanted, but it’s early in the season and there’s still a long way to go.

“It’s November; we’ve got a long season ahead of us,” he said. “How we respond to this will not only define what kind of season we’ll have, but what kind of team we are. We need to respond to this with renewed commitment to getting better.”

Junior heavyweight Michael McClure remained undefeated when he beat Edinboro’s Earnest James 2-0, but said he wasn’t as happy as he could’ve been, because he knows the potential of this team.

“As a team we could have pulled it off,” McClure said. “Overall, I feel like there are areas we need to work on. We were in a couple matches where there was just one thing that we could’ve done to win us the match.”

McClure was quick to look at the aspects of his game that he needs to improve on, and said he wasn’t focused on remaining undefeated.

“It’s always good to get another win, but it’s behind me now; the match is done,” he said. “I’ve already noticed there’s stuff that I need to work on, so I’m going to keep working.”

The most exciting match of the night featured freshman Jordan Wohlfert from MSU and Patrick Jennings from Edinboro. Wohlfert won 5-3 after four overtimes, but said there were other factors that limited the affected the outcome.

“It was a barnburner,” Wohlfert said. “I don’t feel like I wrestled my potential. The ref was a factor, so I really had to wrestle through it. Every match you go out there you really shouldn’t be worrying about the ref and he shouldn’t be a factor, but I kind of allowed that to be the case in this match.”

“We just went at it for the whole regulation, but once it got into overtime, I thought I had the takedown and the ref didn’t agree, so we kept going,” he said. “Then we finally got into a leg and finished it how I should have the whole match.”

Once the match got into overtime, the entire team was on the sidelines yelling at him, and McClure said he did a good job finishing the job under the pressure.

“I’m just screaming and I’ve got his back,” McClure said. “I just want him to come out on top and he pulled it off, that was a heck of a win. A lot of time (the ref) gets into your head, but he ended up fighting through it and he got another takedown.”

With a trip to Wisconsin next up for the Spartans next Friday, Minkel said their success depends on how much individual work the team puts in.

“It’s how we respond to this,” Minkel said. “If we hang our head, that doesn’t contribute to us being better. Everybody’s got to understand what their mission is, then they need to figure it out and we need to be a better team next weekend than we are this, and if we do that, we’re going to be ok.”