One would think that facing the defending NCAA Champion would be nerve-wrecking to a freshman.

But two freshmen on the NIU wrestling squad walked away with great experiences as Josh Wooten and Matt Kucala were victorious in their first collegiate meet.

“I think that it was pretty cool,” Kucala said. “A lot of kids will never have an experience like this. For being our first meet as a freshman, this is a once-in-a-lifetime experience. It’s pretty cool.”

Wooten, who went up against an aggressive and frustrated Tommy Owen, had a slap in the face wake him up en route to his 10-7 decision.

This victory helped Wooten, an Ohio native, get his eighth win of the season, good for the most victories on the Huskies’ roster.

“That guy that I beat today beat me in the High School Nationals,” Wooten said. “He was the National Champ and I got seventh. He got to go to Minnesota, being the No.1 team in the country and I came here. It felt really good to kick his butt.”

Another freshman that helped the team out by getting one of four victories for NIU was Kucala.

Kucala pinned Andrew Domingues early in the third period. With the pin, Kucala gave the Huskies a 6-3 lead, the only lead that NIU held all day.

Three other freshmen put time in on the mat for the Huskies against the Golden Gophers.

Heavyweight Zac Jensen, 174-pound George Kirgan and 165-pound Jeremy Benesh all took defeats for NIU.

Jensen and Kirgan both lost close matches and Benesh went up against the No. 3 ranked Jacob Volkmann and lost by a technical fall.

“A lot of these guys are young, they’re freshmen,” coach Dave Grant said. “Everyone of these wrestlers on this team trained like animals for this meet. They put in an hour in the morning and two more in the evening, I am really proud of these fellows.”

Wooten gave credit to his teammates for the success he has been having this season.

“All the kids I wrestle with in that room are really tough,” Wooten said. “There’s nobody I can go with that is going to be less of an opponent [in practice]. Wrestling Owen everyday is just awesome.”