A LOOK AT THE WEEK: Minot State will travel to the University of Mary on Thursday to take on the Marauders in a Northern Sun matchup. The meet is scheduled to begin at 7 p.m.

RECORDS: The Beavers are 3-3 this season after being defeated by its first two conference opponents in 2015. Coming back from the break Minot State will look to earn its first conference victory against a team they beat 18-16 earlier this season. The Marauders are 2-6 and are currently on a four-meet losing streak. Mary, like their upcoming foe will also be looking for its first conference win of the season.

COACHES CORNER: Minot State head coach Evan Forde is in his first season at the helm of the wrestling team. He is the eighth coach in MSU history and the second coach since the reinstatement of the team and the move to NCAA Division II. Forde comes to Minot State after spending last season with fellow NSIC member Minnesota State University Moorhead where he competed as a wrestler from 2006-11. Before returning to his alma mater, Forde was an assistant coach at Southwest Minnesota State, also a Northern Sun member, for three seasons. As a college athlete he compiled 63 wins and earned NCAA Division II Academic All-American honors four times. Adam Aho is in his second season as the head coach of the University of Mary wrestling program. Despite finishing his first season with a 2-10 record he was able to coach Trevor Johnson to All-American honors. Before joining the Marauders, Aho was an assistant coach at Minnesota State. As a student he was a student-athlete for North Dakota State University where he graduated from in 2009.

RANKINGS: Minot State and Mary did not appear in the NCAA Division II Wrestling Coaches Poll this week, but both were named in the Region III Poll as Mary is No. 12 and MSU is tied for No. 13

ALL-TIME AT A GLANCE: The Beavers have a 3-3 record against Mary since joining the Division II ranks in 2012-13 and are 4-3 against the Marauders since the program was reinstated in the 2011-12 season.  

LAST TIME OUT: In a nonconference game played on December 8 the Beavers looked like they would be handed a loss by their in-state rivals. Trailing 16-9 going into the last two match ups of the night the Minot State wrestlers needed eight points to secure the comeback. Tiger Paasch (197, So., McMinnville, Ore.) and Mitchell Eull (Buffalo, Minn.) earned nine. Paasch pinned his opponent in 43 seconds setting up the final match for Eull to go in with the team down by a single point. Going into overtime the meet was still up in the air, but Eull recorded a takedown and won the match and meet for the Beavers with a 3-1 victory.

NOTING THE BEAVERS: In head coach Evan Forde's first season the Beavers saw early success. With five finishes in runner up positions at the varsity level in the first three opens Forde has been able to improve the Beavers standings in these competitions. Minot State failed to have a wrestler to finish above third last season. Despite the strong start and beginning the season with a 3-1 record MSU has been held to just nine team points against Upper Iowa and three against Minnesota State in its last two duals. Although the Beavers currently have an even record they have been outscored this season 166-90.

NOTING THE MARAUDERS: The University of Mary wrestling team is currently on a four-meet losing streak that they will look to break this week against their rival who was the second loss in those four games. The Marauders will look to their heavyweight Travis Smith to anchor their team as he is their lone wrestler that has won his last two matches. Tate Barnhardt has also been competing well for his team as he has won one match by a 11-2 major decision and lost in a tough fought 7-6 match in his last two games.

HOME ADVANTAGE: Last season the Marauders and Beavers both lost at home in their matchups. Overall, however, Mary has a 2-1 home record over Minot State since 2011 when MSU joined the Division II ranks. The Beavers won their first home match against Mary, since that time, this season in comeback form. Last year, in Bismarck, Mary lost 23-17 as they failed to ever take a lead.

EULL BE THERE: Junior heavyweight Mitchell Eull (Buffalo, Minn.) is continuing his success from last season when he finished sixth at the NCAA Super Region Three. With 13 wins in six duals and three opens so far this season Eull has been able to earn second place finishes twice. Eull beat his previous best finish of third from the 2014-15 season. He finished in the highest position of any other Beaver in five of the team's last seven tournaments dating back to last year. Eull, with a win against Upper Iowa, reached his 50th win as a Beaver in just two and a half seasons.

Eull in his three seasons (2013-2015)    

Year	Wins	Losses	Falls	Points
2013-14	11	22	2	13
2014-15	26	15	6	42
2015-16	13	6	4	18
Total	50	43	12	73

NORTH DAKOTA PRIDE: With five wrestlers on the Minot State roster, and four projected starters, from North Dakota the trip to Bismarck should be comfortable for a large number of the team. At Mary they are sporting nine North Dakota raised athletes with three projected to start. At the 157 weight class two hometown wrestlers will compete for their college. Minot native, Marcus Polak (Sr.) will be competing against Bismarck native Dane Fischer if the projected lineups hold true. The two competed earlier this season in the MSU Dome in an evenly matched 9-7 victory for Fischer. That was the first match for Fischer against Minot State.

BY THE NUMBERS

1: Win earned by Minot State in its last dual against Minnesota State. The victory came from a 3-1 score snagged by Cody Haugen (149, So., Minot, N.D.).  

3: Beaver wrestlers with .500 or better records this season. Two wrestlers, Mitchell Eull (HWT, Jr., Buffalo, Minn.) and Tanner Crissler (141, So., Belcourt, N.D.) have a combined 23-13 record as the lone Beavers with winning records.

8: Freshmen projected to compete for both Minot State and Mary. Only five upperclassmen will compete for the two teams, including three seniors.

18: Team points from Mitchell Eull (HWT, Jr. Buffalo, Minn.) and Tiger Paasch (197, So., McMinnville, Ore.). That mark leads the team.