As the clock ticked to zero at the Midlands Championships in late December, it brought with it a narrow 9-8 loss for redshirt freshman Luke Goettl.

After starting the season 0-4, Goettl picked up his first collegiate victory when the Cyclones traveled to Missouri. The win kicked off a run for Goettl, as the young wrestler carried it to the Midlands where he advanced to the semifinals.

With a loss in the semifinals though, Goettl was matched up with No. 11 Zach Neibert of Virginia Tech in a consolation round. A controversial riding time total eventually helped hand Goettl the loss.

“I definitely should have won that match at Midlands; it was really close until the end,” Goettl said. “Riding time was a little screwed up, but there’s no video review so we couldn’t challenge it.”

Behind six victories, the Cyclones defeated the Hokies 20-14 Friday night at Hilton Coliseum. One of the wins came behind Goettl, who was seeking a little revenge.

After Neibert got a quick takedown early in the first period, Goettl battled back to a tie 2-2 score to end the period with a reversal. He handled the match easily from there.

In the second period, Goettl picked up an escape and takedown on his way to a 6-2 victory against another ranked wrestler.

For ISU coach Kevin Jackson, the win makes it clear that Goettl should be moving up in the rankings at 141 pounds.

“His name should be high in the rankings and he should be an automatic qualifier,” Jackson said. “He continues to believe and knows what he’s capable of so it’s showing on the mat.”

Team captain Andrew Sorenson said Jackson has been preaching to the young wresltlers to go hard for the entire match, adding that Goettl has bought into that philosophy.

“Coach has been preaching to these young guys to just wrestle seven minutes and focus in on what we’re trying to teach them,” Sorenson said. “If you do that and wrestle hard, good things are going to happen.”

Jackson said he is happy with Goettl’s progression, but as with the other young wrestlers he feels there is still plenty of room for improvement.

“He’s not close to being as good as he’s going to be yet,” Jackson said. “We’ve got a lot more work to do as a team and Luke’s got a lot more work to do.”

Now at 8-7 on the season — and 8-3 since a loss to Minnesota’s Nick Dardanes — with victories against the No. 2 and No. 11 wrestlers in the nation, Goettl is thinking big.

For now though, he’s just happy he got his revenge.

“I’m trying to climb the ladder, I want to be an All-American, that’s my goal,” Goettl said. “Beating a ranked guy and getting revenge in front of my home crowd — it feels awesome.”