The No. 7 (AFCA) University of Minnesota Duluth football team's season came to a close Saturday afternoon in the NCAA II Tournament First Round, as the Bulldogs suffered a 32-7 setback to No. 18 (AFCA) Ashland University on the road in Ashland, Ohio.

The Bulldogs entered their 13th program appearance in the NCAA II postseason after finishing the regular season as undisputed Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference (NSIC) overall champions for the 11th time in program history.

"Got to give credit to Ashland. It was a hard-fought football game throughout," said head coach Curt Wiese, who coached in his sixth NCAA II postseason. "We made too many errors. I love this football team, and we had a good game plan. Ashland was the better football team today."

The Bulldogs opened the first quarter with the first points of the game after an opening kickoff return of 64 yards by DaShaun Ames to set up the offense on the Ashland 33-yard line. UMD followed the Ames return with a touchdown that started from a 33-yard drive off a key throw from Kyle Walljasper to Luke Dehnicke for a 17-yard gain. From there, it would take four rushes between Derrick Johnson and Walljasper to get the team's only touchdown on the board.

After an extra point kick from Drew Henson, UMD owned a 7-0 lead over the Eagles with 11:37 to go in the first quarter. From then on, the only scoring came from the Ashland.

"Coming into the football game, they were the second in the country on defense, and we knew we would have our work cut out for us," said Wiese. "We turned the ball over in critical situations, but some of that was Ashland."

After the opening score, UMD went 3-of-14 overall on third-down conversions, lost two fumbles, were intercepted twice, and had its only field goal attempt blocked. Ashland converted 5-of-6 third-down conversions in the first half to hold onto the ball.

"We were just up against the wall. We were pressing to make plays in the second half, and they had us on our heels," said Wiese. "Ashland offensively did a good job being patient and grinding us away defensively. They had a lot of third-down conversions in that first half that were critical."

The Eagles converted 7-of-15 third-down conversions overall and opted not to attempt a single fourth-down conversion. Ashland remained efficient in the red zone, scoring six times throughout the game.

"We knew field position was going to be critical. We really never got the ball back," said Wiese. "Ashland is a good football team, they were able to rush the football, convert, and take away our run game on first and second down."

The Bulldogs were held to 95 net rushing yards (2.7 avg), which was their lowest outing of the season. Ashland was able to capitalize and drove for 245 net rushing yards (6.8 avg).

"I believed our football team could win that game. We had opportunities, and the guys didn't divide."

Overall, Ames led the receivers with 68 yards in five receptions, while Dehnicke was held to 45 yards in four receptions. Walljasper led the rushing attack with 45 net rushing yards of the team's 95 yards. The defensive effort was led by Joey Krouse with ten total tackles (seven solo) to fend off the Ashland offense.

BULLDOG NOTES: UMD completes the season with its 13th appearance in the NCAA II Tournament, 22nd NSIC Championship title, 13th NSIC North Division title, 13 athletes named to the 2025 NSIC All-Conference team, and two NSIC coaching awards (Coach of the Year and Assistant Coach of the Year awards)… it marked the sixth NCAA II postseason appearance of the Curt Wiese era.