The University of Minnesota Duluth Fighting Penguins opened up their defense of their national DII title with a 36-7 victory over North Dakota State Saturday.

It was the first league game for new Head Coach Dean Walsh, who has taken over from Jeramy Katchuba, who has stepped back to spend more time with his family.

It was a typically physical game in the Northern Lights Conference, and with this being early in the season, handling errors plagued both teams. Duluth also had to content with penalties, but overall did enough to win. Flyhalf Trace Bolstad scored three tries and added a conversion for a personal haul of 17. fullback Randy Tanaka, center Matt Martin, and wing Nem Nyangaresi added tries, with flyhalf Zach Schawrtz converting two.

Flanker Eric Elsner, who is a transfer  from St. Scholastica, led the forwards in tackles.

Walsh said the penalties were mostly the result of indiscipline born out of the players being really eager to start the season. 

“We’ll work on the discipline,” said Walsh. “We’re just happy to get the win, however we get it.” 

Overall, the Penguins were solid in the set piece, winning the majority of their scrums and lineouts, and spoiling a few of the opposition’s, but they weren’t perfect, and will look to improve as the season progresses.

Walsh said he is very excited to take over a championship-level team such as Duluth.

“The guys work super-hard and they haven’t come into it with an attitude or thinking they’ve got it figured out,” he said. “The backline has a crazy amount of potential, and we just need to harness it. We all know Duluth has won national championships before, but we’re saying this is a brand new team with a brand new coach and we’re ready to work.”

Also winning in the Northern Lights was North Dakota, which defeated Mankato 33-17. Winona State defeated St. Thomas 52-8.