MOORHEAD, Minn. -- The Minnesota State University Moorhead wrestling team won five matches, but fell short against Division III national power Augsburg on Tuesday night, dropping a hard-fought 21-16 nonconference dual at Alex Nemzek Hall in Moorhead, Minn.

Augsburg (2-0 duals) is the No. 2-ranked team in the latest Division III Coaches poll, while the Dragons are receiving votes in the latest Division II Coaches poll.

The match showed big improvement from a year ago for MSUM (2-1 duals) , which lost to Augsburg 38-3 a year ago and won just one match. MSUM won five matches this year, including one by major decision.

"I was happy with the performance. We would have liked to have come away with the win," MSUM head coach Kris Nelson said. "It came down to bonus points which it usually does. We can't afford to give up pins. When we start wrestling tough teams in our region we have to remember that. We need to score more bonus points."

Earning wins for the Dragons were junior Casey Williams (157 pounds), senior Kerron Williams (165), junior Matt Lewellen (184), sophomore Phillippe Walker (133) and junior Angel Vega (141).

The match started at 157 pounds, where Casey Williams -- who moved up a class to fill in for the injured Jacob Bennett -- trailed early but came back to take a 3-2 lead with a takedown. The match was tied at 3-3 heading into the third period. With the score tied at 4-4, Williams, just before time expired, recorded a takedown to earn a 6-4 win and give the Dragons an early 3-0 lead in the match. Williams is now 9-3 on the season.

"He's wrestling up a weight class and he came out and got a win for us," Nelson said.

At 165 pounds, Kerron Williams recorded a first-period takedown to take a 2-0 lead and was in control much of the way. He extended the lead to 6-1 and went on to take a 7-2 decision win as MSUM built a 6-0 lead in the dual. Williams, who has missed time lately with an injury, is now 5-2 on the season.

"He just continued to go after it," Nelson said. "We were very happy with his performance coming off that injury."

MSUM redshirt freshman Jesse Puncochar was down 2-0 at 174 pounds but scored a reversal to tie the match. He was within 5-3 in the third period but fell short as Josh Kohler earned the decision win to get Augsburg on the board in the dual at 6-3.

Lewellen built a 2-0 lead with a first-period takedown at 184 pounds and added a takedown in the second period to take a 4-0 lead.  He added to the lead in the third period, and thanks to a key point for riding time, built the lead to 8-0, giving him the win by major decision and stretching the Dragon dual lead to 10-3. Lewellen is now 8-4 on the year.

"He continues to wrestle strong," Nelson said. "He's continued to wrestle on the offense; he's always physical. He's just tough and continuing to wrestle hard."

Augsburg flexed its muscle in the upcoming matches, winning by fall at 197 and 285 pounds to take a 15-10 lead.

The Auggies added a decision win at 125 pounds to stretch the lead to 18-10, but the Dragons responded at 133, thanks to a strong performance from sophomore Philippe Walker.

Walker controlled his match against Augsburg's Tossaporn Suparat -- who is ranked No. 4 in Division III -- taking the early lead and rolling to a 9-4 win to bring the Dragons within 18-13 with two weight classes left.

"Philippe Walker wrestled the best he has all year," Nelson said. "He was in control. He continued to wrestle hard the full seven minutes."

Junior Angel Vega battled Augsburg's Tom Kuehn to the wire in a thrilling 141-pound match that went back and forth. Vega held a 4-2 lead in the first period but Kuehn (who is ranked No. 8 in Division III) battled back and eventually took a 7-6 lead into the final frame.  Vega, however, wrestled aggressively in the final period, and recorded a crucial takedown in the final minute to take a 10-9 lead, on his way to a hard-fought 11-9 win. Vega, who leads the Dragons with 14 wins, brought MSUM to within 18-16 in the dual heading into the final match.

"He was wrestling a good kid," Nelson said of Vega. "It was close match, and he stayed after it. He was on the offensive the entire match. He controlled the position and he got that takedown late to win."

MSUM junior Mariano Portillo battled tough at 149 pounds but fell short against Augsburg's Will Keeter, who is ranked No. 2 in Division III at 149 pounds. Keeter built an early lead and went on to take a 8-2 win to help the Auggies secure a 21-16 win in the dual.

"It's good to see where we stand against a tough team like Augsburg. no matter what division they are, they are a well-respected program," Nelson said. " When you wrestle them to 5-5, that's pretty good, but we would have liked to get the win. We have to comeback and keeping working hard."

The Dragons are off until Jan. 5, 2013 when they compete at the Grand Canyon Duals in Phoenix, Ariz. MSUM will compete in four duals against California Baptist, Colorado School of Mines, Simon Fraser and Grand Canyon at the event.

Augsburg 21, MSU Moorhead 16
157-Casey Williams (MSUM) dec. Kurt Knutsen (AC), 6-4
165-Kerron Williams (MSUM) dec. Andrew Powers (AC), 7-2
174-Josh Kohler (AC) dec. Jesse Puncochar (MSUM), 5-3
184-Matt Lewellen (MSUM) maj. dec. Quinten Strand (AC), 8-0
197-Matt Hechsel (AC) pinned Lucas Moderow (MSUM), 2:27
285-Chad Johnson (AC) pinned Gerad Fugleberg (MSUM), 4:48
125-Mike Fuenffinger (AC) dec. Mitch Dunlap (MSUM), 7-3
133-Philippe Walker (MSUM) dec. Tossaporn Suparat (AC), 9-4
141-Angel Vega (MSUM) dec. Tom Kuehn (AC), 11-9
149-Will Keeter (AC) dec. Mariano Portillo (MSUM, 8-2
Note: Match started at 157 pounds.