Wrestling: Kolodzik's comeback win highlights home upset

In an exciting home opener, the wrestling team showed doubters, and the University of Pennsylvania, that this year’s Princeton team is one to watch out for. After a 33-15 loss to No. 25 Binghamton(7-0), Princeton (1-3) upset Old Dominion (4-4) Saturday afternoon in Dillon Gymnasium, leaving the Tiger wrestlers looking forward to what lies ahead.

“The team was ecstatic,” sophomore 141-pounder Adam Krop said of the Tigers’ reaction to the upset. “That was probably the biggest win we’ve had at Princeton, ever. As a team collectively, we were all pumped up —big time.”

But who was the most thrilled about the upset afterwards? “I think our coach, [assistant] coach [Sean] Gray, was the most pumped,” Krop said.

A first-year assistant coach for the Tigers, Gray had most recently coached at Boston University during a time when the Terriers never beat their rivals, the Old Dominion Monarchs. He had to switch teams to do it, butGray can finally check the Monarchs off his list of teams to beat.

Princeton’s lightweight wrestlers put on a powerful display in both matches Saturday afternoon. Against Binghamton, junior Garrett Frey, freshman Chris Perez andKrop all won their matches at 125, 133 and 141 pounds, respectively —the three lightest weight classes in college wrestling. Frey and Krop both pinned their opponents in the first period, and, along with Perez’s 7-2 decision, the trio gave the Tigers an early 15-0 lead over the Bearcats. Over the next seven weight classes, however, Binghamton, which boasts two nationally ranked wrestlers in the middle weights, recorded three pins and one technical fall to beat the Tigers 33-15.

Princeton’s lightweight trio came out strong again versus Old Dominion. The Monarch’s first wrestler at 125 pounds, Eric Dunnet, was an archrival of Frey’s during high school, but he forfeited to Frey this time, giving the Tigers a 6-0 lead.

“I was really disappointed he didn’t wrestle and was even more disappointed when I saw he wrestled later [that night] at Rider,” Frey said of Dunnet’s forfeit. “He beat me in high school, and I’m sure yesterday would have been a different story.”

The freshman Perez followed, winning a decision over the Monarchs’ Scott Festejo. Perez, now 2-0 wrestling in Dillon, is the only Princeton wrestler with a perfect home record. Then Krop upset his opponent at 141 pounds, Old Dominion’s Justin LaValle, who was ranked nationally at No. 31. Princeton’s trio had again doneits job, putting the Tigers ahead 12-0.

But the Monarchs were expected to respond with strong performances in the middle weights. After junior Luis Ramos lost a close decision, the Monarch’s presented their top wrestler in No. 15 John Nicholson for his match at 157 pounds against senior captain Daniel Kolodzik, who looked vulnerable after getting pinned in his first match against Binghamton.

“He got caught early in a 0-0 match [and was pinned],” fellow captain Frey said ofKolodzik’s morning. “It was pretty fluke-y, and he just got really unlucky. He could have turned it in for the day.”

Instead, Kolodzik stuck it out for the battle.

After taking down Kolodzik three times during the first period to open up a 6-0 lead, Nicholson looked like he was in command. But at the end of the first period, Kolodzik scored an escape and a takedown to turn the momentum of the match. Then, down by three with under 30 seconds left in the third and final period, Kolodzik stepped up for a dedicated Tiger squad. Kolodzik scored a takedown and earned back points, all together a five-point move, winning the match 11-9.

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“That was just an awesome match,” head coach Chris Ayres told goprincetontigers.com. “That win could change his confidence totally. It was an NCAA championship-worthy match between two top competitors.”

“He went out against another top-20 guy and came from behind and won,” Frey said of his teammate. “He showed a lot of heart out there. It was just a huge win and came at a time when he might not have been feeling his best about the match before.”

Senior Andy Lowy took a major decision at 174 pounds, and it was all Princeton needed to cement its first win of the 2011-12 season.

The win over Old Dominion, who had previously beaten perennial powerhouses such as then-No. 18 Iowa State, should turn the heads of Princeton’s future opponents. No. 16 Rutgers, the Tigers’ lone opponent thisweekend, should certainly turn theirs since, as Krop said, next week the Tigers “will definitely give Rutgers more of a wake up call than they think.”

Princeton takes on an EIWA power in the Scarlet Knights this Saturday at 1 p.m. in Dillon.