The wrestling team split a pair of conference matches in its first home outing of the New Year, as the Tigers (5-4, 2-3 Eastern Intercollegiate Western Association) defeated Sacred Heart University and fell short in its comeback against Hofstra University on Friday evening.
The Tigers started off against Sacred Heart at 174 pounds, where junior Judd Ziegler got things going with a strong 8-4 decision to put Princeton on the board first. Successive wins by sophomore 184-pounder Brett Harner, junior 197-pounder Abram Ayala and sophomore heavyweight Ray O’Donnell gave Princeton a 16-0 advantage that proved insurmountable for the Pioneers, who won just two of 10 bouts in the Tigers’ 30-8 victory.
Against Hofstra, the Tigers took control early once again, as Harner posted his second pin of the evening and Ayala his second major decision. Friday night’s results put both wrestlers above the 20-win mark on the season. After Ayala, however, the Tigers lost four consecutive bouts against the Pride, which put the Tigers behind by a 16-10 margin going into the 149-pound bout. It was at that point that junior 149-pounder Nick Maselli provided the Tigers with the spark they desperately needed with an enormous pin in the dying seconds of the first period. With the match tied at 16 apiece going into the penultimate match, Hofstra clinched the victory with a pin by the Pride’s 157-pounder Jahlani Callender. Needing a pin to secure the tie, freshman 165-pounder Jonathan Schleifer posted his second strong victory of the evening in the final bout, but was unable to stick Hofstra’s Nick Terdick in a 14-5 major decision. Despite strong performances from individuals, the outcome was disappointing for the Tigers, especially after defeating Hofstra last season for the first time in 25 years.
“We knew going into the Hofstra match that there were a few toss-ups, and unfortunately we ended up losing all of them,” Harner said. “We knew bonus points were going to be a huge factor, and they were. We racked up extra team points in every bout, but we really needed our guys to prevent Hofstra from doing the same.”
“We scored a lot of bonus points as a team,” Maselli said. “But in the end, we just fell a bit short.”
Despite the loss to Hofstra, Friday’s outing displayed a Tiger lineup that has the spark and energy to excel going into the heart of its conference schedule.
“I think we all wrestled pretty hard, and that’s a serious improvement from our home opener against Binghamton. We didn’t seem to have any emotion or excitement against Binghamton, but we had it on Friday night, and I’m excited to see where that takes us as the Ivy dual season approaches.”
“We have the talent, we work hard and we’re tough,” Maselli said. “I feel we are right there, we just need to get over the hump.”
The Tigers will take to the road in three weeks when they hit the road to take on Cornell on Jan. 30 and Franklin & Marshall College on Jan. 31.
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