Lock Haven men’s wrestling falls to No. 17-ranked Rutgers
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PISCATAWAY, N.J. -- The Lock Haven men's wrestling team traveled to New Jersey to face No. 17 Rutgers on Friday. The Scarlet Knights won the dual 34-6.
"Rutgers has a really good team and we’re happy with the way we competed," Lock Haven head coach Scott Moore said. "Obviously, a few things could have gone differently, but it’s early in the season so we’re going to continue to work and bounce back for the weekend’s match against Wisconsin."
The dual started at 149 pounds with an upset victory. Lucas Kapusta defeated No. 31 Andrew Clark 4-1 in sudden victory. Kapusta and Clark traded escapes but Kapusta scored the winning takedown in overtime to give Lock Haven a 3-0 advantage.
"Lucas is one of those guys that puts the work in daily, believes in himself, has great fundamentals, and just takes advantage of situations," Moore said. "Super proud of him as a freshman, to go out and compete in this arena and beat a ranked wrestler."
Lock Haven would compete hard in the next four bouts but fell short in all of them as Rutgers won by decision to take a 12-3 advantage.
At 157, Nick Stampoulos fell 1-0 to Conner Harer. The lone point of the match came in the second period after Harer earned an escape.
Caden Dobbins dropped a 4-1 decision to No. 27 Anthony White at 165. Dobbins jumped out to a 1-0 lead after a second-period escape but a reversal along with ride time secured the victory for White.
At 174, No. 33 Avery Bassett jumped out to a 3-0 lead after getting a quick takedown over No. 20 Jackson Turley. However, Turley responded ten straight points thanks to a reversal and nearfall points for the 10-3 decision victory.
No. 28 Colin Fegley dropped a hard-fought match at 184 against Shane Cartagena-Walsh.
Rutgers built a 12-3 at that point and wasted no time sealing the dual victory with wins by pin at 197 and 285.
The Scarlet Knights sent out No. 22 Brian Soldano, who usually wrestles at 184, to face Lock Haven's promising freshman Tucker Hogan.
That decision would pay off big as Soldano wasted no time, turning Hogan onto his back and earning the victory by fall in 52 seconds.
Rutgers earned another win by pin as No. 9 Yaraslau Slavikouski defeated Ethan Miller in 5:28. The two victories gave Rutgers a 24-3 lead to secure the dual.
At 125, No. 19 Dean Peterson won by tech fall over Lucas Fye, 20-5, in 4:47.
Lock Haven's All-American Anthony Noto, ranked 14 in the nation, earned an upset victory over No.5 Dylan Shawver. The two wrestlers were back-and-forth in the first period but Noto had the 9-4 advantage. Noto held on for the final two periods for the 10-7 decision.
No. 24 Joseph Oliveri defeated Conner Heckman by tech fall in 6:32 in the final bout of the night.