PISCATAWAY, N.J. – In front of a record crowd of 6,754 fans, No. 16 Rutgers wrestling (3-2, 1-1) was edged by No. 7 Iowa (6-0, 2-0), 23-15, Friday night at the RAC. The Scarlet Knights raced to a 12-0 lead with wins from 125-pounder
Nick Suriano, 133-pounder
Scott DelVecchio and 141-pounder
Michael Van Brill, but the Hawkeyes closed out the match with victories in six of their last seven bouts for the Big Ten Conference dual victory.
The 6,754 fans in attendance were the most to watch Rutgers wrestling at the RAC in its history, breaking the previous mark of 6,071 when RU hosted Penn State on Jan. 16, 2015.
"It's a dual meet that got away from us," said head coach
Scott Goodale. "I know that's how these guys feel. You want to win these and there are opportunities out there for us. You have to take advantage of these opportunities that don't come around to often. There are no moral victories. We let one get away and this one will sting a little bit."
Suriano did not disappoint in his RAC debut, as he defeated Justin Stickley by tech fall, 24-5. The former Bergen Catholic star collected three takedowns and four near fall points for a 10-2 lead on Stickley after the first period. Suriano continued to dominate, using a near fall with four seconds left in the third period for the 24-5 result. For Suriano, it marked his second tech fall during the 2017-18 dual season.
DelVecchio continued the momentum for the Scarlet Knights, adding a takedown of Iowa's Paul Glynn 20 seconds into the match. From there, DelVecchio outscored Glynn, 10-4, with the riding time point clinching a 12-4 major decision for the redshirt senior.
"[DelVecchio and Suriano] wrestled really hard and give us a 1-2 punch, maybe the best in the country." Goodale said. "We just have to keep riding them and get other guys to finish suite."
Van Brill rose to the challenge and took advantage of the energy generated from the crowd. The Mullica Hill, New Jersey, native collected a takedown of Carter Happel for a 2-0 lead in the first period, with his escape in the second period securing a 3-2 win to give Rutgers a 12-0 lead.
No. 2 Brandon Sorenson produced Iowa's first win of the night at 149 pounds, but it did not come easy thanks to the performance of
Eleazar DeLuca. DeLuca wrestled to a 1-1 tie with Sorenson midway through the third period, but Sorenson added a takedown and collected the riding time point for a 4-1 decision.
No. 2 Michael Kemerer registered a tech fall of
Brett Donner at 157 pounds to make it 12-8 in favor of RU at intermission.
From there, the Hawkeyes continued to churn own wins and eat into the RU lead. No. 14 Alex Marinelli earned a 6-4 decision in sudden victory over No. 9
Richie Lewis, who was wrestling up a weight at 165 pounds. In his RAC dual debut,
Joseph Grello faced Joey Gunther, with a controversial takedown awarded to Gunther in the second period proving to be the difference in a 5-4 Grello loss at 174 pounds. Grello's loss gave Iowa its first lead of the night at 14-12.
No. 9
Nicholas Gravina continued his strong start to the season with a 4-0 decision over Mitch Bowman
to regain the lead for Rutgers, 15-14. But back-to-back losses by
Kevin Mulligan and
Razohnn Gross at 197 pounds and heavyweight, respectively, against ranked foes clinched the dual for Iowa.
Rutgers returns to action from Dec. 29-30 when it competes at the Midlands Championships at the Sears Centre Arena in Hoffman Estates, Illinois.
No. 7 Iowa (6-0, 2-0) 23, No. 16 Rutgers (3-2, 1-1), 15
Dual started at 125 pounds
Location: Rutgers Athletic Center, Piscataway, N.J.
Officials: Mike McCormick
Attendance: 6,754 (RAC Wrestling Record)
125: No. 2/2/2
Nick Suriano (RU) tech fall over Justin Stickley (Iowa), 24-5; Rutgers leads 5-0
133: No. 13/12/11
Scott DelVecchio (RU) major decision over Paul Glynn (Iowa), 12-4; Rutgers leads, 9-0
141:
Michael Van Brill (RU) decision over Carter Happel (Iowa), 3-2; Rutgers leads, 12-0
149: No. 2/2/2 Brandon Sorenson (Iowa) decision over No. 14/17/14
Eleazar DeLuca (RU), 4-1; Rutgers leads, 12-3
157: No. 3/3/3 Michael Kemerer (Iowa) tech fall over
Brett Donner (RU), 25-8; Rutgers leads, 12-8
165: No. 13/13/NR Alex Marinelli (Iowa) decision over No. 9/7/9
Richie Lewis (RU), 6-4 (SV1); Rutgers leads, 12-11
174: . No. NR/NR/10 Joey Gunther (Iowa) decision over
Joseph Grello (RU), 5-4; Iowa leads, 14-12
184: No. 9/11/12
Nicholas Gravina (RU) decision over Mitch Bowman (Iowa), 4-0; Rutgers leads, 15-14
197: No. 8/8/11 Cash Wilke (Iowa) dec. over
Kevin Mulligan (RU), 8-3; Iowa leads, 17-15
HWT: No. 6/7/6 Sam Stoll (Iowa) fall (2:41) over
Razohnn Gross (RU); Iowa wins, 23-15
Rankings (-/-/-): InterMat / FloWrestling/The Open Mat
NR denotes not ranked
Rutgers Quotes
Rutgers head coach Scott Goodale
About the night overall: "Two big matchups there in second part of the match, 165 and 174, just got away from us. We have to find a way to close those out. To beat a really good team you got to do that. You've got to close out those matches."
On Iowa: "There's opportunities for us out there. You've got to take advantage. These opportunities don't come around that often. Like Nick said, they're a fun team. They fight and scrap and claw. I don't know if they're the best athletes but they scrap. They're really good in position. There's no moral victories. We let one get away, and this one will sting for a little bit. We'll get back at them at "The Midlands" and there's an opportunity to win a team title there and that's what we're shooting for."
On Joe Grello's performance "Reset the guy. Keep him off your legs. Use your face. Put your face in there and don't let him on your legs. It gives yourself an opportunity to win if you do that. Maybe it's a freshman, whatever it is it's a mistake and you've got to learn from that mistake. He's a good kid."
On Richie Lewis' loss: "It doesn't matter how good you are if a guy keeps coming and keeps coming and keeps coming and you don't have an answer? [Lewis] didn't have an answer right there, so that was a big part of the match."
Rutgers 125-pounder Nick Suriano
About his strong start: "Momentum's definitely important, and a Big Ten schedule right off the bat? You've got to go out and score points. That's Big Ten wrestling."
On the record crowd: "I can feel it out there. I feel a real crowd. I feel real vibes. People, fans, just real fans cheering for me. The energy's there. I thrive off good energy- good positive energy. I got my family here, friends, it's a real awesome feeling."
About his opponent: "With the Big Ten schedule there's a lot of guys … you can't take anyone lightly. I knew he'd come out swinging and ready to go. I don't care who it is. My goal is to be an NCAA champ this season. It is what it is, whoever they put out, it doesn't matter. You've got to take it the same way. Discipline."
Rutgers 133-pounder Scott DelVecchio
About earning respect: "I don't know if we earned more than we walked away with what we had. I think we would've earned a little more respect if we had won that match. I think they knew what they were walking into. We were expecting a crowd like this. If we had picked up those individual matches and won this dual meet, I think it would have been a lot different. You never go out there just to compete. I think tonight we kind of just competed. You go out there to win, and if we had won this one we would have gotten that respect. You don't get respect from losing. You want to win that match and that's where you gain that respect."
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