PISCATAWAY, N.J. – The 2009-10 Rutgers wrestling schedule was released Wednesday by head coach Scott Goodale.
The Scarlet Knights will compete against 11 schools that sent student-athletes to the NCAA Championships last season, including the defending National Champion Iowa Hawkeyes.
Goodale hopes to build off last season’s success where the Scarlet Knights posted a school best 20 wins in dual competition.
“We are certainly very excited about the upgrade in our schedule,” said Goodale. “It was one of the areas we felt like we needed to address to reach a certain level. It is also part of the vision that has been stressed to the current team members, alumni, administration and recruits that we will wrestle some of the best teams in America year in and year out.”
The Scarlet Knights open the season at Sacred Heart at the William H. Pitt Health and Recreation Center on Nov. 7.
Rutgers then competes in two New York tournaments - the Brockport Gold Tournament (Nov. 14) followed by the Sprawl & Brawl in Binghamton (Nov. 22).
Rutgers will face one of its toughest challenges when it travels to Lewisburg, Pa. on Nov. 28 to battle defending NCAA champion Iowa and fellow Eastern Intercollegiate Wrestling Association (EIWA) member Bucknell in its first tri-meet of the season.
The Scarlet Knights will make three road trips in December as they head down Route 1 for a tri-meet with host Princeton and Virginia Military Institution (Dec. 5) followed by a meet at Pittsburgh (Dec. 12). They close out 2009 at the Midlands Championships (Dec. 29-30) at Northwestern University.
RU will have a challenging start to 2010 as the squad competes in seven events in January.
Rutgers will host its first of five home contests in a tri-meet with EIWA members Brown and Harvard on Jan. 8 at 3 p.m. in the College Avenue Gym.
Rutgers begins a four-meet road stretch when it travels to West Point, N.Y. for a quad-meet with Army, Boston and the U.S. Merchant Marine Academy on Jan. 10 at 10 a.m.
After competing in the Michigan St. Duals on Jan. 16, the Scarlet Knights will travel to Rider (Jan. 22) followed by East Stroudsburg (Jan. 25).
Rutgers will battle in back-to-back meets for the first time when it hosts Virginia on Jan. 29 then Navy on Jan. 30 with both meets beginning at 6 p.m.
The Scarlet Knights final two road meets will be against Liberty (Feb. 12) and American (Feb. 13).
Rutgers closes out the regular season with home meets against Drexel (Feb. 18) and Bloomsburg (Feb. 20).
The postseason gets underway with the 106th EIWA Championships, which will be hosted by Lehigh University between March 5-6.
The NCAA Championships take place in Omaha, Neb. during March 19-21.
“We believe we got to the point where we can be very competitive, now we need to take the next step and win big matches,” said Goodale. “This team will certainly be challenged week in and week out with this schedule”.
2009-10 Rutgers Wrestling Schedule
November 7 at Sacred Heart TBA
November 14 Brockport Gold Tournament 9:00 AM
November 22 Sprawl & Brawl 9:00 AM
Penn St/Northern Iowa/Sacred Heart
November 28 at Bucknell/Iowa TBA
December 5 at Princeton/ VMI 1:00 PM
December 12 at Pittsburgh TBA
December 29-30 at Midlands All Day
January 8 Brown/ Harvard 3:00 PM
January 10 at Army/Boston/USSMA 10:00 AM
January 16 at Michigan St. Duals All Day
Mich St/Findlay/East Mich
January 22 at Rider 6:00 PM
January 25 at East Stroudsburg 7:00 PM
January 29 Virginia 6:00 PM
January 30 Navy 6:00 PM
February 6 at Lehigh TBA
February 12 at Liberty TBA
February 13 at American TBA
February 18 Drexel 6:00 PM
February 20 Bloomsburg 6:00 PM
March 5-6 EIWA’s (Lehigh) All Day
March 19-21 NCAA’s (Omaha, Neb.) All Day
All Times Eastern
Home matches in bold
