Princeton University Athletics
Princeton University
South Dakota St.
Wrestling Rallies Past Northern U. To Clinch Weekend Split In South Dakota
December 10, 2004 | Wrestling
Dec. 13, 2004
Brookings, S.D. - Despite trailing Northern University 11-0, the Princeton wrestling team rallied with 23 straight team points to earn a 27-14 win over the weekend. Princeton nearly made it an exciting sweep, but South Dakota State held off a second rally in an 18-15 win.
Princeton 27, Northern University 14
Princeton opened against Northern with three straight losses to fall into an 11-0 hole. After Eric Marcotulli earned a forfeit win at 141 pounds, Andrew Iannuzzi topped R.C. Sisson 9-4 to bring Princeton to within two points.
Freshman Alex Enriquez wasted little time putting Princeton ahead to stay. In his 157-pound match, he took down Spencer Dockey at the 1:56 mark of the match and earned the fall at 2:24. The pin gave Princeton a 15-11 lead. Charlie Wiggins (165) and Matthew DeNichilo (174) would make the lead insurmountable with a pair of major decisions in the next two matches, and Jake Butler (197) continued his dominant performance in dual matches with a 13-4 win to close the match out.
To get the fall match results, go to schedule and results and click on this result.
South Dakota State 18, Princeton 15
The Tigers weren't able to make a second miracle comeback against South Dakota State. Despite splitting the 10 matches, Princeton fell because of bonus points won in the night's second match.
Princeton went up 3-0 in the opener when heavyweight Kristopher Berr won a 2-1 overtime decision against Elliot Osterhoudt. Both wrestlers earned escapes in regulation, and Berr's aggressiveness gained a stalling point against his opponent to clinch the win.
Senior tri-captain Audrey Pang (125) was pinned in the first period of her match against Marcus Waters, which gave South Dakota State a 6-3 lead, and Chris Werth's 133-pound win over Ryan Foss built the lead to 9-3.
Marcotulli would earn a late takedown to force overtime and another in the extra period to win a wild 13-11 match against Dusty Kavitz, but Princeton would lose three decisions in a row, forcing it to go into rally mode again.
DeNichilo started it with a 5-3 win over Travis Gottschalk. He built a 5-1 lead by the third period and held off Gottschalk to get Princeton within nine points (18-9).
Jack Fleming (184) fought hard to win a 5-3 overtime match against Levi Krehmeyer. Fleming trailed in the third period, but an escape point got him within one, and his aggressiveness forced Krehmeyer to get hit for stalling with 11 seconds remaining. Fleming earned a takedown 45 seconds into overtime to win the match.
That left Butler with the need to pin Cody Nehl to force a tie. Butler dominated the match with three takedowns and two reversals, but Nehl knew he needed to simply avoid being turned over, and he was able to accomplish that goal. Butler won the match 11-7, but South Dakota State ended with the team win.
Princeton will wrestle at the Beast of the East Duals on Friday, which will be its final dual matches until a Jan. 28 match at Cornell.
Individual matches
HWT - Kristopher Berr (P) dec. Elliot Osterhoudt, 2-1 (ot)
125 - Marcus Waters (SD) p. Audrey Pang, :29
133 - Chris Werth (SD) dec. Ryan Foss, 6-1
141 - Eric Marcotulli (P) dec. Dusty Kavitz 13-11 (ot)
149 - Chris Herrboldt (SD) dec. Andrew Iannuzzi 5-0
157 - Andy Everson (SD) dec. Alex Enriquez 4-3
165 - Nate Althoff (SD) dec. Charlie Wiggins 9-3
174 - Matthew DeNichilo (P) dec. Travis Gottschalk 5-3
184 - Jack Fleming (P) dec. Levi Krehmeyer 5-3 (ot)
197 - Jake Butler (P) dec. Cody Nehl 11-7