Princeton University
Maryland (Homecoming)
Players Mentioned
Wrestling Drops Home Debut To Maryland, Looks Ahead To Rutgers
December 10, 2006 | Wrestling
PRINCETON, N.J. – The Princeton wrestling team fell 42-3 to a strong Maryland squad in the 2006-07 home debut Sunday afternoon. A win for freshman Zach Morse at 197 pounds was the highlight of the day for Princeton, which has one match remaining before the winter break.
“As with all matches, there is both good and bad,” head coach Chris Ayres said following his first match at Dillon Gym. “We'll look at the bad and try to get it corrected. I hope they learned something from this match, because that is a good Maryland team. They wrestled through the whistle, and we have too many times when we stop wrestling during that match.”
The match started at 125 pounds, where Maryland junior Jeff Oldham took control of the match early with a series of first-period takedowns and closed the match with a third-period near fall against Princeton freshman Nikhil Pereira. One of several underclassmen in the starting lineup, Pereira did a nice job avoiding a fall late in the match, but Oldham's skill and speed in the neutral position was the dominant force in the match.
Following a first-period pin by Maryland 133-pounder Jon Kohler over another Tiger freshman, Jeff Kirchick, Maryland built itself a 17-0 lead with a pin at 141 pounds by Alex Krom. Going against senior Stephen Savin, Krom was overpowering on top, twice getting near-fall points before pulling off an impressive final move to earn a fall late in the first period.
Senior Jesse Palermo became the first Princeton wrestler to go the distance, and he was right in the match through two periods. The third period belonged to Andrew Schlaffer, who was able to put together a run of takedowns to build a tenuous lead into an 18-6 major decision.
Freshman Mike Alvarez put together Princeton's most competitive match in the first half of the dual meet, scoring the team's first takedown in the third period to cut his deficit to two points. That came after riding Maryland sophomore Spencer Hollerith for the better part of the second period. Ultimately needing to be over aggressive for a late takedown, he was caught on a counter move for a Terrapin takedown that closed the exciting match.
Jason Kiessling earned a 16-5 major decision at 165 pounds over Princeton sophomore Alex Enriquez, who had to overcome both a talented opponent and an injury suffered early in the match. Enriquez, who had a solid freshman season two years ago but missed last season due to injury, bravely fought on but couldn't muster enough offense to take Kiessling down when he needed the points. Maryland's Matt Letts followed that with a major decision of his own, claiming an 18-5 victory over John Clore.
Maryland 184-pound sophomore Josh Haines was dominant in the first period of his match with Gordon Scharf, which he won by technical fall in 2:47. Hained used an early takedown and then five near falls to end the match before the first period concluded.
The 197-pound match proved to be the highlight of the day for the Princeton squad, as Morse put the Tigers on the board with a strong and relentless effort. Following a scoreless first period, Morse chose the defensive position and was able to escape for a one-point lead. In the final minute of the period, he thrilled the Princeton fans with an ankle takedown just in front of the Princeton side on the edge of the mat. He was able to hold off an escape attempt for the remainder of the period to carry the 3-0 lead into the final period. DiPietro chose the defensive position to open the third period, but Morse was not going to be denied. He built his riding time to well over a minute, clinching another point for himself at the end of the match, but DiPietro made it exciting with a reversal, which followed a penalty point given for too many false starts against Morse. With precious seconds remaining and in need of a takedown, DiPietro's final attempt was thwarted and turned into one final takedown for Morse, who left to a standing ovation after a 6-3 win.
“That was a good win for him,” Ayres said. “Winning is contagious, but losing can be as well. It was impressive for him to sit through eight losses and not let it get to him. He went out there and just wrestled. That match showed something about him.”
John Price concluded the match with a win at heavyweight over Kris Berr. After a scoreless first two periods, Price took over in the final two minutes and pinned Berr at 6:08. Princeton will conclude the 2006 portion of its schedule on Tuesday night at EIWA rival Rutgers.
Maryland 42, Princeton 3
125 - Jeff Oldham (M) tf. Nikhil Pereira (P), 21-6 (6:01)133 - Jon Kohler (M) p. Jeff Kirchick (P), 2:26
141 - Alex Krom (M) p. Stephen Savin (P), 2:49
149 - Andrew Schlaffer (M) md. Jesse Palermo (P), 18-6
157 - Spencer Hollerith (M) d. Mike Alvarez (P), 10-5
165 - Jason Kiessling (M) md. Alex Enriquez (P), 16-5
174 - Mike Letts (M) md. John Clore (P), 18-5
184 - Josh Haines (M) tf. Gordon Scharf (P), 16-0 (2:47)
197 - Zach Morse (P) d. Rich DiPietro (M), 6-3
HWT - John Price (M) p. Kris Berr (P), 6:08