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Tigers Nearly Upset #16 Northwestern, Posts 3-1 Mark At Windy City Duals
December 06, 2014 | Wrestling
The Princeton wrestling team opened its dual season in impressive fashion Saturday, winning three matches at the Windy City Duals and nearly pulling off a significant upset of the host Northwestern Wildcats before falling 21-18 to the nation's 16th-ranked team.
Sophomore Jordan Laster went 4-0 on the day and ignited Princeton's near upset of Northwestern with a 5-3 victory over nationally ranked Jameson Oster. A forfeit win at 157 and a fall at 174 for sophomore Troy Murtha opened a 15-14 lead for the Tigers, and sophomore Brett Harner capped a 3-0 day with a 4-1 victory at 184.
That set up a showdown of two wrestlers with serious All-America aspirations. Northwestern senior Alex Polizzi is currently ranked ninth nationally, but Princeton junior Abram Ayala had already knocked off two Top-15 opponents and moved to 11th in the latest rankings.
Ayala opened the scoring with a first-period takedown, though Polizzi added a takedown of his own later in the period to eventually even the score at 3-3. Ayala had the only takedown in the second period, but two Polizzi escapes kept the score even at 5-5. Ayala got a stall point and scored an escape to hold a 7-5 lead, but Polizzi scored two takedowns in the final 90 seconds of the match to claim a 9-8 victory.
That left Princeton ahead by one point, but Northwestern had an ace in the hole at heavyweight. Senior Mike McMullan is the nation's top-ranked wrestler, and he scored a major decision to complete a 21-18 Northwestern win.
Regardless, Princeton leaves the Chicago area with a 3-1 record following wins over Eastern Michigan (26-11), Davidson (48-3) and Cal Poly (35-6).
"I thought we wrestled hard today," head coach Chris Ayres said. "We got a lot of guys out there and we wrestled well. We learned a lot today. There is some pressure in dual match situations, and we'll get better from this experience. We need to improve in some weights, but overall, I feel like we improved today and represented Princeton very well."
Senior Adam Krop won three matches on the day, and his lone loss came to the nation's top-ranked wrestler, Northwestern's Jason Tsirtsis, who scored the lone takedown in a 4-2 win.
Laster went 4-0, including his 5-3 win over 19th-ranked Jameson Oster. A first-period takedown gave him a lead he would never relinquish, and the performance is another building block after a runner-up finish at the Navy Classic.
The same can be said for Harner, who also reached the finals at Navy. Harner was unbeaten on the day (3-0), including his 4-1 win over Northwestern's Mitch Sliga.
Princeton will return to Dillon Gym this week to take on both Sacred Heart (5 pm) and Binghamton (7 pm). Both matches will be streamed live on the Ivy Digital Network.
Princeton 26, Eastern Michigan 11
125: Shayne Wireman (EMU) maj. dec. Ryan Cash, 11-2
133: Vincent Pizzuto (EMU) maj. dec. Christian Innarella, 14-3
141: Jordan Laster (P) dec. Mike Shaw, 6-1
149: #20 Adam Krop (P) FALL Nicholas Barber, 1:40
157: Brandon Zeerip (EMU) dec. Francesco Fabozzi, 9-8
165: Jonathan Schliefer (P) maj. dec. Devan Marry, 13-4
174: Judd Ziegler (P) maj. dec. Kayne MacCallum, 10-2
184: Brett Harner (P) dec. Mike Curby, 7-3
197: #11 Abram Ayala (P) dec. Anthony Abro, 10-4
285: Ray O'Donnell (P) dec. Gage Hutchison, 2-1
Princeton 48, Davidson 3
125: Ryan Cash (P) winner by forfeit
133: Anthony Elias (DAV) dec. Christian Innarella, 6-2
141: Jordan Laster (P) winner by forfeit
149: #20 Adam Krop (P) FALL Kevin Birmingham, 6:58
157: Chris Perez (P) maj. dec. Zach Colangelo, 13-2
165: Jonathan Schliefer (P) FALL Patrick Devlin, 4:30
174: Judd Ziegler (P) dec. Konner Pritchard, 6-0
184: Troy Murtha (P) FALL Ryan Devlin, 0:33
197: Ian Baker (P) FALL Ian Solcz, 2:35
Hwt: Ray O'Donnell (P) tech. fall Eddie Isola, 16-0 5:35
Princeton 35, Cal Poly 6
125: Yoshito Funakoshi (POLY) dec. Jacob Intrator, 7-6
133: Victor Trujillo (POLY) dec. Christian Innarella, 9-7
141: Jordan Laster (P) dec. Brandan Rocha, 8-2
149: #20 Adam Krop (P) winner by forfeit
157: Chris Perez (P) dec. Colt Shorts 4-1
165: Jonathan Schliefer (P) dec. Travis Berridge 12-5
174: Troy Murtha (P) FALL Joe Applegate, 1:36
184: Brett Harner (P) FALL Nick Feigener, 2:07
197: #11 Abram Ayala (P) maj. dec. J.T. Goodwin, 13-3
Hwt: Ray O'Donnell (P) maj. dec. Nicolas Johnson, 10-0
125: Garrison White (N) maj. dec. Ryan Cash, 12-2
133: Dominick Malone (N) maj. dec. Christian Innarella, 15-2
141: Jordan Laster (P) dec. #19 Jameson Oster, 5-3
149: #1 Jason Tsirtsis (N) dec. #20 Adam Krop, 4-2
157: Chris Perez (P) wins by forfeit
165: #8 Pierce Harger (N) dec. Jonathan Schliefer, 5-1
174: Troy Harner (P) FALL Ben Sullivan
184: Brett Harner (P) dec. Mitch Sliga, 4-1
197: #9 Alex Polizzi (N) dec. Abram Ayala, 9-8
285: #1 Mike McMullan (N) maj. dec. Ray O'Donnell, 8-0