Matthew Kolodzik Repeats As EIWA Champ, Leads Tigers To Another Top-3 Finish; 4 Qualify For NCAAs

DAY 1 RECAP

Matthew Kolodzik has been making history for Princeton since he first stepped on campus, and he continued to do so at Hofstra this weekend. The top-seeded sophomore won his second straight Eastern championship, this time at 149 pounds, and helped Princeton repeat as a top-three finisher at the 2018 EIWA Championships.

Princeton finished the weekend with 93 points and eight placewinners, while Drexel finished fourth with 86.5 points. Besides Cornell, which saw its championship reign end at the hands of Lehigh, no other Ivy League program finished in the top eight.

Kolodzik, who won the 141-pound EIWA title as a freshman last year, was in full control of his final against 10^th-seeded Frank Garcia of Binghamton. Garcia had been one of the stories of the tournament, but Kolodzik asserted his presence early with a pair of first-period takedowns and a strong ride. Garcia would get one takedown in the third, but Kolodzik got it back and finished the championship weekend with a 13-6 decision.

Kolodzik is hitting his stride after adjusting to the new weight early in the season. Since Midlands, the 2017 All-American is 13-1 with a victory over the 11^th-ranked wrestler in the nation and an EIWA title. You can hear from Kolodzik by clicking the play link above.

Kolodzik was one of three Princeton finalists, marking the first time the Tigers sent three to the EIWA championship round since 1978, and only the third time they have done so in 75 years. Junior co-captain and top seed Mike D'Angelo faced second-seeded Markus Scheidel of Columbia in the 157-pound final, a rematch from a 2-1 D'Angelo win during the season. Fans expected a tight one, and they got it, but Scheidel was able to carry a first-period takedown to a 3-2 win. D'Angelo was impressive throughout the weekend, including an 11-3 major decision in the semifinal, and he will be one of four Tigers heading to Cleveland in two weeks for the NCAA Championships.

Senior co-captain Jonathan Schleifer reached his first EIWA final after four years as a starter, thanks to a thrilling 3-2 win over second-seeded May Bethea in the semifinal. Schleifer scored a third-period takedown to open a 3-1 lead, and then he fended off a late attempt to clinch the win. Top-seeded Jon Jay Chavez of Cornell took early control of the final with a six-point move in the first period, and he kept Schleifer from hitting his offense in a 10-4 win. By reaching the final, Schleifer assured a historic fourth-straight NCAA Championships appearance, something that no other Tiger wrestler ever accomplished.

Those three finalists will join freshman Patrick Brucki in Cleveland; Brucki qualified with a fifth-place finish at 197 during his debut weekend at EIWAs. Brucki fell 5-1 to defending EIWA champ Frank Mattiace of Penn, but he finished his weekend in style with a late takedown to clinch fifth place against fourth-seeded Chris Weiler of Lehigh.

Jonathan Gomez went from an unseeded entrant to the fifth-place honoree at 133 to complete an impressive freshman season. He was pinned by eventual 133-pound champion Scott Parker in the opening round, but he came back with three straight wins, including two over seeded opponents. His NCAA bid fell short at the hands of third-seeded Gage Curry of American, but he provided key team points with a fifth-place finish.

Junior Pat D'Arcy joined sophomores Christian Araneo and Matteo DeVincenzo in the seventh-place matches on Sunday. D'Arcy bounced back from a long injury layoff to knock off two higher seeds along the way, but he fell 7-1 to Columbia's J.P. Ascolese and placed eighth. Araneo held his seventh seed with an injury default in the seventh-place match after two wins the rest of the weekend, while DeVincenzo got caught in the third period by seventh-seeded Nolan Hellickson and pinned in 5:27.

125 • #9 Matteo DeVincenzo
1^st Round: #8 Aslan Kilic (Navy) dec. DeVincenzo 6-5
1^st Cons: DeVincenzo mdec. Daniel Planta (Penn) 13-5
2^nd Cons: DeVincenzo dec. #10 Trey Keeley (Brown) 5-3
3^rd Cons: #3 Gage Curry (American) dec. DeVincenzo 6-2
7^thPlace: #7 Nolan Hellickson (Harvard) WBF DeVincenzo 5:27

133 • Jonathan Gomez
1^st Round: #2 Scott Parker (Lehigh) WBF Gomez 6:56
1^st Cons: Gomez dec. Chris Scorese (Columbia) 13-7
2^nd Cons: Gomez dec. #9 Hunter Kosco (Brown) 10-6
3^rd Cons: Gomez dec. #5 Lane Peters (Army) 10-8
4^th Cons: #3 Josh Terao (American) TF Gomez 16-0
5^thPlace: Gomez wins via injury default

141 • #9 Pat D'Arcy
1^st Round: D'Arcy dec. #8 Austin Harry (Army) 7-5, sv-1
2^nd Round: #1 Yianni Diakomihalis (Cornell) TF D'Arcy 18-3
2^nd Cons: D'Arcy dec. #10 Brett Kulp (F&M) 6-3
3^rd Cons: #5 A.J. Jaffe (Harvard) dec. D'Arcy 4-1
7^th: J.P. Ascolese (Columbia) dec. D'Arcy 7-1

149 • #1 Matthew Kolodzik
1^st Round: Kolodzik dec. Ryan Burkert (Hofstra) 7-5
QF: Kolodzik mdec. #9 Jacob Macalolooy (Columbia) 9-1
SF: Kolodzik dec. #5 Jared Prince (Navy) 8-2
Final: Kolodzik dec. #10 Frank Garcia (Binghamton) 13-6

157 • #1 Mike D'Angelo
1^st Round: D'Angelo mdec. Emmett Licastri (F&M) 9-1
QF: D'Angelo dec. #8 Lucas Weiland (Army) 6-2
SF: D'Angelo mdec. Garrett Hammond (Drexel) 11-3
Final: #2 Markus Scheidel (Columbia) dec. D'Angelo 3-2

165 • #3 Jonathan Schleifer
1^st Round: Schleifer mdec. Laurence Kosoy (Columbia) 16-4
QF: Schleifer dec. Jon Viruet (Brown) 3-2
SF: Schleifer dec. #2 May Bethea (Penn) 3-2
Final: #1 Jon Jay Chavez (Cornell) dec. Schleifer 10-4

174 • Matthew Gancayco
1^st Round: #6 Josef Johnson (Harvard) dec. Gancayco 6-2
1^st Cons: Josh Young (F&M) dec. Gancayco 4-2, sv-1

184 • Kevin Parker
1^st Round: #1 Ryan Preisch (Lehigh) WBF Parker 1:28
1^st Cons: Parker dec. #9 Noah Stewart (Army) 7-3
2^nd Cons: #7 Joe Heyob (Penn) dec. Parker 5-2

197 • #2 Patrick Brucki
1^st Round: Brucki mdec. Alex Melikian (Binghamton) 16-3
QF: Brucki mdec. #10 Tucker Ziegler (Brown) 15-6
SF: #3 Frank Mattiace (Penn) dec. Brucki 5-1
4^th Cons: #5 Jeric Kasunic (American) WBF Brucki 7:00
5^th Place: Brucki dec. #4 Chris Weiler (Lehigh) 9-6

285 • #7 Christian Araneo
1^st Round: Araneo mdec. #10 Robert Heald (Army) 14-1
QF: #2 Jordan Wood (Lehigh) mdec. Araneo 10-2
2^nd Cons: Araneo dec. #9 Andrew Piehl (Navy) 9-4
3^rd Cons: #6 Antonio Pelusi (F&M) dec. Araneo 10-5
7^th Place: Araneo wins by injury default

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