#19 Princeton Heads To Ithaca Looking To End The Ivy League's Longest Championship Reign

Saturday, February 9

Ithaca, N.Y.

1:00 PM

Princeton University

Cornell

Photo by: Lisa Elfstrum

#19 Princeton Heads To Ithaca Looking To End The Ivy League's Longest Championship Reign

February 08, 2019 | Wrestling

LIVE ESPN+ VIDEO STREAMS: Cornell l Columbia

Head coach Chris Ayres has never shied away from setting the highest possible goals for the Princeton wrestling team. While many of them can't be accomplished until March, one of the biggest is right in front of Princeton this weekend.

Princeton will compete for its 12th Ivy League championship — and its first since 1986 — when the Tigers travel through New York to take on a pair of Ivy League rivals. That stretch starts Saturday at 1 pm when the league's only Top-20 programs meet at Newman Arena in what is considered the main event of the Ivy League season.

Tenth-ranked Cornell, winners of the last 16 Ivy League championships, will host #19 Princeton Saturday in a showdown on ESPN+ (see links above). Cornell, which enters the weekend having won 86 straight Ivy League matches, has won 32 straight dual meets over Princeton, though few were as close as the last one held in Ithaca; the Big Red got a comeback win at 197 and an overtime win at 125 to hold off the upset attempt 21-12.

This Princeton team, which ended long losing droughts this season to both Lehigh and Rider — and nearly pulled it off against Rutgers last weekend — has every intention of taking that final step this Saturday and grabbing at least a share of the top spot prior to Sunday's 2 pm match at Columbia, which will also be streamed on ESPN+. Cornell will open its Ivy League weekend Friday night when it takes on another Ivy unbeaten, Penn.

While there are three wrestlers currently ranked in the Top 3 scheduled to compete Saturday (#1 Yianni Diakomihalis, #2 Matthew Kolodzik and #3 Patrick Brucki), there will be plenty of eyes on the all-freshman showdown at 125. Princeton's Patrick Glory is currently ranked 10^th and brings a 19-3 record to Ithaca, where he will face 11^th-ranked Vitalo Arujau (17-1), who is undefeated since he moved to 125. While the showdown could become a swing match in the dual, it could also give the early advantage for both the Ivy League Rookie of the Year award, as well as the first-team All-Ivy spot at that weight.

Cornell could start as many as six ranked wrestlers, meaning Princeton will likely need to pull off 1-2 ranked upsets to post the road win. This is where the schedule that Ayres has put together is advantageous; most of the Tiger starters have wrestled multiple Top-20 wrestlers this season, and shouldn't be overwhelmed by the moment in Ithaca. The freshman trio of Marshall Keller, Quincy Monday and Travis Stefanik alone has combined to wrestle 15 nationally ranked opponents this season.

PRINCETON PROBABLES
125: #10 Patrick Glory (19-3)
133: Jonathan Gomez (5-10)
141: Marshall Keller (18-10)
149: #2 Matthew Kolodzik (15-1)
157: Quincy Monday (16-10)
165: Dale Tiongson (11-11)
174: Travis Stefanik (14-9)
184: Kevin Parker (16-9)
197: #3 Patrick Brucki (22-0)
285: Kendall Elfstrum (5-8)