Rivera, Garcia Earn Ranked Wins as Wrestling Falls to #14 Rutgers

Monday, February 16

Piscataway, N.J.

7:00 PM

Princeton University

Rutgers

Photo by: Lisa Elfstrum

Rivera, Garcia Earn Ranked Wins as Wrestling Falls to #14 Rutgers

February 16, 2026 | Wrestling

PISCATAWAY, N.J. – With Ethan Rivera and Holden Garcia picking up ranked wins, the Princeton wrestling team fell to Rutgers, 28-9, on Monday night in Piscataway.

Three Tigers won in the contest, with Garcia, Marc-Anthony McGowan, Rivera taking decisions.

Starting at 174, Garcia opened up the night with a fiery performance against #17 Lenny Pinto. Despite defending well, Garcia gave up a takedown in the first, getting two points back for a score of 3-2 in the second period.

Still holding on by the third, Garcia got a big takedown with a minute remaining to take the lead, 5-4. However, Pinto was able to tie it up before the clock expired.

Going into the sudden victory period, Garcia aggressively pursued Pinto and found the winning takedown just thirty seconds in. With the 8-5 ranked win, Garcia got Princeton on the board, 3-0.

McGowan was the next Tiger to add to the team score as he took a 5-1 decision over #24 Ayden Smith after making a takedown in the first period.

Rivera was up next at 133, wrestling hard at the whistle in his matchup with #24 Dylan Shawver. Taking shots, he found a takedown just thirty seconds into the match, getting the 3-0 lead.

In the second period, though, Shawver tied it up with a takedown of his own, and the match was knotted at four. Rivera was able to get the advantage on an escape, but with two minutes on the clock.

In an impressive defensive performance, Rivera avoided each of Shawver's shots and wrestled his way through dangerous spots to not concede any points. As the clock expired, Rivera's 5-4 lead stood.

The win marked Rivera's second ranked victory in three days after defeating Penn's #12 Evan Mougalian on Sunday.

Several Tigers dropped close matches despite solid efforts. Eligh Rivera fell 2-1 to #19 Andrew Clark in a match decided by escape points. Ty Whalen also dropped a razor-thin decision to #19 Andrew Barbosa, 4-3.

Up Next
Princeton will close out the regular season on the road at #1 Penn State on Friday.

#14 Rutgers def. Princeton, 28-9
174: Holden Garcia (PU) over 17/20 Lenny Pinto (RU) by SV1, 8-5; PU leads, 3-0
184: 20/18 Shane Cartagena-Walsh (RU) over Xavier Giles (PU) by MD, 21-8; RU leads, 4-3
197: 16/16 Remy Cotton (RU) over Conor McCloskey (PU) by TF, 19-4 (3:20); RU leads, 9-3
HWT: 19/19 Hunter Catka (RU) over Sebastian Garibaldi (PU) by TF, 21-5 (3:56); RU leads, 14-3
125: 12/15 Marc-Anthony McGowan (PU) over 24/22 Ayden Smith (RU) by dec., 5-1; RU leads, 14-6
133: Ethan Rivera (PU) over 24/32 Dylan Shawver (RU) by dec., 5-4; RU leads, 14-9
141: 6/8 Joseph Olivieri (RU) over Matthew Martino (PU) by TF, 19-2 (4:49); RU leads, 19-9
149: 29/-- Andrew Clark (RU) over 10/15 Eligh Rivera (PU) by dec., 2-1; RU leads, 22-9
157: 26/27 Anthony White (RU) over Rocco Camillaci (PU) by dec., 7-0; RU leads, 25-9
165: 19/24 Andrew Barbosa (RU) over 17/22 Ty Whalen (PU) by dec., 4-3; RU wins, 28-9
Rankings Intermat/Flo