Rutgers Falls in Home EIWA Match to Navy
Feb 15 | Wrestling
NEW BRUNSWICK, N.J. - The Rutgers wrestling team, under the guidance of first-year head coach Scott Goodale, fell to EIWA conference foe Navy 29-6 on Friday evening at the College Ave. Gym in New Brunswick, N.J. The Scarlet Knights (10-7, 5-3) dropped eight bouts to the Midshipmen (5-4, 4-1), four of them by four points or fewer.
"Navy is a better team than us right now," said Goodale. "We are not doing a good job of winning the close matches. We ran out of gas in a few of those bouts tonight, but as a team we're just not scoring enough."
The match started at 149-pounds, with Jack Barrett (Metuchen, N.J.) falling in a close 4-0 bout to Navy's Bryce Saddoris. After Chris Norrell (Phillipsburg, N.J.) fell to Spencer Manley 12-5 at 157, Matt Pletcher (Eastampton, N.J.) took Justin Jacobs to the wire at 165, finishing the third period tied at one but losing the bout 2-1 because Jacobs held a 1:20 riding time advantage. Junior Mike Whalen (Lake Hiawatha, N.J.) fought the No. 7 ranked 174-pounder Matt Stolpinski but still fell by major decision, 11-2. Sophomore Keith Dobish (Lodi, N.J.) then dropped a tight 3-1 decision to Casey Caldwell to give Navy a 16-0 team lead.
In the most exciting match of the night, junior Lamar Brown (Red Bank, N.J.) and Navy's Matt Parsons wrestled to the wire at 194, with Brown finishing on top 12-9 for RU's first victory. After Karim Mahmoud (Wallington, N.J.) was pinned by Navy's No. 3 ranked heavyweight Ed Prendergast, freshman Ryan Fikslin (Landing, N.J.) fell in a tight 5-4 decision to Allen Stein at 125. Navy picked up its second major decision of the night when Joe Baker defeated Dan Hilt (Manalapan, N.J.) 12-4. Redshirt senior Steve Adamcsik (Chester, N.J.) finished off the night in winning fashion, defeating Joey Breen 9-4 to make the final score 29-6.
"We are at the point where we should win the close matches, but the great thing about this sport is that we have a chance to try again next week against Drexel," said Goodale.
Rutgers returns to the mat for its final home match of the season on Thursday at 7:00 p.m., when Drexel comes to the College Ave. Gym. Admission is free to the public.
Navy 29 - Rutgers 6
149 - Bryce Saddoris (Navy) 4-0 dec. over Jack Barrett (RU) 3-0 Navy
157 - Spencer Manley (Navy) 12-5 dec. over Chris Norrell (RU) 6-0 Navy
165 - Justin Jacobs (Navy) 2-1 dec. over Matt Pletcher (RU) 9-0 Navy
174 - Matt Stolpinski (Navy) 11-2 maj. dec. over Mike Whalen (RU) 13-0 Navy
184 - Casey Caldwell (Navy) 3-1 dec. over Keith Dobish (RU) 16-0 Navy
197 - Lamar Brown (RU) 12-9 dec. over Matt Parsons (Navy) 16-3 Navy
HWT - Ed Prendergast (Navy) pin at 6:23 over Karim Mahmoud (RU) 22-3 Navy
125 - Allen Stein (Navy) 5-4 dec. over Ryan Fikslin (RU) 25-3 Navy
133 - Joe Baker (Navy) 12-4 maj. dec. over Dan Hilt (RU) 29-3 Navy
141 - Steve Adamcsik (RU) 9-4 dec. over Joey Breen (Navy) 29-6 Navy
