Wrestling Hosts No. 25 Northwestern Friday for Senior Day

Friday, February 14

7 PM

Rutgers University

Northwestern

Wrestling Hosts No. 25 Northwestern Friday for Senior Day

Feb 13 | Wrestling

BTNPlus Listen on WRSU Match Notes & Stats Sam Cali: A Tribute

Scarlet Knights to honor five seniors prior to dual with Wildcats

PISCATAWAY, N.J. – Rutgers wrestling (9-6, 3-5) closes its home dual schedule when it hosts No. 25 Northwestern (4-6, 2-5) on Friday night at the RAC. The match will stream live via BTNPlus, with Lou Brogno and Nick Kosko on the call.

What to Know
• Friday marks Senior Night for the program, as No. 17 Jordan Pagano (197), Christian Colucci (HWT), Zach Firestone (141), Anthony Olivieri (174) and Willie Scott (174) will be honored prior to the dual. Sam Cali, a member of the team who passed away after his redshirt freshman season in 2016, will also be honored during the ceremony.
• RU is fresh off a convincing 25-6 win over in-state rival Rider on Sunday in Lawrenceville. Rutgers secured its 14th consecutive winning season and 13th since head coach Scott Goodale took over the program in 2007 with its 8/2 match split over the Broncs.
• Pagano registered a 4-2 win in sudden victory over No. 7 Ethan Laird, while JoJo Aragona (141) earned a 3-2 decision over No. 25 Pete Lipari to highlight action for RU against Rider.
•Four Scarlet Knights - No. 17 Pagano, No. 9 Sammy Alvarez (133), No. 15 Billy Janzer (184) and No. 25 Nicolas Aguilar (125) - are all ranked this week, according to FloWrestling. Aragona, Colucci, Brett Donner (165) and Joseph Grello (174) also appear in national polls heading into weekend action.
• Rutgers closes out its dual season on Sunday, Feb. 23, when it travels down Route 27 to face No. 14 Princeton for a 6 p.m. matchup at Jadwin Gymnasium.

Projected Matchups: vs. No. 25 Northwestern
125: 20/25/17 Nicolas Aguilar (19-8) vs. 10/11/11 Michael DeAugustino (15-6)
133: 9/10/9 Sammy Alvarez (21-7) vs. 5/3/2 Sebastian Rivera (7-2) OR Dylan Utterback (2-8)
141: JoJo Aragona (11-8) OR Zach Firestone (5-7) vs. Alex McKenna (5-7)
149: Gerard Angelo (13-10) OR Nick Santos (7-2) vs. 18/18/16 Yahya Thomas (11-5)
157: Michael VanBrill (16-14) vs. 1/1/1 Ryan Deakin (15-0)
165: Brett Donner (16-12) vs. 18/13/17 Shayne Oster (14-8)
174: Willie Scott (7-7) OR Anthony Olivieri (5-1) vs. NR/22/26 Tyler Morland (9-8) OR Ankhaa Enkhmandakh (7-10)
184: 12/12/15 Billy Janzer (18-6) vs. Jack Jessen (12-14)
197: 19/19/20 Jordan Pagano (21-6) vs. 16/9/10 Lucas Davison (12-5)
HWT: Alex Esposito (16-12) vs. Jack Heyob (0-12)

Rankings: Intermat/FloWrestling/TheOpenMat

Scouting Northwestern
• Ranked No. 25 in the latest NWCA Coaches Poll, Northwestern enters Friday's match with a 4-6 dual record and 2-5 conference mark. In their last time out, the Wildcats suffered a 28-10 loss to No. 6 Ohio State on Feb. 9 in Columbus. NU will also face Maryland on Sunday during its East Coast road swing.
• Seven Wildcats enter the weekend ranked by FloWrestling - No. 1 Ryan Deakin (157), No. 3 Sebastian Rivera (133), No. 9 Lucas Davison (197), No. 11 Michael DeAugustino (125), No. 13 Shayne Oster (165), No. 18 Yahya Thomas (149) and No. 22 Tyler Morland (174).
• Rivera, from Jackson, N.J., is a two-time All-American and reigning 133-pound Big Ten champion for Northwestern, having finished third at last year's NCAA Championships. Deakin finished sixth in his weight class last year to give the Wildcats two All-Americans in 2019.
• Northwestern finished 5-10 in dual action last season and 22nd at nationals with five NCAA qualifiers.

Series vs. Northwestern
• Rutgers is 3-0 all-time against Northwestern, with all three meetings coming in Big Ten Conference action. The Scarlet Knights defeated NU, 22-13, in their last meeting on Feb. 2, 2018 in Evanston.
• The Scarlet Knights last hosted the Wildcats on Feb. 12, 2017, earning a 28-6 win. RU claimed eight out of 10 matches in the home dual, including a 3-2 overtime decision from Razohnn Gross against Conan Jennings to close out the match. Current Scarlet Knight Matthew Correnti wrestled in the dual.

Up Next
Rutgers closes out the regular season with a trip to No. 14 Princeton on Sunday, Feb. 23 for a 6 p.m. match at Jadwin Gymnasium. The Scarlet Knights then prep for the 2020 Big Ten Wrestling Championships, held March 7-8 at the RAC.

Rutgers Wrestling is presented by Eat Clean Bro, an Official Partner of Rutgers Athletics.

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