No. 25 Wrestling Closes Dual Season Sunday at No. 14 Princeton

Sunday, February 23

Princeton, NJ

6 PM

Rutgers University

Princeton

No. 25 Wrestling Closes Dual Season Sunday at No. 14 Princeton

Feb 21 | Wrestling

Match Notes: Princeton Live Stream: ESPN+Radio: WRSU (88.7 FM)Season Stats

Scarlet Knights look for 24th consecutive victory over in-state rival Tigers

PISCATAWAY, N.J. – Rutgers wrestling (10-6, 4-5) closes out the 2019-20 dual schedule when it faces No. 14 Princeton (8-4) on Sunday at Jadwin Gym. The 6 p.m. dual will stream live via ESPN+. WRSU (88.7 FM) will have the radio broadcast.

What to Know
• The Scarlet Knights have won the past 23 meetings against the Tigers in the longest-running series in program history. The first meeting between the two schools took place in 1931 and will meet for the 83rd time on Sunday.
• In its last time out, RU delivered a convincing 26-13 win over then No. 25 Northwestern last Friday at the RAC, as it secured six out of 10 bouts. Nicolas Aguilar delivered a 3-1 upset over then No. 11 Michael DeAugustino, while five Scarlet Knights picked up wins by bonus against NU.
• After a week hiatus, Rutgers returned to the NWCA Coaches Poll at No. 25 with a 10-6 dual mark. RU has locked up a winning dual season for the 14th consecutive season and 13th since head coach Scott Goodale took over in 2007.
• Four Scarlet Knights - No. 23 Aguilar, No. 9 Sammy Alvarez (133), No. 14 Billy Janzer (184) and No. 18 Jordan Pagano (197) - are all ranked this week, according to FloWrestling. Gerard Angelo (149), Brett Donner (165), Joseph Grello (174) and Christian Colucci (HWT) also appear in national polls heading into weekend action.
• Rutgers gets two weeks off after Sunday before it hosts the 2020 Big Ten Wrestling Championships from March 7-8 at the RAC.

RPI & Coaches Poll Info
• Four Rutgers wrestlers appear in the first NCAA RPI Rankings, released last week. In addition, six Scarlet Knights were ranked in the second NCAA coaches' panel rankings. The final rankings will be one of the tools used as part of the selection process to determine the qualifiers for the 2020 NCAA Division I Wrestling Championships, held March 19-21 in Minneapolis.

NCAA RPI (First Edition)
No. 7 Sammy Alvarez (133)
No. 12 Nicolas Aguilar (125)
No. 12 Jordan Pagano (197)
No. 17 Billy Janzer (184)

NCAA Coaches' Panel (Second Edition)
No. 7 Sammy Alvarez (133)
No. 17 Nicolas Aguilar (125)
No. 18 Jordan Pagano (197)
No. 19 Billy Janzer (184)
No. 28 Joseph Grello (174)
No. 33 Brett Donner (165)

Projected Matchups: No. 14 Princeton
125: 20/23/24 Nicolas Aguilar (20-8) vs. 3/3/3 Patrick Glory (19-0)
133: 10/9/8 Sammy Alvarez (22-7) vs. Ty Agaisse (6-6)
141: JoJo Aragona (11-9) OR Zach Firestone (5-7) vs. Marshall Keller (12-13)
149: Gerard Angelo (14-10) OR Nick Santos (7-2) vs. 4/4/2 Matthew Kolodzik (9-0)
157: Michael VanBrill (16-15) vs. 4/4/5 Quincy Monday (20-3)
165: NR/NR/33 Brett Donner (16-13) vs. NR/21/26 Grant Cuomo (15-5)
174: Willie Scott (8-7) OR Joseph Grello (6-5) vs. Kevin Parker (13-7)
184: 13/14/17 Billy Janzer (19-6) vs. NR/25/26 Travis Stefanik (13-4)
197: 19/18/19 Jordan Pagano (21-7) vs. 3/3/3 Patrick Brucki (17-3)
HWT: Alex Esposito (17-12) vs. Aidan Conner (6-14)

Rankings: Intermat/FloWrestling/TheOpenMat

Scouting Princeton
• The Tigers clinched their first Ivy League title since 1986 when they defeated No. 17 Cornell, 19-13, on Feb. 9 at Jadwin. Princeton is 8-4 this season, most recently sweeping matches last weekend against Penn (33-6) and Drexel (22-16) on campus at Dillon Gymnasium.
• Princeton features six ranked individuals - No. 3 Patrick Glory (125), No. 3 Patrick Brucki (197), No. 4 Matthew Kolodzik (149), No. 5 Quincy Monday (157), No. 21 Grant Cuomo (165) and No. 25 Travis Stefanik (184) - according to FloWrestling. Kolodzik, a three-time All-American who has missed a majority of the season due to Olympic Redshirt, is slated to wrestle after making his season debut against Cornell on Feb. 9.
• The Tigers produced a 9-6 dual record last season and finished 15th at the 2019 NCAA Wrestling Championships in Pittsburgh with three All-Americans. Brucki (fourth), Kolodzik (fifth) and Glory (sixth) all appeared on the podium last March.

Series vs. Princeton
• The most historic series in program history, Rutgers has faced Princeton a record 82 times and leads the series, 44-33-5. The Scarlet Knights have claimed the last 23 matchups with the Tigers, with their last loss occurring on Dec. 8, 1990.
• One of the most thrilling installments of the series occurred last winter, as No. 18 Rutgers defeated No. 20 Princeton, 19-18, on Feb. 3, 2019 in front of 5,290 fans at the RAC. No. 2 Anthony Ashnault (149) knocked off previously unbeaten and No. 1 Kolodzik by major decision, while a major from Colucci (HWT) in the final bout of the afternoon secure the dual for the Scarlet Knights. No. 4 Nick Suriano (133) collected a tech fall, while No. 14 John VanBrill (157) and Grello (174) each worked decisions to aid in the dual win.
• Rutgers also won the last matchup at Jadwin, a 28-7 victory to close out the 2018 dual season. RU won eight out of 10 bouts against Princeton, which included a fall from Nicholas Gravina (184) and a ranked win from John VanBrill. Current Scarlet Knights Grello and Michael VanBrill earned wins in that meeting.

Up Next
Rutgers hosts the 2020 Big Ten Wrestling Championships from March 7-8 at the RAC.

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

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