COLLEGE PARK, Md. – No. 23 Rutgers wrestling (10-5, 2-4) muscled a 28-7 win over RV Maryland (8-7, 0-6) on Saturday afternoon in College Park. Tied through the first four bouts of the dual, the Scarlet Knights won the final six matchups to earn their eighth consecutive dual victory over the Terrapins in the all-time series. No. 16
Joe Heilmann (133) collected bonus points, while No. 26
Boone McDermott (HWT) and
Andrew Clark (157) worked wins over ranked foes to help RU collect the Big Ten Conference road victory.
Saturday's win over Maryland secured double-digit dual victories for the 14th season under head coach
Scott Goodale.
"I am fired up for the way we bounced back," Goodale said. "We had it handed to us last week against Northwestern, so I was really proud of the way our guys responded today. Winning is a hard thing to do in this conference, but we had a great week of practice and we're excited how we performed today."
- No. 12 Dean Peterson (125) opened the dual with a swing match against No. 18 Braxton Brown. After a hard scramble in the first period, Brown used a four-point near fall off the restart in the second en route to an 8-0 major.
- Heilmann countered with bonus points against King Sandoval, hitting a four-point play of his own in the first period along with three takedowns for a 12-0 victory to tie the dual at 4-4.
- Olivieri faced Kal Miller and gutted out a 2-1 win. Miller was hit with a penalty point to give Olivieri a 1-0 lead. Olivieri then escaped in the second and erased Miller's riding time advantage in the third to secure RU its first lead of the dual.
- After a tough 4-2 loss from Tony White (149) to No. 18 Ethen Miller, Clark faced No. 32 Michael North in another swing match before the break. Clark wasted no time against North, as he landed a takedown in the first period, a reversal in the second and added near fall in the third for the 7-2 decision. The ranked win put Rutgers up 10-7 at intermission.
- Robert Kanniard (165) landed a takedown in the first seconds of his bout with John Martin Best and outwrestled the Terrapin for a 7-0 decision.
- Jackson Turley (174) faced 2022 NCAA qualifier Dom Solis and worked two takedowns in the final two minutes for a 5-1 decision. No. 15 Brian Soldano (184) followed with a 6-3 win, while a forfeit at 197 pounds put the dual out of reach for Maryland.
- The final match of the day featured a ranked-vs.-ranked matchup between McDermott and No. 27 Jaron Smith. Up 4-2 in the third period thanks to a takedown and reversal, McDermott gave up a takedown on the edge of the circle to make it a 4-4 match with 50 seconds to go. But McDermott escaped with just 18 seconds left for the 5-4 final. It was his first match since he suffered an injury against Rider on January 8 in Lawrenceville, as the ranked win capped a 28-7 dual win for Rutgers over Maryland.
- Rutgers closes its dual schedule against No. 1 Penn State on Friday, February 10 at Jersey Mike's Arena before heading west to face No. 10 Nebraska on Sunday, February 12 in Lincoln.
No. 23 Rutgers 28, RV Maryland 7
125: 18/22 Braxton Brown (UMD) over 12/12
Dean Peterson (RU) by MD, 8-0; UMD leads, 4-0
133: 16/14
Joe Heilmann (RU) over King Sandoval (UMD) by MD, 12-0; Match Tied, 4-4
141: 18/HM
Joseph Olivieri (RU) over Kal Miller (UMD) by dec., 2-1; RU leads, 7-4
149: 18/HM Ethen Miller (UMD) over NR/HM
Tony White (RU) by dec., 4-2; Match Tied, 7-7
157: NR/HM
Andrew Clark (RU) over 32/HM Michael North (UMD) by dec., 7-2; RU leads, 10-7
165: Robert Kanniard (RU) over John Martin Best (UMD) by dec., 7-0; RU leads, 13-7
174: Jackson Turley (RU) over Dominic Solis (UMD) by dec., 5-1; RU leads, 16-7
184: 15/16
Brian Soldano (RU) over Kevin Makosy (UMD) by dec., 6-3; RU leads, 19-7
197: NR/HM
Billy Janzer (RU) by forfeit; RU leads, 25-7
HWT: 26/22
Boone McDermott (RU) over 27/HM Jaron Smith (UMD) by dec., 5-4; RU wins, 28-7
