PISCATAWAY, N.J. – Standout rookie Brian Soldano was named to the 2022-23 Intermat All-Freshman Team. Soldano earned second-team laurels by the publication after his first varsity season for Rutgers wrestling.

Soldano finished with 23 victories as a true freshman and led the Scarlet Knights with 51 dual points during the 2022-23 campaign. Soldano placed sixth at the 2023 Big Ten Championships, which included wins over No. 10 Abe Assad (Iowa) and No. 22 Dulan Connell (Illinois) en route to an automatic bid to the 2023 NCAA Tournament. Seeded 18th at the national tournament, Soldano opened NCAAs with a first-period fall of No. 15 Layne Malczewski (Michigan State) and also added a pin against No. 16 Reece Heller (Pittsburgh) to highlight action in Tulsa.

Soldano went 12-4 during the dual season and posted a team-high eight pins in varsity action. The High Point product also finished fourth at the 2022 Midlands Championships and opened his collegaite career with back-to-back ranked wins over No. 17 Anthony Montalvo (Arizona State) and No. 22 Will Feldkamp (Clarion).

Rutgers finished No. 22 in the final 2022-23 NWCA Coaches Poll, the 10^th final top-25 finish for the Scarlet Knights under head coach Scott Goodale. RU produced seven NCAA qualifiers for the second consecutive season and qualified five or more student-athletes to the national tournament for the ninth consecutive season. Rutgers averaged 5,018 fans per home match at Jersey Mike's Arena this season, with its 7,848 fans in attendance against No. 1 Penn State on Feb. 10 marking the second-largest home crowd for a wrestling match at the arena in school history.