PISCATAWAY, N.J. – No. 14 Rutgers wrestling (11-5, 4-4) defeated Maryland (4-7, 2-6), 27-12, on Friday night in front of 3,895 fans at Jersey Mike's Arena. The Scarlet Knights worked a 7-3 match split with the Terrapins, including a fall from No. 19
Brian Soldano (184) and ranked wins from No. 9
Dylan Shawver (133), No. 21
Mitch Moore (141) and
Al DeSantis (157).
RU never trailed against the visitors, winning its first three bouts of the night and four consecutive out of intermission. Soldano, DeSantis and No. 19
Dean Peterson (125) collected bonus to help Rutgers pick up its 11th win of the season, ninth consecutive over Maryland and the 220th dual win of head coach
Scott Goodale's career.
During the match, Rutgers honored UFC Hall of Fame inductee and former assistant coach Frankie Edgar, as well as 2024 Olympic qualifier Sebastian Rivera. Edgar worked as an assistant at Rutgers from 2007-10. Rivera wrestled two seasons for the Scarlet Knights and earned an NCAA bronze medal in 2022.
"I'm fired up the way we bounced back," said Goodale. "It had been a long four weeks. When you don't win and you have some tough bouts, you can lose a team. But that never happened. I'm really excited for our guys. This was a match was important not just from an individual standpoint, but from a team standpoint."
- Peterson opened with Tommy Capul and jumped out to an early 10-1 lead thanks to two takedowns and four-point near fall. Peterson finished strong with an additional two takedowns in the second period to lock up the 17-2 tech fall to give Rutgers a quick 5-0 lead.
- Shawver followed against No. 16 Braxton Brown, hitting a double-leg takedown at the buzzer in the first period and adding back-to-back takedowns in periods two and three for the 9-5 decision. Shawver's third consecutive ranked win made it 8-0 Rutgers through two bouts.
- Moore returned to the mat against No. 12 Kal Miller using an escape point and riding time point for the 2-0 decision. It marked Moore's fourth ranked win of the season.
- After No. 25 Michael Cetta (149) lost a tough 13-3 major decision to No. 12 Ethen Miller, DeSantis faced No. 32 Michael North. DeSantis was aggressive throughout the bout, hitting a four-point near fall in the third period along with two takedowns for the 13-3 major. His bonus-point victory made it 11-4 Rutgers at intermission.
- Anthony White (165) and No. 14 Jackson Turley (174) added back-to-back decisions out of the break to lead into Soldano's match with Chase Mielnik. In the second period, Soldano hopped over Mielnik and caught him in an armbar before pinning the Terp and securing the dual.
- Rutgers hosts Bloomsburg for Senior Night on Wednesday, February 21. The dual is set for 7 p.m. and will stream on Big Ten Plus.
No. 14 Rutgers 27, Maryland 12
125: 19/18
Dean Peterson (RU) over Tommy Capul (UMD) by TF, 17-2 (3:25); RU leads, 5-0
133: 9/7
Dylan Shawver (RU) over 16/14 Braxton Brown (UMD) by dec., 9-5; RU leads, 8-0
141: 21/16
Mitch Moore (RU) over 28/21 Kal Miller (UMD) by dec., 2-0; RU leads, 11-0
149: 12/18 Ethen Miller (UMD) over 25/33
Michael Cetta (RU) by MD, 13-3; RU leads, 11-4
157: Al DeSantis (RU) over NR/32 Michael North (UMD) by MD, 13-5; RU leads, 15-4
165: Anthony White (RU) over AJ Rodrigues (UMD) by dec., 7-4; RU leads, 18-4
174: 14/19
Jackson Turley (RU) over Dom Solis (UMD) by dec., 1-0; RU leads, 21-4
184: 22/19
Brian Soldano (RU) over Chase Mielnik (UMD) by fall (5:42); RU leads, 27-4
197: 4/3 Jaxon Smith (UMD) over
Hadyn Packer (RU) by TF, 23-5 (5:18); RU leads, 27-9
HWT: 26/32 Seth Nevills (UMD) over 10/10
Yaraslau Slavikouski (RU) by dec., 5-2; RU wins, 27-12
Head coach Scott Goodale
Opening Statement: "Fired up the way we bounced back. It's been a long four weeks when you don't win. Tough bouts, you could kind of lose a team and that's the one thing that never happened. So I'm really excited for our guys. We are really starting to look forward to the Big 10 tournament. And this was a match that was important from an individual standpoint, but also from a team standpoint. It's good to start your training in preparation for the Big Ten's. I know we have another one Wednesday. Some guys will wrestle some guys won't wrestle. That'll be determined in the next couple of days, but our preparation will start for the big 10 tournament."
On where the team is going into Big Tens: "I think from a team standpoint, we're probably middle of the pack. That's fair. We're going to have to upset some guys to make that semi final and final round for sure. But we do have some guys in some pretty good spots. For example,
Dylan Shawver. Believe it or not, that match tonight was huge. So a possible second seed right there. But it's the big 10 tournament. I promise you this, everybody on that line in that bracket and every single weight class is very, very good. So we know that. We've been through it. So it really doesn't matter where you're placed on the line. But some of our guys put themselves in a better position, if that makes sense. That's where I think we're kind of at as a team. I think from an individual standpoint, we can win a lot of big matches but we have to get better in the next few weeks. We have to get better."
On Al DeSantis' win: "Obviously he came up with that major decision. That was great for him because he wanted that match. It's a national ranked kid I believe so that was just good for us. We struggled in that weight class all year long. It's no secret and the struggle at 165. For both guys to stick with it, continuing to come in and train and have your opportunity to win in this building is important. They've heard a lot of crap, right? They've heard a lot so it was good for them. I'm proud of those guys for sticking with it and just continuing to come in and train and that's the best thing about our team. There's been ups, there's been downs. It's like a blue collar mentality. It's just the lunch pail mentality and coming to work every day trying to get better. We know these next three weeks are super, super important. Long winded way of saying I'm super proud of both Anthony and Al."
On Frankie Edgar and Sebastian Rivera attendance: "I don't know how many people even understand it. Frankie worked with us for those first two, three years. Those were some cool days. It was a lot of fun. And he was just getting into his career. He's the toughest son of a gun I've ever been around. Hardest working guy I've ever been around. He spoke to the team this year. He comes around quite a bit. Obviously super tight with Sebastian but he inspires us. He's an inspiring guy who never thinks he's out of it. I think we take on a little bit of that persona. Maybe we don't talk about Frankie every single day, but it's a little bit of our persona that started back in 2007 and still carries on today. It's awesome that he was here tonight. Well deserved. Hall of Famer is pretty cool. He gets a singlet. He's the man and obviously we're very very close.
On takeaways from the match heading into the Big Ten Tournament: "Maryland's an up and coming team who's doing a really, really good job. They really are. They just beat Michigan State pretty badly last week. I'm certainly thinking about it, and I just think it was good for our guys. It was good for our guys to go out, (and get) another Big Ten win at home. That's what I'm taking away from it. I think to score you have to shoot, you have to be offensive. There were times we weren't as aggressive as the staff would have liked, but I just take away a long, Big Ten season. Now that we're through it, we can now really start to concentrate (on the Big Ten Tournament). I know we have Bloomsburg. We won't take anybody lightly there, but we're three weeks out from the Big Ten Championships. We're going to get healthy, we're going to get rested, we're going to train, we're going to have a great cycle of training, and we'll be ready to go for three weeks."
On the emergence of Dylan Shawver: "He's worked at it. He's really good. He's always been really good. I think maybe 125 was a stretch for him. That kind of took away a little bit of his wrestling. I think concentrating totally on one weight is good. He also got a little banged up last year but Dylan's always been good. He's beaten a lot of these guys through the freestyle ranks. The Penn State guy, (Aaron) Nagao he's beaten, (Michael) Colaiocco he's beaten. He's had a ton of huge wins. He's a gangster. He believes he could beat everybody. That's the coolest part about it. He loves to compete. He doesn't get a chance to wrestle Wednesday. That's his last match. You are only allowed 16 bouts so he won't wrestle on Wednesday. He'll start his preparation Sunday. Every single time he wants to wrestle. He wants to compete. He's a competitor. He'll be in the thick of every single match going forward from here until March 20th for sure."
184-Pounder Brian Soldano
On his pin: "I mean, there's no better feeling. The crowd here is like none other in the country. And honestly, for the end of the year Goody (Coach
Scott Goodale) is gonna owe me a steak dinner for the team point race. So that's always a good little bonus."
On his move to pin: "It was a little bit of a freestyle move. We call it wizard kick. Just get them up and over. But, last year and this year, I've been so comfortable with my over-unders and today I just fell right into my comfort zone."
