WORCESTER, Mass. – The Norwich University wrestling team went 1-2 on the day in dual meets against two nationally ranked teams, No. 23 Ursinus College and No. 2 Roger Williams University as well as host Worcester Polytechnic Institute (WPI) on Saturday, Nov. 21.
In the opening match against WPI, the Cadets won its first two matches at 125 and 133 pounds for the 7-0 lead. Rookie Jacob Forsman (Voorhees, N.J.) would pick up a major decision over Brian Amato in an 18-4 victory followed by classmate Sean Randles's (Las Vegas, Nev.) 4-3 sudden victory over Patrick Lacroix.
WPI quickly responded with back-to-back wins at 141 and 149, both in major decisions for its first lead of the match, 8-7. Norwich's Pat McCurdy (Alloway, N.J.) (157) and Zach Gibson (Lithopolis, Ohio) (165) each picked up three team points in their victories for the 13-8 score. McCurdy defeated Matthew Assael, 12-5 before Gibson won 8-4 over WPI's Constantine Galanis.
The Engineers would pick up six more points on a pin fall in the 174 weight class before junior David Rogers (Marlborough, Mass.) defeated Joe Pizzuto in a 16-3 major decision as the Cadets held a 17-14 lead with two matches remaining. WPI's Michael Curtis would pick up three points on a 10-3 decision to tie up the contest before Austin Shrewsbury closed the deal in the 285 weight match with an 8-3 decision to give the Engineers three team points for the 20-17 win.
Norwich rebounded in its second dual match of the day against No. 26 Ursinus College. Forsman would pick up his second win of the day with a 12-6 decision over Chris Tan before the Bears won the next four matches, two in major decisions and two in technical falls, for the 18-3 lead. The Cadets rallied from behind, starting with Gibson picking up an 8-2 decision over Patrick Rafferty followed by Steve Birganti's (Trumbull, Conn.) 5-2 decision over Robert Rein for six more team points with three more weight classes remaining in the match.
Trailing 14-9 and the momentum in the Cadets' favor, Rogers and Satchel Stauffer (Catasauqua, Pa.) (197) each pinned their opponents for a combined 12 team points heading into the final weight class of the match, 285. Ursinus' Matan Peleg faced Norwich's Paul Kotler (Orlando, Fla.) in the final match and picked up the 6-2 decision and three team points to tie the match.
With the score tied at 21 points, the tie breaker would come into play and the team that records the most pin falls in a dual match gets one team point. Norwich would pick up the tie breaker point for having two pin from Rogers and Stauffer, while WPI had no falls in the match.
Norwich took on the second ranked team in the country, Roger Williams University, in the final match of the day. Roger Williams would forfeit the 125 class, giving the Cadets six points to start with. The Hawks would show its true power in the next nine matches, picking up five falls, two technical falls and two decisions for the 44-6 win.
All four teams are off until the first weekend in December. WPI (2-0) and Norwich (2-2) head to the Rochester, N.Y. for the Rochester Institute of Technology (RIT) Tournament and Roger Williams (5-0) ventures to York (PA) for the New Standard Corporation Invitational both on Saturday, December 5th while Ursinus (0-3) begins competition a day earlier in the two-day Petrofes Invitational hosted by Messiah College.
