The win also gave Drexel claim to the Abner's Cheesesteak Trophy for the first time since the tradition between the two neighboring schools began three years ago. Along with this, the squad's six consecutive wins mark the first win streak of this length for the Dragons since 2006.
Zack Fuentes started the Dragons off by pinning Penn's Jeremy Schwartz in the second period of the 125 match to give Drexel an early 6-0 advantage. David Pearce followed with a strong 4-1 decision at 133 over Caleb Richardson, who was ranked 27th in the NCAA Coaches' Poll going into this weekend's competition. Then back-to-back major decisions from Kevin Devoy Jr. and No. 11 Matthew Cimato at 141 and 149 respectively would add to the Drexel advantage, putting them ahead in the team score, 17-0 just four matches into the dual.
Penn began to retaliate with the 157 match as No. 25 May Bethea pinned Mike Comunale to cut Drexel's lead to 17-6. The Quakers' Brooks Martino went on to edge Austin Rose in the 165 match, 5-3 and then No. 13 Casey Kent took a 9-1 major from Nick Elmer to bring the team score to 17-13. Penn's No. 15 Lorenzo Thomas would bring the Quakers within one point as he earned an 8-3 decision over Stephen Loiseau at 184.
With the Dragons lead cut to 17-16 with two matches to go, Joshua Murphy came out to wrestle at 197. Murphy took a 1-0 lead with an escape in the second period, but then Penn's Joe Heyob earned an escape of his own to even the score at the start of the third period. It seemed as if the match would go to overtime as time wound down in regulation, but then Murphy secured a crucial takedown with just one second remaining to earn a 3-1 victory and extend Drexel's lead to 20-16.
Needing to hold the Quakers off for the last match, Joey Goodhart came out and fought off Penn's Patrik Garren at heavyweight. Goodhart was able to keep control of the hard-fought match and built up almost two minutes of riding time. An escape to start the third period gave Goodhart even more of the advantage and he would go on to earn a 2-0 victory, which in turn secured a 23-16 win on the day for the Dragons.
With the win, the Dragons finish the regular season at 10-7 overall and 6-3 in EIWA action. The loss moves the Quakers to 6-6, 6-5 EIWA.
Next up, the Dragons will travel to Princeton, N.J. to compete in the 2016 EIWA Championships on March 5 and 6.
Results:
125: Zack Fuentes (DU) WBF Jeremy Schwartz (Penn) @ 4:59
133: David Pearce (DU) DEC No. 27 Caleb Richardson (Penn), 4-1
141: Kevin Devoy Jr. (DU) MAJ A.J. Vindici (Penn), 11-3
149: No. 11 Matthew Cimato (DU) MAJ Eric Friedman (Penn), 10-2
157: No. 25 May Bethea (Penn) WBF Mike Comunale (DU) @ 2:47
165: Brooks Martino (Penn) DEC Austin Rose (DU), 5-3
174: No. 13 Casey Kent (Penn) MAJ Nick Elmer (DU), 9-1
184: No. 15 Lorenzo Thomas (Penn) DEC Stephen Loiseau (DU), 8-3
197: Joshua Murphy (DU) DEC Joe Heyob (Penn), 3-1
285: Joey Goodhart (DU) DEC Patrik Garren (Penn), 2-0
Recommended Comments
There are no comments to display.
Create an account or sign in to comment
You need to be a member in order to leave a comment
Create an account
Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!
Register a new accountSign in
Already have an account? Sign in here.
Sign In Now