"Before each match I'm always telling myself to stay cool, calm and collected," Lombardo said. "I kept that same mindset going into this match. Right off the bat I knew he didn't have anything against my hand-fighting and wrist control, so I knew I just needed to stay in my stance and get on top and I could win."
Making the Quakers Quake
Kicking off the first dual of the day against UPenn, Lombardo took the mat against Quinton Hiles, in which he answered a 3-0 Quakers team lead with a 14-2 major decision. Schneider followed suit, taking a 3-1 decision over No. 21 Joe Heyob, pushing the Bearcats to a 7-3 lead.
Taking back the upperhand, UPenn notched wins at 197, 285 and 133 to lead 15-13. At 141, Joe Russ combined for two takedowns, three reversals and ride time to take an 11-7 decision over Jake Lizak, and a 16-15 team lead. UPenn answered, grabbing a win at 149 to go up 18-16. Closing out the match, Tristan Rifanburg took the mat against Joe Velliquette, accumulating four back points and a takedown with five seconds left in the third period to win 8-4 and secure a 19-18 win over the Quakers. The win marks the first time in program history that Binghamton has beat UPenn in a dual match.
"I think that makes quite a statement about this program," acting head coach Kyle Borshoff said. "We continue to climb up through the conference and we continue to get better every time we wrestle. The scary thing about that win is that we left a lot of points out on the board and we still came away with a win, and I think that shows that the guys wrestled hard and fought for that victory."
Destroying the Dragon's Lair
The Bearcats took the mat against Drexel for their second match of the day, winning four out of six matches against nationally ranked opponents in a 21-12 team victory.
At 133, Jake Nicholson put Binghamton on the board with a 4-2 decision over Chandler Olson to tie the score at 3. Russ, taking the mat against Julian Flores, turned a Flores takedown into a reversal late in the third combined with ride time to take a 6-3 decision and a 6-3 Bearcat lead.
Frankie Garcia kept the momentum going, taking on No. 28 Trevor Elfvin at 149. Trailing 2-1 through the first period, Garcia earned a takedown late in the second to take a 3-2 lead into the third. The redshirt sophomore added another takedown with ride time to earn a 7-3 victory over Elfvin, and a 9-3 Binghamton lead.
After falling at 157, the Bearcats then saw three consecutive wins over ranked opponents, starting with No. 29 Vincent DePrez's 7-5 decision over No. 33 Ebed Jarrell.
At 174, Lombardo left no room for doubt securing his 6-1 victory over No. 30 Rose with four back points in the third, bumping Binghamton to a 15-7 lead. No. 9 Schneider then extended his win streak to seven dual matches, with a 4-0 decision over No. 28 Alex DeCiantis. The win marks Schneider's 97th career win.
Drexel scored their final team points of the match at 197, right before Sean Dee put the nail in the coffin with a 5-4 tiebreaker win over Vincenzo Pelusi. The final match, which extended through two overtimes into the second tiebreaker round, gave Binghamton the 21-12 win over the Dragons.
"I think the whole match against Drexel is a highlight," Borshoff said. "They had six guys ranked in the top-30 that we wrestled tonight, and we won seven out of 10 bouts overall. It was a great match, the guys were really fired up, they're getting better everyday and they're excited to compete and it's showing every time we step out onto that mat."
Binghamton returns home next weekend for their home opener in the West Gym Friday night, February 2, against American at 7 p.m before hosting Sacred Heart on Saturday, February 3 at 2 p.m.
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