"The Rutgers-Princeton rivalry is steeped in tradition and has great alumni interest from each university," said head coach John Sacchi. "Both line-ups are young and lack experience so the match could go either way."
The Scarlet Knights are coming off a 36-4 loss to the University of Maryland on Dec. 9. Freshman Keith Dobish (Lodi, N.J.) posted his first career dual-match win at 184 pounds, recording the lone win for the Scarlet Knights in the match. Dobish took an early 2-0 lead against Maryland's Rich DiPietro with a takedown at the 2:03 mark. Leading 2-1 to start the second period, Dobish selected the defensive position and escaped just eight seconds in. After scoring four points in the second period, Dobish got another takedown, two nearfall points and earned a point for riding time to win the 12-3 major decision.
After seeing limited action last year and posting a 3-2 record in tournaments, sophomore Jack Barrett (Metuchen, N.J.) is making his presence felt in the Scarlet Knights line-up and leads the team with nine wins this season, including two pins. Freshman Chris Norrell (Phillipsburg, N.J.) has eight wins, while senior Dan Hilt (Manalapan, N.J.) has six wins in the early going of the season.
The meeting between the two teams will be the 70th, as the Tigers lead the all-time series, 31-33-5. Under Sacchi, Rutgers has won 10 out of 12 meetings, including the last nine matches.
A 9-3 decision win by Mike D'Amico at heavyweight lifted Rutgers to a 22-21 win over Princeton in last season's match-up on Jan. 6, 2006. Bonus points keyed the Scarlet Knights' win as Ryan Jablonski posted a pin at 125 pounds and Jamie Lijo won by fall at 184 pounds. Rudy Medini, one of RU's seniors last year, won by major decision at 184 pounds.Rutgers also got a decision win by 2006 NCAA qualifier Steve Adamcsik at 141 pounds.
Following the match with Princeton, the Scarlet Knights will be idle until Jan. 6 when they travel to Franklin & Marshall for a dual match-up at 2:00 p.m.
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