Rolling through the East Stroudsburg Duals, the wrestling team gained confidence and a winning attitude. With nine Tigers winning two or more matches Saturday, Princeton romped past East Stroudsburg University, American International College and Springfield.
Starting the three-meet day against ESU, the Tigers showed their opponents that they are one of the up-and-coming teams in the region, winning 33-6. Sophomores Joe Clarke, Greg Parker and Seth Dunipace, junior Juan Venturi and senior Chris McLaughlin, led Princeton by winning three matches apiece.
The Tigers also defeated AIC, 38-12, and Springfield, 43-3.
"We wrestled great and we did what we were supposed to do today," head coach Mike New said. "I knew we were better than these teams, but I was happy to see guys wrestle up to their abilities. Everyone had a great day, but there are a lot of things we need to work on and improve on if we want to compete in the [Eastern Intercollegiate Wrestling Association]."
Setting the tone for the day, Dunipace — who wrestles at 125 lbs. — started each meet with a win. His closest match of the day was against Tom Niccolichia of ESU. After that, Dunipace rolled over his competitors, with a forfeit from AIC and a win against Edylberto Santiago of Springfield.
Next in line
Following Dunipace in the rotation of the meets was Venturi, wrestling at 133 lbs. Winning all of his matches by a combined score of 48-14, Venturi first beat Kevin Racke of ESU, 9-2. Next came AIC's Yves Lamitie, whom Venturi pummeled, 17-7. Then Venturi finished the day by destroying Steve Mullady of Springfield, 22-5. Clearly one of Princeton's strongest wrestlers, Venturi already seems to have found his midseason form, even though it is still early December.
Wrestling at 141 lbs., Clarke also improved on his earlier wins by moving through the ESU, AIC and Springfield wrestlers with ease. With a pin and two 17-1 victories, Clarke was not challenged at all, and he proved that by overpowering his opponents.
Senior Jeff Bernd posted his two best matches of the season to highlight the Princeton performance. He won both his matches, 15-4 over Keith Kleckner of ESU and 13-2 against AIC's Melvin Floyd.
Continuing his success from the VerticalNet Open Nov. 25, where he placed first at the 165-lbs. weight class, senior Ryan Bonfiglio went undefeated, beating ESU's Shawn Smith, 6-4, and Paul Siemons of Springfield, 8-5.
Switching between the 174-lbs. and the 184-lbs. weight class, Parker had no trouble adjusting to the different sizes of his opponents. In his first two matches, Parker wrestled at 174 lbs., and he won both matches, 11-3 and by injury default. He wrestled at 184 lbs. against Springfield and pinned Aaron Gottesman in three minutes, 37 seconds. Carrying more than his share of the load for the team, Parker had a great day of wrestling as he continued to improve.
Trading off with Parker was senior Scott Pasquini, who had a great day, winning both his matches. Wrestling at 184 lbs., Pasquini beat ESU's Dan Madonna, 10-6, and at 174 lbs. he beat Matt Bielo of Springfield, 11-5.
Recovering from an injury, Pasquini appears to be healthy and in great shape. Preparing for a tough schedule in December, Pasquini appeared completely focused and wrestled with high intensity.
McLaughlin had his best day of the season, winning all three of his matches, 18-2 versus ESU, by forfeit against AIC and with a pin in 2:51 against Springfield.
"This is a great team and I have always known that," New said. "What makes these guys special is that no one wants to be the guy who loses, and that is a great mindset to have. We are starting to get the confidence that will propel us to an Ivy League championship."
As the first meet in which the Tigers have had every starter healthy, they showed their capabilities. With important meets coming up against the College of New Jersey and No. 3 Minnesota, the Tigers cannot celebrate for long.
But routing ESU, AIC and Springfield was a nice start to December.
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