Wrestling loses early lead, meet to Cornell in final Ivy match

Fighting for a tie, Cornell was more interested in a tie for first place than for third.

The Princeton wrestling team (12-9, 2-3) drove up to Ithaca, NY, on Friday hoping to finish its Ivy League schedule with a strong win. If the Tigers had won the meet, they would have tied Cornell for third place, with 3-2 league records. But everything did not go as scheduled for the Tigers.

While senior Ryan Bonfiglio, junior Juan Venturi and sophomore Joe Clarke once again won their matches, other close bouts and a few questionable calls by the referee put Princeton behind and stole the team's momentum.

Beginning with the lightest wrestlers, freshman Brian Kirschbaum had the daunting mission of setting the pace for the meet. Facing another freshman, Cornell's Alejandro Alvarez, Kirschbaum had a difficult match in the 125 lb. division. With Alvarez accumulating seven takedowns, Kirschbaum lost, 15-5, and Cornell took an early 4-0 lead.

Dropping several pounds from the day before, Venturi showed not a sign of weakness as he beat sophomore Byron Warner, 10-7. In a close match, Venturi did not wrestle his best match of the year, but he pulled out the tough win.

"This is exactly what I expect from my wrestlers," head coach Mike New said. "No one can wrestle his best everyday, but what makes a team good is when guys can find a way to win, and that is exactly what Juan did."

With the win, Princeton crept back, making the score 4-3.

The always-dangerous Joe Clarke came to the mat next for the Tigers. Wrestling at 141 lbs., Clarke once again lifted his team over a hump. This time, Clarke beat Big Red sophomore Tom Waldron, 7-2. More importantly, Clarke gave Princeton its first and only lead of the day. With the win, Princeton went up, 6-4, and Clarke kept a perfect record of 5-0 in the Ivy League. Clearly a leader of the team, he is the only Tiger with such a pristine record.

Clarke and Venturi's lead did not last for long. After the two early wins, Princeton dropped six of its next seven matches.

Hoping to keep the winning streak alive, senior Jeff Bernd jumped into the ring against Cornell's Greg Webster. Bernd's match was the beginning of the end for the Tigers. Bernd could not overcome the relentless attack of Webster, and Bernd lost the 149 lb. match, 6-3.

Wrestling at 157 lbs., junior Jon Bunt did not have much luck, as Cornell senior Leo Urbinelli beat Bunt, 15-2.

In his final Ivy League match, Bonfiglio had a lot to prove. As one of the founders of the modern Princeton wrestling program, Bonfiglio had more than just a urge to win the match. He knew victory was a necessity. In a tight match with Clint Wattenberg, Bonfiglio survived a number of questionable calls by the referee and won the match, 5-2. With the win, it seems as though Bonfiglio is at his sharpest and will be at his strongest for EIWA championships this weekend.

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But Princeton's winning ended with Bonfiglio. Wrestling against the 16th ranked 174 lbs. wrestler in the nation, senior John Stanec of Cornell, sophomore Greg Parker was in control for most of the match. But with very little time remaining in the third period, the referee called a take down against Parker which gave his opponent two points.

The takedown left Parker down by two points with little time remaining. Trying to catch up and forced to wrestle out of his style, Parker was unable to come back. He lost, 12-8.

As one of the key wrestlers for Princeton going into the EIWA championships, Parker has a lot to prove, and now he knows whom he has to beat. With a record of 3-2 in the Ivy League, Parker has stunned several highly ranked wrestlers and he was surprised to lose to Stanec, even though it was senior day at Cornell.

After Parker's loss, Princeton fell behind, 14-8, and lost its hope of winning the meet. The next three wrestlers all lost, with the closest score coming from senior Brian Foran's match, an 11-3 loss. Senior Chris McLaughlin, wrestling at 197 lbs., lost 12-1 to Cornell's Corey Anderson.

His team down 22-8, senior Joe Rybacki was unable to end the bleeding as Cornell's heavyweight Buck McLamb pinned Rybacki in one minute and 22 seconds.

Losing by the final score of 28-8, the Tigers finished in fourth place in the Ivy League this year, with a 2-3 league record. But this was the highest the Tigers have placed in the league in six years.

For coach New, a Cornell graduate, wrestling at his former school had only one drawback.

"I like wrestling against Cornell, especially in Ithaca, the only part of the day that bothered me is that I lost."

While the Tiger's regular season has ended, Princeton will compete in the EIWA championships this weekend in Philadelphia. With all of the starters competing, the Tigers have high expectations for several of their wrestlers.