Tigers swept out of EIWA meet

The wrestling team's season ended with another dose of discouragement Saturday, swept out of the Eastern Intercollegiate Wrestling Association championships in East Stroudsburg, Pa.

Princeton failed to advance to the second day of competition after all nine members of the team lost their first-round matches. None of the defeated Tigers went on to taste victory in the consolation bracket either.

The Tigers' competition was fierce — all of their opening-round opponents were ranked, none lower than eighth.

"I saw the brackets, and I knew we were in for a dogfight," head coach Chris Ayres said. "We really didn't have any luck."

Lehigh's third-ranked Matt Fisk set the tone early at 125 pounds, pinning freshman Nikhil Pereira in just 24 seconds.

The Tigers' competition would not get any easier from there. Sophomore Danny Scotton faced Navy's third -ranked Brad Canterbury in the 141-pound weight category. Scotton's scrambling — wrestling's equivalent of the slowdown Princeton offense in basketball — proved ineffective as Canterbury pulled ahead for a 20-4 win by technical fall.

After Scott Heckman from East Stroudsburg picked up a decision against Princeton senior Eric Marcotulli at 149 pounds, the Tigers went through a brutal stretch facing four consecutive top-three opponents. At 157 pounds, Lehigh's David Nakasome pinned freshman Mike Alvarez after two minutes, 36 seconds, while 165-pound sophomore Alejandro Enriquez lasted only 1:11 against Franklin & Marshall's Justin Herbert. Junior John Clore held up throughout his 174-pound match, but he was unable to avoid the technical fall against top-seeded Matthew Stolpinski from Navy.

Sophomore 184-pounder Oliver Noteware and freshman 197-pounder Zach Morse each fell to Ivy League rivals from Columbia before senior Kris Berr closed out the first round for the Tigers, losing 10-0 to Franklin & Marshall's Nicolas Somers in the heavyweight class.

The Tigers fared a bit better in the consolation bracket, but they still came up empty. Though Princeton allowed three more pins, they didn't surrender any technical falls and posted a few competitive individual performances.

Scotton's strategy was much more effective the second time around, keeping the score low and close the entire match. Unable to take down Rutgers' Kyle Milanese, however, he was forced to settle for a frustrating 2-0 defeat. Morse and Berr kept their scores low as well, losing 7-4 and 4-0, respectively.

"The two freshmen [Morse and Alvarez] probably deserved to win their matches" Ayres said.

The losses conclude a very difficult year for Princeton. The Tigers were shut out five times, including a brutal 56-0 drumming by Ivy League rival Cornell. That win was the largest in Big Red history.

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There were a few individual bright spots for the Tigers, though. Scotton frustrated his opponents all season and pulled off a few victories along the way. Against Cornell, Scotton turned in one of Princeton's most exciting performances of the year. Scotton and Cornell's Corey Manson exchanged take-downs for escapes throughout the match before Manson pulled away with three back points to win, 13-10.

Morse showed promise in his first year with the team. The freshman was one of the few Tigers to win multiple matches and was the only one on the team to win his weight category against powerhouse Maryland.

While the season may be over, the Tigers' training is not.

"We'll take a few weeks off, [but] then it's back to the drawing board" Ayres said. "Our guys don't have the high school accolades that other schools have. The one thing we can do is train. Ninety percent of the guys at the EIWAs trained year round. I want to spend some time coming up with a plan for the spring."