“We were in really good shape, and conditioning wasn’t a factor in any of our matches,” head coach Chris Ayres said. “And from a technical standpoint, we did a pretty good job of applying what we’ve been working on in here.”
The Tigers were led by senior 141-pounder Danny Scotton and sophomore 174-pounder Travis Erdman. Scotton triumphed over J.C. Bandeiro of Middlesex County before losing to eventual runner-up Walter Peppelman of Harvard. Erdman, Princeton’s lone returning All-Ivy selection, pinned Victor Stanziale of Springfield in the second period and did the same to Shippenburg’s Nathan Reese in a mere one minute, six seconds. Erdman then fell to eventual third-place winner Peter Capone.
Freshman 157-pounder Andy Lowy made a mark in his first collegiate action, posting a 2-2 record on the day. Lowy won his first match by fall in 2:08 over Mylon Spolar before falling to Nick Sanko in a tight 8-6 contest. Lowy then vanquished Jonathan Rizzilello of Sacred Heart, 6-2, score before falling to John Basting of Cornell.
“The freshmen looked good,” Ayres said. “They’re on track, and it’s just going to take time to really get them up to the Division I level.”
Senior captain Marty Everin found himself in a very tough situation when he opened his competition in the 157-pound weight class against Rutgers freshman Scott Winston, a three-time New Jersey state champion and one of the most touted recruits in the nation. Winston defeated Everin 9-6 and went on to defeat every other opponent he faced in the tournament — except 2008 NCAA champion Jordan Leen — by a bigger margin.
Everin went on to win his next two against Nick Browne of Shippenburg and Ben Mandelbrout of Boston.
Wrestling in the 165-pound weight class for Princeton was junior Mike Alvarez, who recovered from an early loss to pick up two clutch wins in the consolation bracket. The first was by a single point, and the second came on a sudden-death takedown. Senior Aaron Casp fell in both of his matches in the 165-pound bracket.
Junior 197-pounder Zach Morse sandwiched two losses around a medical forfeit victory. Freshman heavyweight Stephen Turner, junior 125-pounder Robert Benitez and junior 133-pounder Nikhil Pereira all finished winless.
With league matches against opponents No. 20 Penn and No. 23 Lehigh coming up, Ayres has a good feel for what the Tigers need to improve on. It’s hard to ignore Princeton’s struggles over the last two years, but Ayres said he feels that putting the past behind it will be key for this year’s squad.
“Part of the problem right now, is these guys, they’re sort of victims of the past,” Ayres said. “They don’t truly believe they can win yet. There weren’t too many technical issues on Saturday. It was more competitive.”
The game plan for this week will focus on building mental toughness instead of technique or conditioning.
“That’s the challenge of being a coach,” Ayres explained. “We’re not going to be working on bodies or technique this week. We’re working on continuing to get them to believe in their souls that they should be winning. We’ll have some hard practices and put them in situations that they lost in and try to get them more confident so that they’re ready to win.”
Both Penn and Lehigh boast numerous wrestlers ranked in the top 20 for their weight class by themat.com. Penn’s Rollie Peterkin comes in at No. 7 among 125-pounders, while teammate Cesar Grajales is currently No. 12 at 149 pounds. Matt Dragon checks in at No. 18 in the 157-pound bracket, while 165-pound Zack Shanaman is currently No. 9. Scott Giffin finishes things out for Penn at No. 17 in the 174-pound weight class and will provide a great test for Erdman.
Lehigh is similarly stacked with highly ranked wrestlers. Matt Fisk checks in at No. 19 in the 133-pound bracket, and Trevor Chinn stands at No. 14 at 149 pounds. Alex Caruso is currently No. 13 at 174 pounds and will prove to be yet another formidable test for Erdman. David Craig rounds things out for the Mountain Hawks at No. 17 in the 184-pound weight class.
A number of Tigers are currently nursing injuries, including sophomore 125-pounder Tony Comunale. Unlike late last season, when two to three forfeits put every dual meet out of reach from the get-go, Princeton should be able to field a complete team this weekend. While winning either match will surely be a difficult task, Ayres’ game plan should have the Tigers poised to put forth a competitive effort.
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