Rutgers falters against Iowa for 2nd straight loss

Over winter break, the Rutgers wrestling team saw a comeback on the road fall just short in the final match, a finish against Wisconsin so close that it required tie-breaking protocol and a rematch of the longest match in the history of high school wrestling come down to a controversial call by officials. 

The Scarlet Knights ended the break in defeat this past Friday after suffering their second conference loss of the season 30-6 against No. 4 Iowa, finishing 1-3 overall. 

The loss to the Hawkeyes marked the team’s largest margin of defeat this year, as only graduate student 149-pounder Anthony Ashnault and sophomore 174-pounder Joseph Grello were able to secure victories for Rutgers in the 149-pound and 174-pound matches. The Knight’s performance in the five meets since returning from the Cliff Keen Invitational in Las Vegas, Nev. showed a gradual decline, as they've also hit a steep uphill slope in their level of competition. 

When Rutgers faced off against Rider on Dec. 16, Goodale saw consistency up and down the lineup as he became the winningest head coach in the history of the program. The 28-6 route over the Broncs marked Goodale’s 167th victory, which surpassed his predecessor John Sacchi for most career wins by a head coach. The Knights wouldn’t see competitive action again for another three weeks, and a trip to No. 8 Minnesota would mark the team’s first bout back after the holiday break and their first Big Ten opponent. Despite narrowing an 8-point lead to just 2 heading into the final match, Rutgers would suffer a loss in their first conference meet of the year 22-15. 

"That's a classic Big Ten physical battle which will help us moving forward," Goodale said. "I thought we wrestled really hard in some spots ... we just need to do a better job of controlling paces of matches and sticking to a game plan." 

The following meet against No. 10 Wisconsin at the RAC went right down to the wire. Back at home, the Knights would exchange leads with the Badgers nine times throughout a meet that ultimately ended 16-16. Rutgers was awarded the victory by virtue of a 56-50 advantage in total match points, the program’s first victory by criteria of the season. 

“It's important to win dual meets. They're important to us and they're important to our fan base. We want to be around winners. Anytime you can win a Big Ten dual meet, it's important to us,” Goodale said.   

After securing their first conference win of the year, Goodale and his team would be forced to quickly turn their attention to what would potentially be their toughest opponent all season on a two-day turnaround. The meet against No. 3 Oklahoma State marked the program’s first competition against the Big 12 powerhouse since Goodale took over as head coach, and was of particular importance to junior 133-pounder Nick Suriano. T

he meet against the Cowboys would mark the first collegiate meeting between Suriano and Oklahoma State’s Daton Fix. Back in 2014, the two met in a high school match that went on for more than 32 minutes in what's still officially the longest match in the history of high school wrestling. 

“That's why I signed up for this sport, to wrestle the best. I want to show people Jersey wrestling. Remember all of the chirp? We got the win over Wisconsin, we're climbing up in the ranks, and now it's about beating world caliber wrestlers, like myself. That's what I am. It's time to take them out. He's a great competitor, we've faced before. It's going to be great. People should be fired up,” Suriano said. 

In the second-highest attended wrestling meet in the history of the RAC, Suriano and Fix would face off in a match that would once again require extra time. But Suriano, who was previously unbeaten, would suffer his first loss against his most anticipated opponent on a controversial hands to the face penalty in the fourth tie-breaker period. Rutgers would go on to lose the meet 26-5.

“I think they were both hands in the face the whole match, he let them wrestle. I don't know, you say something here, you sound like a sore, it's the rule. If it was there, it was there. I haven't seen it yet, I haven't looked at it yet. It's just a long time to have it decided like that,” Goodale said.

The meet against Oklahoma State saw four combined challenges by Goodale and Cowboys head coach John Smith in the first six matches. The Suriano and Fix match in particular saw two challenges and two longer-than-usual review periods that extended the time of the match to a degree that was of concern to both Smith and Goodale.    

"There were some tough calls that really neither side understood. We understand one thing about a rule, maybe we don't but I think we do. In the end, the officials wanted to make the right call and that's why they took their time,” Smith said.    

After starting the season a perfect 14-0, Suriano has now dropped two straight matches after falling to Iowa’s Austin DeSanto. Ashnault now remains the only unbeaten Knight to start every match for Rutgers. The Knights will be back at home on Friday, Jan. 25 to compete against Michigan State.

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