No. 13 Rutgers wrestling defeats Michigan State, falls to No. 11 Michigan
The Rutgers wrestling team had a busy weekend on the road. The Scarlet Knights (10-2, 3-1) faced off against Michigan State on Friday night and then took on Michigan on Sunday afternoon.
Here is a recap of how No. 13 Rutgers performed this weekend in the middle of its packed Big Ten schedule.
22-13 victory over Michigan State
The Knights started the weekend off with a 22-13 win against the Spartans (7-3, 0-3).
No. 13 junior 125-pounder Dean Peterson and Tristan Lujan needed overtime to settle the first bout of the night. Peterson worked a 4-1 decision over Lujan to put Rutgers in the lead.
No. 8 junior 133-pounder Dylan Shawver dominated the 133-pound bout against Andy Hampton and landed seven takedowns in his 22-6 technical fall decision.
No. 33 Jordan Hamdan handed No. 11 graduate student 141-pounder Mitch Moore his first defeat of the season in a 5-1 decision. Moore returned from injury and struggled on the bottom, allowing Hamdan to gain a point from his riding time of more than 1 minute.
Junior 149-pounder Michael Cetta bounced back for the Knights with a 5-3 win over Braden Stauffenberg. The win was Cetta's 10th of the season and second in the Big Ten.
Rutgers could not build off its momentum, as junior 157-pounder Al DeSantis suffered a 9-5 defeat to No. 21 Chase Saldate but led 11-6 after the first five bouts.
Junior 165-pounder Anthony White and No. 10 Caleb Fish were in a tight bout until the end when Fish was able to take the 6-1 decision over White.
Michigan State cut the deficit to 2 points with four bouts remaining, but No. 19 senior 174-pounder Jackson Turley defeated DJ Shannon in a 4-2 decision to make the score 14-9.
In the second ranked-bout of the match, No. 20 sophomore 184-pounder Brian Soldano had an opportunity to get revenge over No. 22 Layne Malczewski after last year's defeat. Soldano struggled, though, and lost a 19-6 major decision to make the dual a 1-point contest.
The Knights were able to seal the dual win with a strong performance from No. 9 junior 197-pounder John Poznanski. Poznanski secured a 22-6 technical fall victory against No. 29 Kael Wisler.
No. 7 graduate student 285-pounder Yaraslau Slavikouski capped off the dual with a 4-2 decision victory.
"It has been a long three weeks with a lot of back-to-backs, and we did not wrestle as well as we would like," said head coach Scott Goodale. "But we found a way to win because we are a pretty good team."
23-10 loss to Michigan
Rutgers fell to the Wolverines (5-2, 3-1) 23-10 on Sunday, ending its eight-game winning streak and undefeated start to conference play.
Peterson started the dual losing a close 2-1 decision to No. 5 Michael DeAugustino.
The Knights would continue to struggle, as Shawver and Moore lost their bouts to give No. 11 Michigan a 9-0 lead.
Rutgers got its first win of the contest in the 149-pound bout, as Cetta took down Fidel Mayora in a 10-4 decision to go undefeated this weekend.
DeSantis could not get anything going against No. 9 Will Lewan and lost a 10-2 major decision.
The Wolverines owned a comfortable 13-3 lead heading into the intermission.
Turley earned the Knights' second win of the afternoon as he defeated Joseph Walker with a shutout 5-0 decision to cut the deficit to 10 points.
The final three bouts would go back and forth between both teams.
Soldano lost a 13-3 major decision to No. 15 Jaden Bullock, while Poznanski dominated against Rylan Rogers and picked up an 11-3 major decision victory.
Slavikouski lost his first bout of the season against No. 4 Lucas Davison in a 4-0 decision.
Rutgers will look to bounce back when it returns to Jersey Mike's Arena on Livingston campus to take on Minnesota on Saturday. The match will begin at 1 p.m. and will be broadcast on Big Ten Plus and 88.7 WRSU-FM.
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