Wrestling Unable to Mount Comebacks Against Penn, Princeton

Two weeks ago, Harvard wrestling dug itself out of a serious deficit to claim the win. The squad found itself in an almost identical situation twice this weekend, but this time, it was unable to claw its way back into the lead on either occasion. The Crimson (3-6, 2-6 EIWA) fell to Penn (5-6, 3-3) and Princeton (6-2, 4-2) at the Malkin Athletic Center.

PRINCETON 19, HARVARD 17

The Crimson squad was handed a tough loss as it went head-to-head with Princeton on Saturday afternoon.

“Looking back, it’s hard because you feel like one small moment could have won that match for us,” junior co-captain James Fox said. “But we know that we’re right there, and that we just need to keep working hard for this last stretch of the season.”

Although Harvard won two of the first three matches, the Crimson was unable to maintain control of the contest.

“We’re a little bit beat up,” freshman Tyler Grimaldi said. “A lot of our starters were injured and couldn’t compete. Everyone stepped up and gave it their best, but I think it may have been a little bit different had everyone been healthy.”

In the fourth matchup of the contest, sophomore Nicholas Stager lost at the hands of Princeton’s Richard Krop (18-2), who managed to register a technical fall for the Tigers. Riding this momentum, Princeton went on a five match winning streak, defeating each of Harvard’s middle weight classes.

The upper weights anchored the Crimson, as Fox and sophomore Nick Gajdzik took consecutive wins against their opponents for Harvard, starting with Fox’s decision against Abram Ayala, 16-13, and followed by Gadjzik’s pin of Daniel Santoro at the 1:30 mark.

“James’s win was definitely a key moment for our team,” Grimaldi said. “It got everyone riled up for the last match, and Gadjzik also had a huge pin for us. Although we didn’t win the match, it brought us a lot closer and gave us a lot of fire for our next matches.”

The other wins for the night were registered by junior Ryan Osleeb and sophomore Todd Preston, at the 133 and 141 positions, respectively. Osleeb notched a technical fall over Jake Intrator, 16-0, while Preston registered an overtime decision against Jordan Laster, 3-1.

“Going forward, we want to focus on peaking at the right time,” Grimaldi said. “Everyone’s going to remember what we do at the end of the season, so we want to focus on improving and make sure we’re at our best at the right time.”

PENN 23, HARVARD 15

In the first match of the weekend’s at-home competition, Harvard felt the pressure early on against the Quakers.

“In general, Penn is a really tough team this year in the Ivy League,” Fox said. “We knew it was going to be a close match, we had some key match ups that we needed to win, and unfortunately they just didn’t go our way.”

Four different wrestlers on the Crimsons squad registered personal wins for the night, but these efforts were not enough to propel the team to victory against the Quakers.

“I don’t think we wrestled to the absolute best of our potential,” Grimaldi said. “There’s a couple little things everyone could have fixed. That being said, everyone put up a hard fight, but it showed us that we still have a lot to learn.”

Sophomore Max Mejia was the first of the Crimson squad to fall, as Penn’s Jeremy Schwartz outmaneuvered him at the 125-lb weight class to kick off the contest.

This early deficit for Harvard was widened as sophomore Jeffrey Ott lost to Penn’s Ken Bade. Ott gained the initial lead with a takedown and reversal early in the first period, but this momentum quickly turned as Bade registered his own reversal and managed to pin the sophomore on his back to register the fall. With this, Bade took the win 9-0, bringing the Crimson’s team score to 0-9 as well.

Preston broke the losing streak for Harvard, as the first of the Crimson to get on the scoreboard. After a final takedown, Preston managed to notch the decision over Jeff Canfora, 6-2, in the 141-lb weight class.

Another standout performance came from Fox, who registered his tenth victory of the season against Penn’s Frank Mattiace in a decision, 5-3.

Penn’s team was anchored by two nationally ranked wrestlers, No.19 Casey Kent and No. 10 Lorenzo Thomas, each of whom registered crucial wins for the Quakers.

—Staff writer Jillian Dukes can be reached at jdukes01@college.harvard.edu.