Harvard Wrestling Falls in Ivy League Competition to Penn and Princeton

Harvard Wrestling (0-6, 0-3 Ivy) competed in a full day of wrestling on Feb. 2. The Crimson started its day in Philadelphia to face Penn (6-2, 3-0 Ivy) and then traveled 50 minutes north of the City of Brotherly Love to compete against Princeton (6-6, 2-0 Ivy) in back-to-back dual meets.

The day started rough for Harvard, losing all 10 matches to the Quakers, who entered the dual with seven ranked wrestlers. The action started in the 125 pound weight class, where Harvard sophomore Isaiah Adams was defeated by No. 23 Max Ghallager by technical fall in the second period. Adams wrestled for the missing Crimson senior N0. 24 Diego Sotelo. This led to an early Penn lead of 5-0 in the team score.

Unfortunately for the Crimson, the Quakers continued to roll as they picked up their next three victories by technical fall or major decision. This included victories by No. 19 Ryan Miller over first-year Logan Brzozowski, No. 10 CJ Composto over sophomore Jameson Garcia, and No. 16 Cross Wasilewski over sophomore Jaden Pepe.

With the Quakers holding an 18-0 lead over the Crimson, the dual entered its only ranked bout of the day at 157 pounds between junior N0. 30 Jimmy Harrington of Harvard and N0. 16 Jude Swisher of Penn. While Harrington put up a valiant effort, he fell short, losing to Swisher by decision 9-3. Senior Crimson wrestler Cael Berg came up just short in his bout with Andy Troczynski of Penn, losing by decision 7-6—though Berg was able to secure two takedowns during the match.

After dropping the 174-pound and 184-pound matches by technical fall and major decision, Harvard’s hopes of knocking off a talented Penn team seemed lost, but this did not deter first-year Hudson Skove from giving his all in a defensive bout against Penn’s Nate Taylor. Skove, who wrestled well, would go on to lose the match by decision 4-1.

After a pinfall in the heavyweight matchup between Harvard senior Jeffrey Crooks and Penn’s John Pardo, the dual meet ended with a 43-0 Quaker victory.

The story was much the same for Harvard in New Jersey. Adams, junior Dante Frinzi, Pepe, senior Luke Rada, and Skove would all fall to ranked opponents, with Skove being the only Crimson wrestler to avoid a technical fall, but still giving up bonus points with a defeat by major decision.

Frinzi entered the third period in a close match, trailing 3-2, but the endurance of Princeton’s Eligh Rivera persevered. Rivera was able to tally six takedowns in this period to win by technical fall 21-6.

In a post-match interview, Rivera stated that he felt the hand fights going his way, leading to his choice of neutral to begin the period and the subsequent furry of shots. Rivera praised the Tiger roster, stating that this is the “best team” they have had in his time with the university.

Crimson freshman wrestler Nolan Liess would make his debut in Princeton at the 157 pound weight class. Liess battled hard against Princeton’s Jacob Mann. The first period began with aggressive hand-fighting, and Liess grabbed the first takedown of the match. After throwing in a leg, Liess looked to turn Mann, but gave up a reversal with around 15 seconds remaining in the period.

Reversals became the story of this match, as Liess gave up another to begin the second period on an awkward Granby-style roll and again in the third period after scoring on a tough single-leg defense. Liess was able to escape and grab a 7-6 lead with just under one minute remaining in the match, but a takedown in short time was enough for the Princetonian to steal a debut victory from Liess, winning the match by decision 9-6.

Haden Bottiglieri, another freshman Harvard wrestler, would also go the distance, but lost by decision to Xavier Giles of Princeton 6-5. Bottiglieri was able to take the lead in the third period with a takedown, but then gave up a takedown to Giles on the edge of the mat. He tied the match with an escape and the score remained 5-5 until the final whistle. While the score was evened until the clock hit 0:00, the riding time point — awarded to Giles —was enough to secure another Tiger victory.

Princeton sent the Crimson back to Boston with a 44-0 loss — its second loss of the day and sixth of the season. The young Harvard roster will look to build from these losses over the coming weeks when it will be back in action on Feb. 15 and Feb. 21 in dual meets against Columbia and Brown before returning back to Princeton on March 9 for the Ivy League Championship.

– Staff Writer Jude L. Stafford can be reached at jude.stafford@thecrimson.com