Wrestling Suffers 33-6 Loss to No. 6 Cornell

If the Harvard wrestling team had a chance at knocking off No. 6 Cornell, everything needed to go its way. In addition to posting an undefeated record so far this season, the Big Red had emerged victorious in 58 consecutive Ivy League dual meets.

However, for the Crimson (2-4, 0-1 Ivy), little went according to plan on Saturday. Wrestling on its home mats, Cornell (5-0, 1-0) controlled the match from start to finish and earned a 33-6 victory.

The Big Red found wins in a number of ways – including a major decision, pin, technical fall, and a win by forfeit – and the resulting bonus points made it difficult for Harvard to bridge the gap.

Despite falling short on the overall score, the Crimson battled to win two of the ten matches on the day. Furthermore, a pair of Harvard losses came by two points or fewer, and another wrestler battled to force overtime.

But in the end, the Crimson found itself outmatched by a Cornell squad that sent three nationally ranked wrestlers to the mat on Saturday.

“I just wanted our guys to fight,” Harvard coach Jay Weiss said. “We’ve put the time in training-wise, and when we compete those are the times you’ve got to bring that training out…. I think we could have performed better, but I told them after the match, no matter whether you win or lose, you take away something.”

The Crimson fell into a 6-0 hole by forfeiting the opening match of the day at 125 lbs., as both of the team’s wrestlers at that weight have been out with injuries for the entire dual meet season.

Harvard would bounce right back to get on the scoreboard when junior Ryan Osleeb earned points in all three periods to cruise to a 7-0 victory at 133 lbs.

Sophomore Todd Preston took to the mat next and looked to build on Osleeb’s momentum in a tough matchup against No. 11 Mike Nevinger. The duel went down to the wire after two scoreless periods, but Nevinger earned a point through an escape with minutes to go that would prove to be the difference.

“I thought I pushed the pace well, but I obviously didn’t open up on offense and I didn’t get him uncomfortable,” Preston said. “I was content with keeping it close, and that kind of hurt me in the end. I need to go out in that first period and get that takedown and control the match better.”

The Crimson found itself in contention after those first three matches, trailing by a score of 9-3. But the Big Red quickly took control by claiming victory in five straight bouts to build a commanding lead.

In the 149 weight class, sophomore Nicholas Stager suffered a 14-0 defeat in a major decision at the hands of Cornell’s Conner David. A few minutes later, in the last contest before halftime, freshman Tyler Grimaldi battled in the third period but could not avoid taking a 10-5 loss.

The Big Red run continued at 165 lbs. when No. 17 Dylan Palacio achieved a fall over Harvard freshman Colton Peppelman in the first period. Crimson freshman Eric Morris nearly stopped the bleeding in the next match by forcing overtime, but his opponent secured a takedown in extra time to earn the victory and stretch the Cornell lead to 23.

“Wrestling the top guys in the country, that’s where you’re going to get that experience,” Preston said. “Being able to wrestle these guys is a good thing for us, but in order to achieve our goals we’re going to have to start beating these guys and not just keeping the matches close.”

One of those top-ranked wrestlers for the Big Red, No. 2 Gabe Dean, stepped to the mat at 184 lbs. to face off against co-captain Cameron Croy. Dean took advantage of a big second period to ride to a 21-5 victory over Croy and improve his record to 23-2 on the year.

Harvard would get its second win in the penultimate match of the day, when co-captain James Fox broke a tie in the second period and tacked on more points in the third against another tough Cornell opponent.

“[Fox] pulled out that win when he was supposed to,” Weiss said. “I think he’s starting to get into his groove right now, because he was out for a little bit. It should be fun in the upcoming weeks.”

Although the overall match had already been decided, junior David Ng rounded out the day’s action in the heavyweight spot. Despite battling to within a point, Ng could not take the lead and fell, 7-5.

In last season’s loss to the Big Red, the Crimson won five of the day’s 10 matches. That number fell to two this year, as Harvard was unable to prevail in several close contests.

“We’ve got to wrestle strong in the third period, and we’ve got to win overtime matches. Those are the things we stress,” Weiss said. “In college wrestling, no matter who you’re wrestling, it’s going to be a close battle. You’ve got to put yourself in those positions where you can pull out close bouts.”

—Staff writer David Steinbach can be reached at david.steinbach@thecrimson.com.