The wrestling team capped off its four-meet homestand Saturday against Binghamton with a 21-15 victory.
“From the beginning of the year, we know that what we’re really working towards is becoming All-Americans at the national tournament,” said Ophir Bernstein ’15.5. “Wins like the one we had this past weekend are definitely fun, but our main focus has always been pushing one another to get ready for March.”
The Bears (3-5, 2-2 EIWA) started off the meet with a win in the 125-pound weight class. Billy Watterson ’15 won his bout at 125 pounds with an escape during the second tiebreaker, leading Bruno to an early 3-0 lead.
But the Bearcats (6-8, 4-3) quickly countered with consecutive wins in the 133- and 141-pound weight classes. With these two victories, Binghamton entered the 149-pound bout with a 6-3 lead.
At 149 pounds, William McDonald ’17 successfully came back from an early deficit by scoring a takedown with just 40 seconds left in the final period. The late takedown gave McDonald the 4-3 win over Binghamton’s Nick Tighe, bringing the Bears to 6-6.
Justin Staudenmayer ’17, currently ranked 20th in the nation in the NCAA Division I 157-pound weight class, shut out his opponent with a 3-0 decision and gave the Bears a 9-6 lead with five bouts left in the meet. But the Bearcats would not go down without a fight — they countered yet again with a victory in the 165-pound weight class and knotted the score at 9-9. With four bouts remaining, the Bears responded with three consecutive victories.
At 174 pounds, Ricky McDonald ’15 won a 3-1 decision with an escape and takedown while limiting Binghamton’s Steve Schneider to one point in the third and final frame. In the following bout, Bernstein earned the Bears another victory with a 3-0 decision. Bernstein shut out his opponent while earning points with a takedown and an escape.
Entering the 197-pound weight class bout, the Bears possessed a 15-9 lead. Augustus Marker ’16 trailed 5-0 until successfully earning a fall during the second period and adding another six points to Bruno’s lead. Marker’s pin sealed the Bears’ win, marking Bruno’s second win in EIWA play.
“Gus just kept fighting and wrestling tough the entire match and ended up getting the pin which sealed the match for us,” Bernstein said. “He showed a lot of guts and heart fighting back the way he did, and he just found a way to win the match like he usually does.”
The Bears will continue to play this weekend on the road against Penn (4-4, 0-1) and Princeton (6-5, 0-1) Saturday and Lehigh (10-4, 6-1) Sunday.
“We have some tough matches ahead of us but we’re just going to stay focused, continue correcting mistakes we’ve made and keep improving, and we’ll be ready to go for our matches next weekend,” Bernstein said.
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