By George Tatoris
Correspondent
The wrestling team swept aside the King’s College Monarchs 41-7 at a dual meet on Wednesday, Nov. 20 for its first win of the season.
The meet opened with a string of three forfeits from King’s College, which the Lions had knowledge of beforehand. These extra points, combined with a later forfeit given to senior Ricky Cordero at 184 pounds, gave the Lions a hefty 24-point advantage.
Forfeits are not uncommon in wrestling, but so many at the start of the match is unusual.
“Generally, we don’t see that that often,” said senior Zach Zotollo, ranked No. 1 at 174 pounds.
After the opening forfeits, sophomore 149-pounder Dylan Thorsen wrestled one of the most nail-biting matches of the night, dragging his King’s College adversary through three overtimes before ultimately losing by decision.
Nathanial Leer, a junior in the 197-pound weight class, scored an additional six points to give the Lions a 24-3 lead, pinning opponent Daniel Harthausen after just one minute and 22 seconds.
Zotollo won his bout with King’s College freshman Tyler McGuigan by technical fall, earning the College three more points.
“It always feels good to come out of the day with a win,” Zotollo said.
Freshman 157-pounder Chris Serpico and senior heavyweight Jeff Furbish also picked up victories for the College, both winning by decision over their King’s College opponents, rounding out the scoring at 41-7.
Zotollo also commended freshman Christopher Serpico for having a well-wrestled match at 157 pounds. He had his first opener for the Lions that night.
“(Serpico) stuck to his game plan,” Zotollo said.
The victory comes just three days after a defeat at the hands of rival Stevens Institute of Technology.
At the time, the College was suffering from a string of injuries that hindered its performance, which inevitably continued through the win against King’s College. Sophomore Dylan Thorsen walked onto the Monarchs’ mat with a stitched lip that night.
Though the wrestlers were not nervous going into the Monarchs’ matchup, they didn’t let themselves fall into the trap of underestimating their lower-ranked opponents.
“Everyone wrestled their own individual match to win the match,” Zottollo said.
The College’s wrestling team does not have another competition until Saturday, Dec. 7, when they are participating in the New Standard Corp. Invitational at York College of Pennsylvania.
The Invitational is an individually ranked competition but there is also an overall team score that the team hope to dominate together, not thanks to any one individual wrestler, but thanks to the success of every Lion that will appear on the mat that Saturday.
