By Julia Duggan
Staff Writer
The College’s Wrestling team beat New Jersey City University 43-0, on Friday, Jan. 21.
The team managed four falls, which were executed by senior finance major Daniel Surich (184), junior management major Domenic Difrancescantonio (141), junior secondary education and history major Peter Wersinger (285), and freshman civil engineering major Mike Conklin (141). A fall occurs when a player holds the opponent’s shoulder blades against the mat. The match is then pronounced over, and the player still standing wins the match. Both Surich and Difrancescantonio managed to pin their opponents in just 48 seconds.
Spectators could be seen in Packer Hall, wearing their masks and sitting slightly apart from each other as the match commenced on the basketball court.
This is the first time the team has competed this year. All other matches and tournaments scheduled for earlier in January were either postponed or canceled.
The last time the team competed on campus was on Friday, Nov. 19, against the York College of Pennsylvania. In that match, the Lions won, 32-6.
The team has been very successful while being away from the home mats. The Lions competed in three additional matches this past weekend in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania, which all resulted in wins. Two of them, against SUNY Oneonta and West Virginia University Institute of Technology, resulted in shutouts. The College won 50-0 against SUNY Oneonta and 54-0 against West Virginia University of Technology. Against the third school, Rochester Institute of Technology, the College won 31-6.
After the weekend of matches, the team holds a record of 6-0. Earlier in the season, the team competed against Wilkes University and the Lions won 31-3. Before the fall semester concluded, the team participated in several tournaments and was very successful.
“The team atmosphere is at an all time high,” said Matt Surich (165), a junior finance major who competed in the matches. “It feels so great to compete alongside a bunch of savages that have like minded goals and attitudes.”
The energy of the team could be seen in the matches. When introducing the team at the start of the event, members could be seen fist bumping each other. The Lion’s would clap enthusiastically after every match, and screams of excitement could be heard from the team each time a fall was executed successfully.
"This past weekend our squad competed hard and with confidence in our training,” said Daniel Surich. “Every guy was looking to score points throughout their matches, up and down the lineup.”
The recent wins allowed the team to move up in the National Wrestling Coaches Association dual rankings to number 16. The duel on Friday, led by two College teammates, Nick Denora (125), a junior business management major, and Kyle Nase (133), a freshman accounting major, both scoring 10-7 on their matches, resulting in the College earning three points per match.
The third and fourth matches of the duel were both pins completed by Difrancescantonio and Conklin — both matches earned the College six points. The highest scoring match that was not a pin was earned by Reid Colella (174), a junior health and exercise major, who finished the match 11-0 and earned the College four points.
The team will be competing again this upcoming weekend in New York against Stevens Institute of Technology and Ithaca College.
“As both a team and individuals, we are not getting too high or too low at this point in the season,'' said Daniel Surich. “We are focused on building and improving everyday to peak for the end of the season to achieve our goals."
