Rutgers wrestling is one duel away from closing out duel season on a six-duel win streak after they earned a 28-9 win over in-state rival Princeton yesterday afternoon. In recent years, the Scarlet Knights have dominated the rivalry, winning 29 of 30 duels since 1993. With their victory, Rutgers will keep the Big-Ivy trophy on the banks for at least one more season.
Two Rutgers wrestlers earned ranked wins in this duel, with No. 29 Andrew Clark (149) beating No. 10 Eligh Rivera and No. 19 Andrew Barbosa (165) beating No. 17 Ty Whalen.
Some other highlights of the match include No. 20 Shane Cartagena-Walsh (184) defeating Xavier Giles by decision, while No. 6 Joseph Olivieri (141), No. 16 Remy Cotton (165), and No. 19 Hunter Catka (HWT) earned victories by tech fall.
Princeton won the toss and elected to start at 174 pounds, as Lenny Pinto faced Holden Garcia. Pinto jumped out to an early lead with a takedown in the first period, but the back-and-forth match went to sudden victory. Garcia would then land a takedown for the 8-5 overtime win, putting Princeton up 3-0. This would be the only time Princeton had a lead in this duel.
The Knights responded with three consecutive bonus-point victories. After letting up a takedown, Cartagena-Walsh stormed back with a dominant 21-8 major decision. Cotton landed six takedowns in his 19-4 tech fall over Conor McCloskey, while Catka produced five takedowns in the first three minutes en route to a 21-5 tech fall over Sebastian Garibaldi. The bonus points gave Rutgers a 14-3 advantage through four bouts.
Princeton would start to chip away at Rutgers lead through the next two bouts. A tough 5-1 loss from No. 24 Ayden Smith (125) to No. 12 Marc-Anthony McGowen made it 14-6 Rutgers at intermission. Princeton would make it 14-9 after No.24 Dylan Shawver (133) suffered a loss to Ethan Rivera
The push from the Tigers would be snuffed out as the Knights found wins in their final four bouts to secure victory. The charge was started by Olivieri, who collected back points in the opening period against Matthew Martino before closing out his tech fall with another four-point tilt late in the second.
Clark followed with a victory against Eligh Rivera, who entered Monday ranked No. 10 in the country by Intermat. Clark worked an escape in the second period, then muscled a two-minute rideout in the third for the 2-1 final – the highest-ranked win for Clark this season.
No.26 Anthony White (157) and Barbosa finished the job by earning two victories by decision to secure the blowout win.
Since this is the last duel Rutgers will have at home this season, all of the Knights’ graduating seniors were honored in front of the crowd before the match started.
Rutgers closes the regular season at Hofstra Feb. 18 in Hempstead, New York. The dual is set for a 6 p.m. start and will stream on FloWrestling.
Box Score
No. 14 Rutgers 28, Princeton 9
174: Holden Garcia (PU) over 17/20 Lenny Pinto (RU) by SV1, 8-5; PU leads, 3-0
184: 20/18 Shane Cartagena-Walsh (RU) over Xavier Giles (PU) by MD, 21-8; RU leads, 4-3
197: 16/16 Remy Cotton (RU) over Conor McCloskey (PU) by TF, 19-4 (3:20); RU leads, 9-3
HWT: 19/19 Hunter Catka (RU) over Sebastian Garibaldi (PU) by TF, 21-5 (3:56); RU leads, 14-3
125: 12/15 Marc-Anthony McGowan (PU) over 24/22 Ayden Smith (RU) by dec., 5-1; RU leads, 14-6
133: Ethan Rivera (PU) over 24/32 Dylan Shawver (RU) by dec., 5-4; RU leads, 14-9
141: 6/8 Joseph Olivieri (RU) over Matthew Martino (PU) by TF, 19-2 (4:49); RU leads, 19-9
149: 29/– Andrew Clark (RU) over 10/15 Eligh Rivera (PU) by dec., 2-1; RU leads, 22-9
157: 26/27 Anthony White (RU) over Rocco Camillaci (PU) by dec., 7-0; RU leads, 25-9
165: 19/24 Andrew Barbosa (RU) over 17/22 Ty Whalen (PU) by dec., 4-3; RU wins, 28-9