Wrestling Cornell beats Rutgers, 18-16

[Richie O]

STORY via @Lex Knapp https://rutgers.rivals.com/news/no-22-rutgers-wrestling-falls-to-no-19-cornell-18-16-on-friday-night



FINAL RESULTS:
125-pounds: No. 16 Nicolas Aguilar earns a 11-5 decision over Dominic LaJoie (Rutgers, 3-0)
133-pounds: No. 4 Chas Tucker wins a 3-2 decision over No. 9 Sammy Alvarez (Tied, 3-3)
141-pounds: Noah Baughman earns a 6-4 decision over Jojo Aragona (Cornell, 6-3)
149-pounds: Hunter Richard wins by fall over Gerard Angelo (Cornell, 12-3)
157-pounds: Adam Santoro earns the 9-4 decision over Michael VanBrill (Cornell, 15-3)
165-pounds: Jake Brindley gets the 5-3 devision over Brett Donner (Cornell, 18-3)
174-pounds: Joe Grello earns a 6-3 decision over Milik Dawkins (Cornell, 18-6)
184-pounds: Billy Janzer works the 10-6 decision to take down No. 19 Jonathan Loew (Cornell, 18-9)
197-pounds: No. 18 Jordan Pagano secures the 12-0 MD over Jonathon Fagen (Cornell, 18-13)
HEAVYWEIGHT: Alex Esposito earns the 6-3 decision to beat Brendan Furman (Cornell wins 18-16)

 

[MS-RU]

Nice win for Esposito once again!

 

[MS-RU]

MVB and Angelo matches were absolute killers.

 

[bigmatt718]

The 2nd half was a complete 180 from the 1st half. 5-5 tie in terms of bouts. The team completely redeemed themselves in that 2nd half to say the least.

 

[bigmatt718]

MVB and Angelo matches were absolute killers.

If Angelo only loses by decision, RU wins 16-15. Brutal.

 

[KidDagger]

If Angelo only loses by decision, RU wins 16-15. Brutal.

Or if jojo didn’t blow his lead and lose in the final seconds

 

[bigmatt718]

Nice win for Esposito once again!

I am more than fine with Espo as Heavy next year after Colucci graduates.

 

[Clearscreen5]

I’m in Croatia and it’s 3:30am. I watched the match on my iPad and my wife thinks I’m crazy. Aragona, Angelo really were the key matches that went south fast. I have to give Pagano props as he gave it all to try to get the fall. Really needed to win the swing matches and we came up short. The Angelo pin was the killer.

 

[ScottRU93]

Disappointments of match are Aragona, Angelo and MVB. JoJo up 3-0 going into 3rd needs to close that out. Angelo getting pinned leading 3-1 in 3rd is also really bad. MVB has zero excuses. Kids a RS Jr and should not lose. JoJo should have shirted, that’s obvious. Don’t understand why we keep wrestling Donner. Just let Turley wrestle.

 

[ScottRU93]

I am more than fine with Espo as Heavy next year after Colucci graduates.

Esposito has upside.

 

[ScarletGrapfan]

Disappointments of match are Aragona, Angelo and MVB. JoJo up 3-0 going into 3rd needs to close that out. Angelo getting pinned leading 3-1 in 3rd is also really bad. MVB has zero excuses. Kids a RS Jr and should not lose. JoJo should have shirted, that’s obvious. Don’t understand why we keep wrestling Donner. Just let Turley wrestle.

You need to be able to make weight to wrestle, there is a reason Turley has not wrestled in the last 4 duals. Tournament weigh-ins have two hours before tournament starts(by the time he wrestles, about 3-4 hours). Dual meet, 1 hour till match starts. Huge difference for someone having a big struggle to make weight.

 

[nathan125]

Jojo looked defeated once he got injury time in the 3rd....
MVB looks new.....
Sammy did awesome and made a great effort
I dig Janzer, big upside and very brutish... almost an art
149..... that basically was a 3 match swing because he got pinned...some think he got slammed...I disagree with that sentiment.
I like the heavyweight, very ballsy taking a low single shot like he did in the end and he scored. I think if tones the body up a bit next year, we could have a qualifier at least. Maybe win a match or two....

 

[koleszar]

Just got home, lets just say that wasn't pretty. Quietest RAC I've ever heard for a wrestling match in quite a long time. After the Arogona debacle it went pretty silent. Janzer and Pagano brought it back to life for a brief moment. I think we were collectively in shock how bad we looked till break against Cornell's B team. O well, can't win them all and we won't win much this year.

 

[SCNJ]

Angelo killed us tonight. JoJo also disappointing. MVB just another awful showing. 157/165 is a black hole. Hopefully Kanniard and Glasgow can inject some life into it next year.

Tough loss for Alvarez but Chaz is no joke.

Billy Janzer is a machine. Grello, Pagano, and Aguilar with nice wins. Esposito is going to be a nice stop gap between Collucci and Hamilton.

 

[koleszar]

Esposito has upside.

I didn't think we had a plan at that weight till Kyonte arrives but now I'm seeing Esposito just might be able to hold down the fort for the next two years. Hell maybe even make NCAA's one year.

I will say that was a pretty quiet RAC tonight. Quietest I've heard it in a long time. I think we were all collectively in shock at how awful we looked before the break against Cornell's B team.

 

[LETSGORU91_]

I didn't think we had a plan at that weight till Kyonte arrives but now I'm seeing Esposito just might be able to hold down the fort for the next two years. Hell maybe even make NCAA's one year.

I will say that was a pretty quiet RAC tonight. Quietest I've heard it in a long time. I think we were all collectively in shock at how awful we looked before the break against Cornell's B team.

Exactly..on one hand, if JoJo and Angelo matches go a little different, we win. If suriano wrestled, we probably win....But it was against most of their B team. Oh well, a good night out with friends and family. And I had my first beer at the RAC!

 

[nathan125]

Exactly..on one hand, if JoJo and Angelo matches go a little different, we win. If suriano wrestled, we probably win....But it was against most of their B team. Oh well, a good night out with friends and family. And I had my first beer at the RAC!

Suriano is Olympic redshirt... so it's irrelevant.... Cornell's three Olympic redhshirts injected into their lineup means Cornells wins those matches big time.....We got to plow with the horses we got....

 

[SCNJ]

Goodale voiced some displeasure about JoJo, Angelo, and MVB in the post match interview. Said JoJo needs to stop watching the clock in the 3rd period, Angelo has to wrestle smarter situationally, and that we’re getting nothing at 157 right now.

 

[Harleyr1]

Aren’t you being a bit of a drama queen tonight?

This guy is always a drama queen ....probably never wrestled a day in his life yet repeated bashes kids

 

[Harleyr1]

Harley going to give you a stern talking to you.

He ain’t worth my breath ..JoJo, Grello, MVB , Donner....they have all taken turns in his incessant negative rants ...he is like a parrot who repeats the same thing hoping someone will listen ...

 

[MS-RU]

Goodale voiced some displeasure about JoJo, Angelo, and MVB in the post match interview. Said JoJo needs to stop watching the clock in the 3rd period, Angelo has to wrestle smarter situationally, and that we’re getting nothing at 157 right now.

Can't disagree with any of that. That match was ours for the taking and Goodale knows it was a squandered opportunity due to some poor decision making and awful wrestling.

 

[JudgeSmails56]

Van Brill... please someone else

 

[KidDagger]

Can't disagree with any of that. That match was ours for the taking and Goodale knows it was a squandered opportunity due to some poor decision making and awful wrestling.

I like Goodale’s comment of you can’t use age as an excuse bc we have freshmans winning national titles..

 

[MS-RU]

How about Janzer though? He is absolutely locked in and wrestling tremendously right now.

 

[KidDagger]

How about Janzer though? He is absolutely locked in and wrestling tremendously right now.

I think Janzer has pretty good upside.. def potential AA threat in his career. He’s getting better And more confident as the season goes on

 

[JudgeSmails56]

Janzer is a potential AA along with jojo, Aguilar and Sammy. We have a good core, just young. Goody and Pritz will get everyone coached up, it’s just a tough year.

If I ever hit the powerball I’ll send 5 mil to match The psu budget.

 

[KidDagger]

Janzer is a potential AA along with jojo, Aguilar and Sammy. We have a good core, just young. Goody and Pritz will get everyone coached up, it’s just a tough year.

If I ever hit the powerball I’ll send 5 mil to match The psu budget.

Young is no excuse.. if anything its great because it just means we have them for more years.. I really liked goodale’s comment that it’s no excuse bc there are freshman winning national titles every year..
Like I don’t believe in he’s a fresh so ofc he will make a mistake or he’s supposed to win this match just bc he’s an upperclassmen.. u either got that “it” factor or u don’t..

 

[SCNJ]

How about Janzer though? He is absolutely locked in and wrestling tremendously right now.

His 3 of his 4 losses are to Zahid, Orndorff, and Caffey, all of which are legit. But just like you can pinpoint where something clicked for Alavarez at the Southern Scuffle that turned him into a different wrestler, you can say the same thing about Janzer before his match against Rocky Jordan. He was on a bit of a win streak heading in, but he’s raised his game starting right there.

 

[SCNJ]

I’m not sure if his opponent kind of relaxed because he knew the clock was expiring but Pagano was a few seconds away from a pin. If he pins that kid and Esposito still wins, the RAC would have had to close for repairs.

 

[BanjoSaysWoof]

It’s early in the morning, so maybe I’m cranky, but I hope Goodale never again let’s a kid decide if he is ready.

JoJo has no business out there and wasted one of his competition years.

 

[MS-RU]

I’m not sure if his opponent kind of relaxed because he knew the clock was expiring but Pagano was a few seconds away from a pin. If he pins that kid and Esposito still wins, the RAC would have had to close for repairs.

Yeah, I said that in another post. If that match is another 5 seconds, he gets a TF. Another 15 -30 seconds and he gets the pin. Pagano wrestled really tough but his opponent knew he couldn't get pinned and just stayed flat. He eventually wore him out but just ran out of time.

 

[koleszar]

It’s early in the morning, so maybe I’m cranky, but I hope Goodale never again let’s a kid decide if he is ready.

JoJo has no business out there and wasted one of his competition years.

I was more a, ah let's wait and see guy but more than halfway through the season, I'm now more, what a waste this is turning into. Still time for that little light bulb to click on, but the competition is about to ratchet up a couple notches so I don't see it happening this year. At 9-5 what we have here is merely an above .500 wrestler.

 

[bigmatt718]

It’s early in the morning, so maybe I’m cranky, but I hope Goodale never again let’s a kid decide if he is ready.

JoJo has no business out there and wasted one of his competition years.

That was a serious blunder. Lipari should still be here and JoJo should be RSing. His bottom game is so raw, putting it in the nicest terms possible. It's clear that many of the younger wrestlers need more S&C in the off-season as well.

 

[MS-RU]

It’s early in the morning, so maybe I’m cranky, but I hope Goodale never again let’s a kid decide if he is ready.

JoJo has no business out there and wasted one of his competition years.

I doubt it was that simple. We probably don't even land him if we don't give him a legitimate chance to start if he meets all the staff's expectations (wrestles well in the room, passing any conditioning tests, manages weight properly, wins the wrestle off, etc). I highly doubt Goodale said you are starting no matter what. Problem is, I imagine, is that he did everything right and was beating Lipari in the room regularly as well in the wrestle off; at that point the coaches hands are probably tied. You can't tell blue-chip recruits one thing and then completely go back on your word, especially when they have done everything you've asked them to do. He probably leaves and then that type of news spreads like wildfire among recruits and coaches throughout the area.

If Lipari was able to control him regularly and beat him in the wrestle off, I doubt we are even having this conversation.

 

[SCNJ]

JoJo probably should have redshirted but I agree, when recruiting him the coaching staff probably said we wrestle our best guys at each weight regardless of grade, and JoJo was/is the better of the two.

 

[Cradle99]

My first time seeing this team in person this year, for the most part they looked young, were out muscled and out scrambled in most of the matches. Aguilar, Sammy, and Janzer pass the eye test. Something seems missing with JoJo. Hopefully they keep developing.

 

[RutgersAlum]

His 3 of his 4 losses are to Zahid, Orndorff, and Caffey, all of which are legit. But just like you can pinpoint where something clicked for Alavarez at the Southern Scuffle that turned him into a different wrestler, you can say the same thing about Janzer before his match against Rocky Jordan. He was on a bit of a win streak heading in, but he’s raised his game starting right there.

Janzer actually beat Caffey at the Michigan state dual.

 

[SCNJ]

Janzer actually beat Caffey at the Michigan state dual.

Right. He avenged an early season loss to Caffey at the Navy Classic

 

[Ban Basketball]

Looks like a job pretty well done though. Keeping any dual with Cornell close is never a bad thing. They sure seem to have UNI's number every time that they wrestle them.

 

[flyer1986]

first off a disgusting loss. the 149, 157 and 165 kids at cornell were no good (for this level) . they absolutely wanted it more. i sat there is disbelief, so did the crowd, sans the quietest RAC in sometime. jojo match was hard fought and the other kid was pretty good. i agree jojo did not respond well after injury time-out. why he didn't get on his bicycle and run out last 50 seconds is beyond me. the refs were not calling stalling and even if he got hit with one we would have won. as faf as jojo redshirting. i sat next to an ex-cornell wrestler he explained how cornell works and how you have to be aa to wrestle as a freshman. that all freshman wrestle for the finger lakes wrestling club to learn, get stronger and prepare for cornell. i assume we are not there yet but we need to mature as a program where every freshman redshirts. very disappointing night