No. 13 Rutgers wrestling struggles in loss to No. 9 Minnesota
The Rutgers wrestling team suffered a 20-12 defeat to Minnesota on Saturday. The Scarlet Knights (10-3, 3-2) only won 4 of their 10 bouts against the Golden Gophers (6-2, 1-2).
Here are three takeaways from No. 13 Rutgers' second-straight loss.
Strong wins from Mitch Moore, Yaraslau Slavikouski and Dean Peterson
The dual started at the 141 weight class with a bout between No. 20 graduate student 141-pounder Mitch Moore and No. 21 Vance VomBaur. Moore ended his two-match losing streak with a 4-1 decision.
"He needed a bounce back, he's a little bit more healthy and doing a little bit more in practice," head coach Scott Goodale said on Moore's win.
No. 7 graduate student 285-pounder Yaraslau Slavikouski suffered his first defeat of the season last weekend but bounced back against No. 29 Bennett Tabor with an 8-2 decision. Slavikouski has now won four ranked matches this season.
No. 16 junior 125-pounder Dean Peterson showed resilience in his 6-4 decision win over No. 11 Patrick McKee. Peterson also defeated McKee at the NCAA Championships last season by the same score after three periods.
Rutgers struggles in ranked bouts
The Knights needed to win their toss-up bouts to find success against No. 9 Minnesota.
With Rutgers trailing 11-6 with five bouts left, a win for No. 22 sophomore 184-pounder Brian Soldano would have made the dual a 3-point contest. Instead, Soldano fell short and lost a 4-2 decision to Max McEnelly.
Things would go from bad to worse for the Knights as No. 9 junior 197-pounder John Poznanski's perfect 12-0 record was broken. No. 24 Garrett Joles worked a 4-1 decision in overtime to give the Golden Gophers a 17-6 lead.
In the final bout of the afternoon, No. 26 Tyler Wells secured a 5-2 decision over No. 8 junior 133-pounder Dylan Shawver. Shawver struggled on the bottom and could not land a takedown.
Fill-in wrestlers fall short
Junior 149-pounder Michael Cetta thought he tied the bout with No. 13 Drew Roberts after landing a third-period takedown, but the call was overturned by the referees and Roberts earned the win.
No. 6 Michael Blockhus earned Minnesota's biggest win of the day with an 18-3 technical fall over junior 157-pounder Al DeSantis.
Sophomore 165-pounder Luke Gayer battled with No. 29 Blaine Brenner and kept the bout a 1-point contest after two periods but ultimately was defeated in a narrow 2-0 decision.
Rutgers will look to return to its winning ways when it faces off against Ohio State on Sunday at Jersey Mike's Arena on Livingston campus. The match will start at 1 p.m. and will be broadcast on Big Ten Plus and 88.7 WRSU-FM.
"The overtime matches, we lost. In those particular situations in overtime, they were really tough," Goodale said. "It's a tough team, and they showed that late in third periods and in overtime."
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