Wrestling falls short at Navy

Bearcats lose 19-18 on final bout.

By Michael Carbone assistant sports editor

The Binghamton wrestling team traveled to Maryland on Sunday to take on Navy in an Eastern Intercollegiate Wrestling Association (EIWA) match. Although BU grabbed an early lead over the hosts, the Midshipmen stormed back as the dual meet was decided by the winner of the final heavyweight bout. Redshirt junior Cory Day dropped the 285-pound matchup as the Bearcats fell to Navy 19-18.

“Our team wrestled well in the dual meet,” said Binghamton head coach Kyle Borshoff. “We made two mistakes as a team and if we could’ve had back three seconds from two different matches, the dual meet would’ve been a landslide victory.”

BU (4-10, 3-3 EIWA) jumped out to a quick 6-0 lead after sophomore Micah Roes earned a pin over his opponent in just 38 seconds during the 125-pound bout. Navy (3-5, 2-1 EIWA), however, was able to grab the next two matchups of the meet to knot the dual up at 6-6. The Bearcats retook their lead during the 149-pound bout, where graduate student Michael Zarif put Binghamton back ahead after he earned an 8-3 decision over his Midshipman opponent.

“It was great to have [Roes] get a pin out there,” Borshoff said. “We had some other good things that we can build off of. The middle of our lineup is starting to wrestle a bit better, and that’s gonna be important as we move towards the end of the season.”

Following Zarif’s win, sophomores Conner Decker and Brevin Cassella earned consecutive victories and expanded the BU advantage to 15-6. Decker earned a 4-0 decision victory during his 157-pound matchup and Cassella followed shortly after with a 5-2 decision in the 165-pound bout. Both Bearcats managed two pins during their respective frays.

“Overall we wrestled hard,” Borshoff said. “Navy has a team just like us where they don’t have a great dual record, but the teams they’ve lost to this season are all very good, so that’s a bit deceiving. They have five or six guys that are nationally ranked in their lineup. Definitely a tough team, it was a tough loss.”

Despite Binghamton holding a nine-point advantage over the hosts, Navy would go on to win three of the final four bouts of the match. The Midshipmen earned six points during the following 174-pound bout and closed their deficit to 1512. No. 19 ranked redshirt junior Jacob Nolan regrew the BU lead to 18-12 after a 4-0 decision victory in the 184-pound match.

“The goal is to get guys through to nationals, and that’s the goal every year,” Borshoff said. “The more guys that we can put into the NCAA championship, the more opportunity we have to finish with All-Americans. That’s pretty much entirely determined by one week in March.”

Despite their lead, the Bearcats lost the meet’s final two bouts as Navy secured a narrow one-point victory in the end. Freshman Cayden Bevis was defeated in his

197-pound match via major decision and the Midshipmen trailed 18-16 heading into the heavyweight. The meet would be decided by the 285-pound bout, where No. 18 ranked Day could not secure a victory for the visitors.

“[Day] understands the situation — If you win the match, you win the dual, and if he doesn’t we lose,”

Borshoff said. “It’s the pressure that comes with being a heavyweight. A lot of duals start at 125 and a lot of times it comes down to heavyweight.”

Binghamton will travel back home for its next conference dual meet against Princeton on Saturday, Feb. 4. First bout is set for 5 p.m. at the Events Center in Vestal, New York.