The wrestling team hosted its last home meet of the season against Harvard on Saturday at the Pizzitola Center, beating Harvard 33-7. Before the meet, Head Coach Dave Amato honored the four graduating seniors, Nathan Myers '08, Jeff Schell '08, Mark Savino '08 and Levon Mock '08, who wrestled the last home matches of their college careers. The Bears' overall win was supplemented by the four seniors' victories. Myers and Savino won by forfeit at the 125- and 141-pound weight classes, respectively. At 133, Schell won by decision, 2-0. Finally, Mock took the last victory of the meet at the heavyweight class with a 6-2 decision.
The team had a 15-point lead after the first three matches, with the three seniors winning with two forfeits and one win by decision. At the 149-pound weight class, Mark Bloom '09.5 wrestled the toughest match of the day when he faced off against the No. 2-ranked J.P. O'Connor, who took the first victory for Harvard with a major decision, 12-3. Despite the loss, Bloom did well to keep the score close against a tough opponent, allowing Harvard only four team points.
At 157 pounds, Tom Fazio '09 took down Bobby Latassa early in the first period. Latessa injured his knee in the process and had to forfeit the match. By this point, the Bears had a solid 21-4 lead in team points.
Chris Musser '09 wrestled at 165 pounds against Harvard's Matt Button. Musser headed into the last period 1-1, but his opponent scored a takedown in the last few seconds of the match, which sealed a 3-1 win for Harvard.
But those would be the last points for the Crimson as the Bears dominated the remaining four matches. At 174 pounds, Kasey McCurdy '11 won his first college match against Michael Sadler. It was a "big confidence boost for (McCurdy)," according to Mock.
"We knew a lot of Harvard's starters had injuries this year," said Mock, who won the final match of the day. "But we didn't know it was going to be as weak as it was. We thought if we wrestled well, we could win, and we really killed it."
Amato was also pleased with the team. He said the victory wasn't due to any particular wrestler but to the team as a whole.
"We took care of business and won the matches we needed to win," Amato said.
The Bears will head to New York for their final two duals against Cornell and Columbia this weekend. Amato said it would be an important weekend for the wrestlers' seeding at the Eastern Intercollegiate Wrestling Association tournament.
"We will focus on the weekend for now," Amato said. "We will then have a week off to focus on the EIWA."
