The wrestling team finished off its final road trip of the season on Saturday with a 3-0 sweep over Boston University, Harvard and Wagner, including a 49-0 shut-out against Wagner. After a win at Princeton last weekend, the Bears have rattled off four wins in a row heading into the final weekend of the regular season.
"We did a much better job this weekend," said co-captain Matt Gevelinger '09. "In the past we have underachieved. This weekend we felt that we were capable of winning three and finally reached our potential."
Brown 25, Harvard 19Brown traveled to Cambridge, Mass., to take on Ivy League foe Harvard early Saturday afternoon. The Crimson failed to suit up a full team as Greg Einfrank '10 won by forfeit at 125 pounds to start off the meet. Harvard controlled the middle-weights as its team put together five wins in the next seven matches. Eli Harris '09 lost 8-3 at 133 pounds and Stephen DeLorenzo '10 bounced back from the Harris defeat and pulled away from his opponent with a technical fall (6:36). Rickey Bailey '11 could not get started and fell 16-0 in a tech. fall (2:48) at 149 pounds.
For the next five matches, the Bears and the Crimson would battle back and forth, each team recording two major decisions to keep the match close.
No. 4 J.P. O'Connor handed Bryan Tracy '10 a 14-3 major decision at 157 pounds. But Jeff Lemmer '12 returned the favor to the Crimson at 165 pounds and scored his own 15-6 major decision. Despite a fever, Bran Crudden '10 battled his opponent and fell by a slight 5-2 margin at 174 pounds. Louis Caputo (No. 10) recorded a 10-0 major decision over Gevelinger at 184 pounds and Leo Saniuk '09 handled his opponent 11-1 for a major decision at 197 pounds.
Harvard could not fill the heavyweight spot as the Bears narrowly edged the Crimson 25-19 with the help of 12 free points from forfeits.
"Everyone stepped up and did their job as certain people had to get bonus points and not get pinned in order to win the match," Einfrank said. "It was nice to see - the team coming out of the weekend on a high."
Brown 49, Wagner 0The Bears had a few moments to rest before they faced off with Wagner for the second match of the day. Many new faces filled the lightweight positions in the dual, taking down the Seahawks 49-0.
Einfrank was stuck on the bench yet again as Wagner did not have a 125-pound entry, earning six points with the forfeit. Ross Baldwin '09 (133), Grant Overcashier '12 (141), Bailey (149), Tom Fazio '09 (157) and co-captain Chris Musser '09 (165) each rolled to convincing wins. The Seahawks were never able to recover as Crudden (174) battled through a 7-6 decision, and Gevelinger (184), Branden Stearns '09 and Zach Zdrada '09 carried out the perfect match for the Bears.
Despite the dominant win, the Bears still have a lot of work to do in order to finish out the season strong, Gevelinger said.
"Our goal is to continue to improve," he said. "Each day we try to get a little bit better."
Brown 17, BU 15After an impressive win over Wagner, the Bears traveled across town for their final match of the day against BU. The team arrived a little early for the 7 p.m. dual and had the opportunity to see the Terriers in action against Sacred Heart.
Once Brown's match began, Gevelinger (184) pulled out a close 3-0 win, keeping the momentum going from the Bears' hard-fought match against Harvard and their domination over Wagner. Stearns (197) fell in a tough 4-2 decision as Zdrada (heavyweight) kept the score low once again with a 6-3 decision.
Einfrank was ready to wrestle despite sitting out the first two matches. He finally had the opportunity to wrestle for his team and aimed to score as many points as he could for Bruno because he knew it would be a tight match.
"I watched my opponent against Sacred Heart, so I knew what was coming," Einfrank said. "I went out aggressive and got some bonus points for the team. It was crucial for everyone to battle for points."
Einfrank delivered for his team and recorded a 19-4 tech fall (5:15) to earn five crucial points.
Brown and BU traded wins the next four bouts as Harris (133) fell 3-2, DeLorenzo (141) won 4-1, Dave Foxen '11 (149) would not let his opponent distance himself for bonus points, falling 11-6, and Tracy (157) managed to hold on for a 6-4 decision.
The Terriers took the next two matches, but with the score close, Lemmer (165) and Crudden (174) held off their opponents from scoring bonus points. The Bears prevailed 17-15 despite their last two duals.
The Bears return home for the final weekend of the regular season to take on No. 3 Cornell on Friday at 3 p.m. and Columbia on Saturday at 2 p.m.
"We're excited to finish off on a strong note, especially after four straight wins," Einfrank said. "We'll try to get some upsets, show them that we're serious about wrestling."
