The NYU Wrestling team traveled to Westminster, Md. on Feb. 8 to take on two Centennial Conference foes, 20th-ranked Ursinus College and McDaniel College.
Matches began at 11 a.m. with the Violets squaring off against the Ursinus Bears. NYU struggled out of the gate, dropping the first four weight classes to the Bears, before an impressive showing from CAS junior and co-captain Matt DiGiovanni at the 157 lb. weight class. DiGiovanni pinned his opponent in the second period.
CAS juniors Chris Amro and Patrick Sheehan also delivered promising performances for the Violets. Amro won a hard-fought match (6-0) at the 174 lb. weight class and Sheehan, co-captain of the team, dominated against Ursinus’ Daniel Manganaro at the 184 lb. weigh class with a score of 7-0. However, NYU was unable to claim victory and came up short with a team score of 32-12.
In the huddle after the first match, Coach Bruce Haberli informed his wrestlers that he wanted them to focus on wrestling hard for seven minutes, regardless of the outcome. Taking on McDaniel next, the Violets rebounded. The team came out much stronger in the second match by winning matches in seven out of the ten weight classes. CAS junior and co-captain Brandon Jones, who is currently ranked number two in the nation at the 141 lb. weight class, won by a score of 17-9 over Alvontae Drummond of McDaniel. DiGiovanni and CAS freshman John Messinger each performed well by winning their respective matches at the 157 lb. and 165 lb. weight classes. Amro put on an impressive display by tech-falling his opponent 15-0. Co-captains Sheehan and CAS senior Dan Brereton also won for the Violets at the 184 lb. and 197 lb. weight classes. Overall, NYU came out on top over McDaniel with a team score of 30-15.
“The team had a slow first match. We were not physical enough and we got out hustled in a lot of situations,” Sheehan said. “But we stepped up in the second duel and got in their faces, which changed our momentum and led to our victory.”
The Violets’ record is now 8-9 overall and 4-4 in their conference. NYU will compete in the UAA Championship this upcoming weekend at home against Case Western University and the University of Chicago. Wrestling will start at 11 a.m. on Feb. 15 at Coles Sports Center. NYU will square off against the loser between Case Western and Chicago at 12:45 p.m. and then the winner at 2:30 p.m.
Sean Billings is a contributing writer. Email him at [email protected].
