Monday, January 23, 2012

Week in Review 01.23.12


We had a solid weekend at the CAA Duals.  We picked up wins against Drexel (36-6), Rider (20-12), and Boston (32-12).  Joe Bonaldi and Donnie Vinson went 3-0, while Nick Gwiazdowski, Justin Lister, and Schiedel all went 2-0.  Overall I felt like we wrestled pretty well in our matches against Drexel and Boston but we were a little flat against Rider.  We pushed the pace in the matches and out wrestled our opponents overall.  However, I was disappointed to see a lot of passive wrestling out of our conference this weekend.

Derek Steeley went 2-1 on the weekend in maybe his best outing of the season.  He is in a position to win all of his matches and was more aggressive this weekend than he has been of late.  It was great to see him wrestle with a fire under him and moreover wrestling intelligently.  He stayed basic and solid for the most part this weekend and it paid off for him.  His win over McGinley was a good one as he avenged his last loss of the season last year as McGinley beat him for 3rd place at the CAA Championships.

Patrick Hunter went 1-2 this weekend.  He won his first match by fall with a bar and ran his opponent over.  Then, he started off against Morris of Rider well until giving up a couple of high-half tilts.  Patrick did not wrestle well on bottom as he rolled around and sat out instead of getting to his feet.  He put himself in those positions and needs to wrestle smarter on bottom.  Then, Patrick lost in overtime to the #16 ranked Santaite of Boston.  He was in the match to win it and we are looking forward to wrestling him again.

Joe Bonaldi had a great weekend and continues to improve weekly.  He beat the #1 ranked wrestler in the CAA and nationally ranked Cimato of Drexel in overtime.  He stayed solid on his feet with good attacks and got off bottom.  He wrestled smart in the scramble positions and got the takedown in overtime.  He controlled the pace and tempo of the match against Rider and beat him with a takedown, 3-2.  He had a minor injury early in his last match but fought through it and won 7-4 against the Boston wrestler.

Donnie Vinson dominated all of his opponents this weekend and looked great.  He had two tech falls and a pin.  He completely dominated from the opening whistle in every match.  He immediately scored takedowns and transitioned to a turn quickly.  He is on a different level than any of the guys who he wrestled this weekend.  He won 19-2 over Drexel in the 2nd period, 18-1 over Rider again in the second period, and then by fall in the first period against Boston.

Joe Chamish wrestled at 157 pounds against Drexel.  He wrestled passively on his feet and did not create opportunities to score.  On bottom he did not do enough and shut down.  He needs to believe in his ability as this was a very winnable match for him; instead, he dropped the bout 15-2.

Justin Lister beat the #2 ranked wrestler in the CAA 8-5.  Lister took Santiago down and turned him twice and was dominating the match.  He then shut down and let Santiago score and close the gap.  Lister had the opportunity to put him away but did not take advantage of it.  In his next match, he pinned the Boston wrestler in the first period with the same move, a ”fire extinguisher”, that Donnie had used in the last bout to pin his opponent about two minutes prior.

Matt Kaylor had a rough day and did not wrestle as well as he usually does.  He still finished 2-1 on the day.  Kaylor took too many bad shots that were not set-up.  He lost his first bout to top twenty ranked Booth of Drexel.  Booth waited for Kaylor to shoot and scored on Kaylor’s bad shots.  In his match against Brundage, he wrestled a little better and won 12-6 scoring with several leg attacks.  In his final match of the day, Kaylor beat Wightman of Boston 8-6 after giving up an early takedown.  He wore his opponent down and scored three takedowns in the match.

Caleb Wallace went 2-1 on the day and wrestled well overall.  He dominated Matyas of Drexel 17-5.  He wrestled very well on his feet and exploded through his shots.  Then, he beat Lintner of Rider 8-1.  He wrestled well in all positions as he scored on his feet, on the bottom, and on top.  In his third match, he lost to a very solid Czarnecki of Boston.  Czarnecki held him out and did not let him get on his leg attacks.  Caleb will need to get through his hands and clear the tie to beat him next time.  I thought Caleb looked more confident this week and will have a good run at the end of the season.

Nate Schiedel picked up two wins in two matches.  He pinned Sternlieb of Drexel in the second period.  Nate was dominating throughout the match before securing the fall when he ran him over with a half and an arm bar.  Then against Morrison of Rider, Nate scored in every position and completely controlled the match.  Nate wrestled well and is wrestling more relaxed.

Cody Reed had an up and down day.  He opened the day with a quality win over #19 Palik of Drexel.  He did a nice job defensively, not letting his opponent score on leg attacks when he got in deep.  In overtime, he secured the winning takedown on the edge of the mat.  Then, he had a disappointing loss to McNeil of Rider in overtime.  The two wrestled a back and forth match and Cody did not wrestle though some of the positions and it cost him the match.  He received a forfeit against Boston.

Nick Gwiazdowski was 2-0 on the day.  He only wrestled one match as he received a forfeit from Boston.  The match that he won was a win over #20 Frey of Drexel.  Frey had beaten Nick at the Body Bar 5-2 early in the year.  Gwiazdowski is improving and turned that loss into a 6-2 win.  He scored a reversal and back points in the match.  It was a bit of a revenge match for him as Frey was Nick’s first college loss.

Mike McKeever lost a tough one wrestling up at heavyweight against Craig of Rider.  Mike nearly scored a takedown in the first but Craig ended up getting a lot of weight on Mike and scoring the takedown.  In the second period, Mike got rodeout.  In the third, Craig chose top and Mike scored an escape.  Craig scored a late takedown and with riding time it was 1-5.

Dan Riggi led the way for the redshirts at the New York State Collegiate B Tournament.  Riggi picked up the state title at 133 pounds with a 12-2 major decision, a fall in 0:14, and a fall in the finals in 2:26.  Vin Grella finished 4th, going 3-2 at 157 pounds.  Adam Morris and Adam Lepkowsky both went 2-2, Angelo Bortoluzzi went 1-2, and Brian Conrad went 0-2.

This Sunday, the Bearcats travel to Oklahoma State for a tri-meet with Bucknell.

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