No. 2 Anthony Ashnault (149) and No. 5 Nick Suriano (133) both recorded tech falls against their opponents, while Peter Lipari (141) and Stephan Glasgow (165) each added their first career Big Ten Conference wins. No. 15 John Van Brill (157) and Christian Colucci (HWT) also earned decisions to help the Scarlet Knights secure their sixth home victory of the season.
How it Happened
• With the dual starting at 197 pounds, Michigan State pinned in the opening bout and added a tech fall at 125 pounds to jump to an 11-3 lead after three matches. However, Rutgers captured wins in five out of the last seven matches to secure the dual.
• Colucci wrestled Christian Rebottaro in the night's heavyweight match, using a reversal in the second tiebreaker period for a 4-2 decision.
• As RU faced an early 11-3 deficit, Suriano took the mat against Logan Griffin. The junior used five takedowns and two four-point near falls for the 22-4 tech fall, his third of the season and second in dual action.
• Lipari followed with a hard-fought 4-2 decision over Alex Hrisopoulos at 141 pounds. With the match tied, 2-2, heading into the third period, Lipari hit a reversal with 24 seconds left for the conference win.
• Lipari's win made it an 11-11 match at intermission.
• Rutgers claimed the next three bouts out of the break, beginning with Ashnault's 19-4 tech fall over Jaden Enriquez. Ashnault worked two takedowns and a two-point near fall in the first period, then followed with two takedowns and back-to-back four-point tilts for the final result.
• Van Brill added his second conference win of 2018-19 with his 4-2 decision over Jake Tucker, while Glasgow's takedown in the third period against Austin Hiles gave him a 7-4 decision and Rutgers a commanding 22-11 lead.
• Michigan State would close the dual with back-to-back wins, but they did not come easy. Joseph Grello (174) dropped a 4-3 decision to 2017 NCAA qualifier Drew Hughes, and Willie Scott (184) had a takedown and four-point near fall in the first period against No. 15 Cameron Caffey before he was forced to take a medical forfeit.
Notables
• Rutgers moved to 4-0-1 all-time against Michigan State and 4-0 since the Scarlet Knights joined the conference. The programs tied in their first ever meeting back in 2010 in East Lansing.
• Through five home events, RU has averaged 5,018 fans per dual at the RAC.
• Ashnault is now 17-0 this season with 12 of those wins by bonus, including seven pins, three tech falls and two majors. Ashnault leads the team in dual points with 59.
• Ashnault now owns 108 career wins, good for seventh all-time in program history. Ashnault needs 10 wins to surpass Mike McHugh (1986-89) for the most wins in program history.
• Suriano halted a two-match losing streak with his third tech fall of the season. Suriano is now 15-2 on the season with 13 wins by bonus, including six majors, three pins, three tech falls and a medical forfeit.
• Suriano is second on the team with 50 dual points in 12 duals this year.
• Van Brill is now 7-4 in dual action this season with two conference wins.
• Glasgow and Lipari each earned their first conference dual wins of their careers.
• Colucci is 10-8 this season, but has wrestled the hardest schedule on the roster. The heavyweight has gone up against seven Intermat ranked foes, including four top-10 opponents and the top wrestler in his weight class in Gable Steveson (Minnesta)
Results:
197: Brad Wilton (MIST) over Matthew Correnti (RUTG) (Fall 4:15)
285: Christian Colucci (RUTG) over Christian Rebottaro (MIST) (TB4 4-2)
125: No. 7 RayVon Foley (MIST) over Shane Metzler (RUTG) (TF 16-0 6:12)
133: No. 5 Nick Suriano (RUTG) over Logan Griffin (MIST) (TF 22-4 6:39)
141: Peter Lipari (RUTG) over Alex Hrisopoulos (MIST) (Dec 4-2)
149: No. 2 Anthony Ashnault (RUTG) over Jaden Enriquez (MIST) (TF 20-4 4:45)
157: No. 15 John Van Brill (RUTG) over Jake Tucker (MIST) (Dec 4-2)
165: Stephan Glasgow (RUTG) over Austin Hiles (MIST) (Dec 7-4)
174: Drew Hughes (MIST) over Joe Grello (RUTG) (Dec 4-3)
184: No. 15 Cameron Caffey (MIST) over Willie Scott (RUTG) (Inj. 2:48)
UP NEXT
Rutgers hosts a pair of ranked foes next weekend, as it entertains No. 9 Nebraska on Friday (7 p.m.) and No. 21 Princeton on Sunday (noon). Both matches will stream on BTN2Go.
Quotes
Head Coach Scott Goodale
On Willie Scott getting injured: That's scary, and we're thin right now. So yes, precautionary. He's pretty banged up. Grello's pretty banged up, fighting off a power half for four minutes. We have to see where were at tomorrow morning. I really don't know right now, I really have to see. There're not many options right now. I'd rather not pull someone out of redshirt, but there's really no options, so we'll kind of see where we're at. Maybe Olivieri up, or something like that, but we'll just have to see what tomorrow brings. Nick is 50/50 right now, he'll start to train again tomorrow morning.
On Glasgow: I thought that was really, really important. He's capable of so much more. He's in on those legs and hasn't had that mat time where he's feeling it right now. He's still kind of rusty. He hasn't been on the mat enough to really feel those positions and roll them around, so it was good for him to finish one of those takedowns.
On Suriano's mindset: Well it is a unique situation, we didn't even know if he was going to wrestle. He didn't practice until Thursday. So, his mindset was that he probably wasn't going to wrestle. If we started at 125, he probably wouldn't have wrestled. I think what Donny and him really locked in on was just wrestle. There's too much what does this guy do, what do I do, how do I adjust. Just wrestle. That needs to be the approach for Nick Suriano, just wrestle, because you get those results.
On Colucci: Looking back, pretty clutch. He's got a lot of offense, he doesn't pull the trigger and makes for a somewhat boring heavyweight match, but he's got offense and he's good on top. He was able to ride him out for a win, that was huge, and he did a good job getting off the bottom. I don't know why he doesn't go, because he is capable of scoring and he has some really good high-level stuff and he has some good snap downs. He has to put two or three together. To move those big guys, you have to put two and three of them together, chasing angles, and he's just hasn't been able to do that right now.
On Lipari: That was big, he got his hand raised. He was on six in a row where he lost, and to all good opponents. He's right there with a lot of good opponents. You worry, it's good to be close, but it's not winning, so you start to worry about if he can win. He got one tonight, and that was huge, and we knew it would be. That was a swing match where maybe on paper we don't give it to us, but we know he's capable and a good job for Pete. That was a big win for him. Right now, he's our guy. Obviously, Mikey has to be ready, VanBrill needs to be ready to go, and he understands that. Pete's gone through a tough stretch with a lot of good guys and he's still wrestling good. HEs still wrestling hard, and that's what we talk about. You have to wrestle hard no matter what. That's what we look for in our guys. Compete, compete, compete. He did that through a tough stretch, and now he gets his hand raised in a big spot.
Freshman Stephan Glasgow (165)
On winning: It felt great. It was a great confidence booster, finally getting back on a win streak, or the start of a win streak hopefully, we'll see.
On training: I just try to everyday push myself a little bit more, feel a little bit more uncomfortable in my positions so that when I get on the mat, I can scramble how I used to or wrestle in weird positions. I try to not have it affect me as much.
Graduate Student Anthony Ashnault (149)
On moving forward: I definitely learned that it's not going to be easy and I felt like I've been dominating a little bit more this year. There are going to be guys that come to fight, especially if they come from a program that is born and raised to go out there and give a good effort for seven minutes, like Iowa guys, and he was a good opponent. I just know that it isn't going to be easy now and I have to go earn everything. Even though I might be better on paper than some of these guys, I have to go earn it when I step out on the mat and get my points. Sometimes an overtime win is okay, it's still a win, moving on, and it's a good time to get a match like that out of the way. There were a lot of things I took from it.
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