To say the Boston University wrestling squad has been unlucky this season would be an understatement. That string of bad luck continued last Friday as the Terriers (5-9) started six freshmen in a 26-14 loss to a 3-7 Harvard University team that features four nationally ranked grapplers.
“They were clearly the better team,” said Terrier coach Carl Adams. “We knew it was going to be really tough tonight, and we wrestled okay, but okay is not good enough against those guys.”
The first match featured two talented heavyweights in the 285-pound class. BU freshman James Connors lost, 8-2, to Bode Ogunwole, the No. 7 wrestler in the nation in that weight division, to give Harvard an early 3-0 advantage over BU.
“Connors fought a great match,” Adams said. “He was paired against a really tough opponent and held his ground. I can’t really get down on our guys, because they showed great effort.”
Freshman Josh Statum then won the 125-pound class due to a Harvard forfeit, giving the Terriers a 6-3 advantage.
But the lead would not last long. Eighth-ranked Robbie Preston of Harvard pinned BU freshman Bryan Matsuura in the first-round of the 133-pound class. Then No. 15 Max Meltzer defeated BU sophomore Joe Whitaker, 13-2, at 141 pounds.
“That’s the way it has been all season long,” Adams said. “We get off to a good start but fall behind after we are forced into several poor match-ups because of injuries.”
BU freshman Mike Roberts defeated Matt Button by a score of 12-5 in the 149-pound division to cut the Harvard lead to 13-9. But nationally ranked Harvard freshman Andrew Flanagan defeated senior Justin Blumenthal, 14-6, in the 157-pound class to give Harvard a 17-9 lead.
An overtime match between BU senior Zach Johns and Mike Baria ended when the referee called a controversial stalling penalty against Johns, giving Baria the victory. After the match, Johns failed to properly shake hands with Baria, drawing an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty and causing a point to be deducted from the Terriers’ score. The result was a commanding 20-8 lead for the Crimson.
“Zach sort of threw out his hand and didn’t fully shake,” Adams said. “I have never seen a penalty like that in my 25 years of coaching. We take a lot of pride in our sportsmanship, and Zach felt bad afterwards. I always tell my players that you get 50 percent of the calls and you lose 50 percent of the calls. It is just up to us to make sure the match is not decided by the referees.”
BU freshman Chris Tripp defeated Harvard’s Wes Walker, 6-5, in the 174-pound class, cutting the Crimson lead to 20-11. But BU freshman Elijah Vidal lost in a first-period pin to Louis Caputo at 184 pounds.
“It’s really hard for us to win these matches when we surrender half a dozen points due to poor match-ups,” Adams said. “Our freshmen have shown a lot of poise, but we lost two valuable guys to injury in the beginning of the year and you just can’t replace them.”
BU senior Tom Sforza defeated Billy Colgan, 10-5, in the final match, but it wasn’t enough, as the Crimson walked home with a 26-14 victory.
The Terriers will have their last match of the season against Rider University at 7 p.m. on Feb. 17 at Walter Brown Arena.