The Boston University men’s wrestling team completed its regular season duals schedule Friday night in New Jersey with a crushing loss to Rider University, 30-3, dropping the Terriers (8-9, 4-5 in Colonial Athletic Association) below .500 for the second straight season.
Rider, one of the top teams in the CAA all season, proved too much for the young Terrier squad to handle.
“We got edged in several matches by small margins,” Adams said. “They are a good team, and they definitely out-wrestled us.”
BU coach Carl Adams felt his term performed better than the scoreboard indicated Friday night.
“It was probably closer than the score indicated,” Adams said.
Junior Joey Whitaker was the only BU wrestler to come away with a victory, earning a 3-2 decision over Rider’s Brian Polashuk in the 133-pound weight class. Sophomore Mike Roberts, one of the Terriers’ strongest wrestlers all season, lost a 3-1 decision in 149.
BU immediately fell behind in the match, as BU freshman Carmen Rondash started things off by falling in a lopsided defeat at 187, losing 17-2 on a technical fall. BU sophomore Jim Connors was beaten by a 7-3 decision at 285 and freshman Abbie Rush was defeated in a close match at 125, 8-7.
As most of the team did, the young Terriers struggled in their final regular season matches. Freshman C.J. Inglin kept his 165 bout close, but eventually lost, 5-3, and fellow freshman A.J. Detwiler lost 11-8 in the 174 class. Another one of the young BU wrestlers, sophomore Eli Vidal, was defeated 16-4 in a major decision at 184 to close out the event.
The Terriers’ competition Friday night was just another tough match in a season full of difficult opponents.
“It’s been between Rider and Hofstra all season for the top spot,” Adams said. “They have four or five nationally ranked kids.”
The Terriers will take two weeks off to prepare for the CAA Championships, which are March 2 and 3 at George Mason University. Performing well in the postseason will be another tall task for the BU wrestling team.
“We will go to the conference championships just like the other ten teams,” Adams said. “Out of 110 kids, only 23 will qualify, and there are 27 qualifiers returning. It is going to be a struggle for us to get people through. We are hoping we can get one or two.”
But Adams is confident in his young squad.
“We have a few guys, Joey Whitaker and Mike Roberts, who have a good chance to qualify,” he said. “On any given day, I think that they are the best at their weights.”
While this might not have been a very strong season for the Terriers, the future looks bright.
“You always want to have a winning season, so we fell a little bit short in that respect this year,” Adams said. “The guys have come a long way since the start of the season. We have a very young team and we wrestle a tough schedule. We feel like we are having a good year recruiting. We have some good firm commitments that we think will make us stronger next year.
“Our goal is always to shoot toward winning the conference and do well at the NCAA tournament,” he continued. “We are going to do our best.”