In the final weekend of its dual-meet competition, the Boston University wrestling team only had two more obstacles to overcome to finish the regular season on a 13-match winning streak.
But it was just not meant to be. The Terriers (15-3, 7-2 Colonial Athletic Association) dropped their first match since Dec. 11 – a span of 11 contests – Friday in a 22-12 loss to No. 20 Rider University before bouncing back one day later to down Harvard in a 37-6 victory.
While the loss to the Broncs (14-3, 8-0) did end BU’s lengthy string of victories – the longest such stretch for the program since the 1990-91 season – BU coach Carl Adams said the one loss wouldn’t spoil what has turned out to be a great regular season for his squad.
“Winning streaks are going to come and go,” Adams said. “I felt good about winning 11 straight and 12 out of 13. Losing that one match is not going to taint the season.”
And as sophomore Zach Johns pointed out, while it never hurts to go on such a run, it certainly was not the team’s No. 1 priority.
“We weren’t too worried about the winning streak,” he said. “We were just worried about winning.”
Friday night’s match started well for the Terriers, with senior Jose Leon returning from a season-long injury to win his first bout of the year in the 125-pound weight class. The Terriers started to stumble, however, after a loss in the 133-pound class before juniors Joey Rivera and Rayes Gonzales stopped the bleeding momentarily with wins at 141 and 149 pounds, respectively.
And while a Leighton Brady win at 165-pounds put the Terriers up 12-9 with four bouts to go, Rider cleaned up the rest of the way, proving why it is one of the top teams in the conference.
The Broncs tied the score with a victory at 174 pounds and pulled ahead with a 17-9 major decision in 184-pound weight class before finishing the Terriers off with decisions in the 197-pound and heavyweight classes as John DaCruz and Courtney Howard couldn’t salvage a victory in either of their bouts.
But after a loss that could have demoralized a BU squad that’s been flying high since early December, Zach Johns said it only fueled the fire to come out strong the next day.
“We were hungry,” Johns said. “After a loss, the first thing you want to do is get out there and make up for it.”
The Terriers satisfied that hunger with a 37-6 wrecking of Harvard (1-14) the next night. BU jumped out to a quick start with wins in each of the first six matches, as sophomore Mike Galorenzo (133) and freshman Chris Coppolo (149) contributed to the Terrier cause. Harvard’s Eddie Jones squeezed a 2-1 decision out over senior Ben Schilens at 174 pounds, but the Terriers picked up two more wins with a forfeit to Tom Sforza at 184 pounds and DaCruz’s major decision at 197 pounds.
Bode Ogunwole earned Harvard’s second and last victory of the day with a 6-2 decision in the heavyweight bout.
While the Terriers may not have finished the season with their streak intact, now comes the important part – they head to Lawrenceville, N.J. on March 5 for the CAA Championships.
“This is the reason why you start the season in the first place,” Adams said. “The season is all about [conference and national championships].”
The Terriers started the season off well, but finished even better. As they hit the CAA Championships, hopes are understandably high.
“It’s not the way you start the race,” Adams said. “It’s the way you finish.”
This is an account occasionally used by the Daily Free Press editors to post archived posts from previous iterations of the site or otherwise for special circumstance publications. See authorship info on the byline at the top of the page.
