Williamstown, MA – The Williams College Ephs hosted Hunter and Bridgewater at Lasell Gymnasium today for a series of dual meets in which they improved their dual meet record to 3-0 on the season.
Facing a Hunter squad short on numbers first, the Ephs cruised to a 54-3 team victory, courtesy of pins from
Noe Romero at 125 (6:50),
Scotty Richter at 133 (0:49), and
Joseph Rossetti at 149 (2:37), and six forfeits.
Following a short break, the Ephs returned to the mat against Bridgewater. There were no forfeits in this meet as Williams ran away with a 37-6 win. This match featured another pin from Richter (0:39), as well as pins from freshmen
Jack Napeloni at 149 (2:00) and
Thomas Goodwin at 285 (2:05).
Adding to the tally for the Ephs were
David Yeh at 125 (3-2 decision), Rossetti (17-2, 2:18 tech fall),
Albert Xing at 157 (13-5 major decision),
Brendan Kiernan at 165 (12-4 major decision), and
Dante Gutbrod (6-5 decision).
Speaking on the dual meets today, Head Coach
Scott Honecker had this to say: "Before I talk about our performance let's take our hats off to Hunter and Bridgewater. All three teams are working though issues right now and I was thrilled that everyone was able to get a lineup together. I know everyone on their respective campuses had to work really hard to give these kids an opportunity and I would be remiss if I didn't thank our respective administrations and sports medicine staffs, especially our own here a Williams to help us host a great day of wrestling."
Honecker was pleased with his team's performance: "We looked sharp today. It is tough to single anyone out because of how excited to compete all of our guys were. Everyone brought incredible effort today. These guys train with passion and I'm always impressed by what a disciplined lifestyle our guys live. Competing their best is very important to this group. This team is an exciting challenge for the coaching staff because we know they are going to bring 100% to the things we ask them to do, so it's important that we emphasize the right things in our training."
Honecker made sure to highlight a few top performers, namely Gutbrod, Goodwin, Romero, Richter, and Napeloni: "
Dante Gutbrod remained on his incredible trajectory. This dude just gets better and better every day. He's working as hard as anybody and I'm glad to see him get a big win to kick off this dual stretch. Tommy Goodwin had a tough first match, and as a freshman I was concerned about how he might bounce back. To see him come back and dominate in the Bridgewater dual showed pride and resiliency and seeing the progress he and Coach Foote are making working together is impressive. It was cool to see Noe, Scotty, and Jack Nap get dominant wins competing in their first home dual. They are following the lead of the older guys and it is showing from top to bottom."
Use these hyperlinks to view the complete results for Williams' matches against
Hunter and
Bridgewater.
"Next week we will hit stiffer completion at the NEWA Duals. If I'm being honest, I think this team is a little under the radar for the talent we have. It will be interesting to see where we stack up at this juncture against a 16-team field."
As mentioned by Honecker above, Williams will return to action next Sunday, January 23
rd at the NEWA Duals hosted by Johnson & Wales in Providence, RI.
