Ephs Take Fifth at NEWA Duals

Providence, RI – The Williams College Ephs traveled three hours southeast to compete in the NEWA Duals, a 15-team double elimination team tournament featuring the top Division III programs in New England, at Johnson & Wales earlier today. Williams took home 5^th place posting a 3-1 record.
 
In their first match of the day, the Ephs were drawn against Little Three foe Wesleyan. Williams took the first three bouts comfortably (9-2 decision from David Yeh at 125, 1:05 fall from Scotty Richter at 133, and 2:57 fall from Joseph Rossetti at 141), a recurring theme in each of the three matches to come, establishing a 15-0 lead going into the 149 bout. Wesleyan was able to make things interesting, winning at 149 by 5-3 decision and at 157 by 16-1 tech fall, bringing the overall score to 15-8. Fortunately, Williams was able to regain momentum, sweeping the next three bouts (6-3 decision from Eamon Garrity-Rokous at 165, 10-6 decision from Dante Gutbrod at 174, and 8-6 sudden victory from William Smith at 184) to widen the margin to 24-8 heading into the final two bouts of the match with victory secured. Wesleyan was able to take a win at 197, but Thomas Goodwin made sure to send the Ephs into the quarterfinals on the right note, delivering a 1:23 fall in the heavyweight bout.

 












Having dispatched the Cardinals, Williams went on to square-off with top-seeded Coast Guard in the quarterfinals. Despite sweeping the 125, 133, 141 divisions again to start the match (courtesy of a 7-3 decision, 4-0 decision, and 5-3 decision, from Yeh, Richter, and Rossetti respectively) the Ephs were unable to match the Bears on the day, losing the next six bouts before Goodwin concluded the match with a 2:03 win by fall.

On the heels of a 32-15 loss to Coast Guard, Williams squared-off with Norwich with a ticket to the fifth-place match on the line. The Ephs' first three (Yeh, Richter, and Rossetti) continued their impressive form, establishing an early 15-0 lead from a 18-2 tech fall, 0:40 fall, and 16-4 major decision. The middle of the Ephs roster was unable to add to this advantage as Norwich roared back to tie things at 15 heading into the 184 bout. Gutbrod came up clutch, delivering a 17-4 major decision to reestablish Williams' lead. This four-point advantage quickly disappeared though as Norwich took the penultimate bout of the match with a 18-3 tech fall at 197, leading to a winner-take-all heavyweight contest between Goodwin and Mason Sprinkel. In a match that went the distance, Goodwin downed Sprinkel courtesy of a 10-5 decision, bringing the final score to 22-20 in the Ephs' favor and sending his team to the fifth-place match against Southern Maine.

In their final match of the day, the Ephs once again started strong with three consecutive wins (11-7 decision from Yeh at 125, 11-1 major decision from Richter at 133, and 7-5 decision at 141 from Jack Napeloni), opening up a 10-point lead over the Huskies. Southern Maine was able to take wins at 149 at 157, bringing the team score to 10-9 with five bouts to go. Fortunately, the Ephs were able to take care of business at 165 (15-5 major decision from Brendan Kiernan), 174 (8-7 decision from Gutbrod), and 184 (2:24 fall from Smith), creating a 23-9 advantage with two matches to go. With over a 12-point cushion, the Ephs opted to not wrestle at 197 and 285, sealing 5^th place with a 23-21 victory.

Head Coach Scott Honecker had this to say: "I'm so proud of this team and the way they compete for one another. We had some big wins today and a few guys won all their matches, but the way this team puts it on the line is what makes this group really stand out. We knew it was important to win our first one. A win there put us among the top half of teams, where we would see the best competition, so putting ourselves on the top half gave us the matches we wanted. We got to wrestle the best team in the region in Coast Guard and then followed that up with two more wins against quality competition. We have three dates left before the postseason, but there is still time for development. We are gonna reset after this weekend and gear up to be our best when it matters most."
 
The Ephs will be looking to add another win to their impressive 6-1 dual meet record when they travel to Northfield, VT on Saturday for a rematch with Norwich at noon.