Williamstown, MA – The Williams College Ephs played host to the Castleton University Spartans tonight at historic Lasell Gymnasium for their final home meet of the season. Before the action commenced on the mats, Williams' three fifth-year seniors,
Brendan Kiernan,
Clayton Mizgerd and
Joseph Rossetti were honored.
In what proved to be a wildly entertaining 90 minutes of wrestling action, the match finished in an 18-18 tie. Unfortunately for the Ephs, the Spartans won on tiebreaker by virtue of having more wins by fall than the Ephs.
The match kicked off at 184 with
William Smith representing Williams. Smith was able to prevail with a 5-4 win by decision in a gritty, back-and-forth bout, establishing a 3-0 lead for the Ephs.
Castleton responded with victories in the ensuing two matches (197 and 285) courtesy of a pin and win by decision, putting the Ephs in a six-point hole, down 9-3.
Fortunately for Williams,
David Yeh was able to continue his impeccable form, dominating his opponent on route to a 21-6 (6:13) tech fall victory, cutting Castleton's lead to one.
Scotty Richter and
Joseph Rossetti were able to follow up Yeh's victory with two more wins in Williams' favor (10-2 win by major decision for Richter and 5-3 win by decision for Rossetti), reestablishing the Ephs' lead at 15-9.
At 149 Castleton was able to keep things interesting with a win by decision which halved the Ephs' advantage, bringing the score to 15-12.
Albert Xing responded with what happened to be the Ephs' final victory of the day in a classy 5-1 win by decision over a strong opponent. Xing's win brought the overall tally to 18-12 in Williams' favor with two matches to go.
Castleton was able to stave off defeat in the penultimate bout of the night with a 6-5 win by decision which went down to the final whistle, setting up a winner-take-all final match at 174 between
Dante Gutbrod and Cooper Fleming.
Fleming was able to come out on top with a 12-5 win by decision, leveling the score at 18. With all bouts already fought, the outcome was determined by the rule book with the tiebreaker going in Castleton's favor courtesy of their advantage in total wins by fall.
Head Coach
Scott Honecker was proud of his team tonight, sharing this following the action: "There's always mixed feelings after the last regular season match. On one hand, all eyes are on the qualifier in two weeks. But on the other hand our three seniors gave five years to this program and we wanted their last experience in Lasell Gymnasium to be a great one. Now isn't the time to reflect on those guys, they have big goals still ahead. Here's what I do know, regardless of the circumstances there was a butt kicking contest with Castleton tonight and any time there's one of those, we want in on it. We didn't win the dual but we showed up. An 18-18 criteria loss does not taste great, but we are on the path we need to be on to have peak performance in the culminating weeks. They felt us, and everybody knows to expect seven minutes of hell from the Ephs come the regional tournament"
The complete box score is as follows:
- 184: William Smith def. Sampson Wilkins by 5-4 decision (3-0 Williams)
- 197: Chance LaPier def. Elias Chen by 2:43 fall (6-3 Castleton)
- 285: Shea Garand def. Thomas Goodwin by 5-3 decision (9-3 Castleton)
- 125: David Yeh def. Frank Darwak by 21-6 (6:13) tech fall (9-8 Castleton)
- 133: Scotty Richter def. Michael Gonyea by 10-2 major decision (12-9 Williams)
- 141: Joseph Rossetti def. James Rodriguez by 5-3 decision (15-9 Williams)
- 149: Nicholas Roeger def. Jack Napeloni by 6-2 decision (15-12 Williams)
- 157: Albert Xing def. Logan Dubuque by 5-1 decision (18-12 Williams)
- 165: Michael Angers def. Brendan Kiernan by 6-5 decision (18-15 Williams)
- 174: Cooper Fleming def. Dante Gutbrod by 12-5 decision (18-18)
With their dual meet schedule complete, the team will now turn its focus to the NEWA futures (hosted by Johnson & Wales next Sunday) and the NCAA regional championships coming up in the next few weeks.
