While Binghamton University students were taking a break from the school year, the wrestling team was fighting to discover how good it really was. The Bearcats went 4-6 from Dec. 12 to Jan. 24, showing flashes of their potential but struggling against top teams.
“I think we’ve competed pretty well,” said Bearcats head coach Pat Popolizio. “We’ve wrestled a lot of great competition, and we’ve been learning from our experiences and mistakes we’ve made. As the year goes on, they improve and get better and better, and that’s what we’re shooting for right now.”
The Bearcats (9-10) began their stretch on the road against No. 19 Hofstra, losing by a lopsided 37-3 score. The team’s three points came from 184-pound junior Josh Patterson in an opening bout against freshman Ben Clymer. The team went on to lose the rest of its bouts, facing four ranked wrestlers along the way.
Binghamton had little time to worry about its performance, however, with the Princeton Quads the next day. The Bearcats bounced back strongly, sweeping their three matches. They beat Delaware State, 48-3, and the Merchant Marine Academy, 45-3, in each case suffering only one loss by junior Anthony Esposito. Binghamton also defeated host Princeton, 33-12.
Following the Princeton Quads, the team sent 13 wrestlers to the UNC at Greensboro Southern Scuffle, finishing 14th. As has been the case for most of the season, Patterson was the individual who shined, finishing second in his weight class. Donnie Vinson, a 149-pound freshman, finished third while wrestling unattached.
Unfortunately for Binghamton, the Bearcats would struggle in their next matches against high-quality competition. The team lost to Bloomsburg University, 33-3. However, the low point came in the form of a 46-(-1) loss to No. 21 Old Dominion at the CAA Duals. No Bearcat would win their bout, and the team was deducted a point, resulting in the negative score. However, the team put up much better showings the rest of the day, defeating Drexel University, 26-15, and losing to Rider University, 23-13.
The team struggled again this weekend, losing two matches at the University of Michigan. BU lost to Virginia Tech, 37-3, and No. 17 University of Michigan, 39-6. Patterson won his bout in each of those matches, with redshirt freshman Matt Kaylor providing the only other victory against Michigan.
Josh Patterson has become a bona fide star for the team. He is 29-4 overall, including 16 pins. According to a Binghamton University press release, this puts him one pin away from tying a school record for pins in a year, set in 1987-88 by Greg Geisenhof. He is currently ranked No. 9 in the country for his weight class by Intermat, and Amateur Wrestling News has him at No. 8. While Popolizio calls Patterson “one of the top guys in his weight in the country,” he is also careful to stress that Patterson needs to continue to work hard.
“He’s got to continue to improve here,” Popolizio said. “I think the most important part of the season is yet to come, and he needs to stay focused and willing to keep learning here as we get closer to the conference tournament. I think he’s having an outstanding season so far.”
Popolizio also noted Kaylor and 165-pound redshirt sophomore Ryan McGarity as players who have excelled this year. Kaylor has already surpassed 20 wins on the year, while McGarity currently has 15. Despite the up-and-down year and need to wrestle with “a little more attitude,” Popolizio has seen a lot that he likes from the team.
“Every week there’s someone that steps up,” he said. “We’re very young and inconsistent right now, which we expected. Anytime you have a young team it’s going to be like that. But we have guys that are beating some … top-20 guys. We’ve had guys that are having some good performances so far. We’re very young and still … making mistakes, but we’re learning from them.”