At No. 25 in the National Wrestling Coaches Association (NWCA) poll, the Binghamton wrestling team competed on Saturday in its first dual meet as a ranked team since 2012. Facing off against Lehigh, the Bearcats competed neck-and-neck with the defending conference champions, but a late push by the Mountain Hawks’ upper weights gave their opponent a 19-16 win in the match.

“Lehigh’s tough, every guy on their team, anyone that’s a part of their program is a very good wrestler,” said Binghamton head coach Kyle Borshoff. “I think that us coming out here and being close … just continues to show us that we’re moving in the right direction, but this is a team we should’ve beat tonight.”

Lehigh is a perpetual contender for the Eastern Intercollegiate Wrestling Association (EIWA) championship, and Binghamton has never defeated the Mountain Hawks. Lehigh dominated last season’s matchup, but the Bearcats were dealing with extensive injury problems at the time.

On Saturday, the teams split the 10 bouts in the match, but bonus points at 197-pounds and a pin by Lehigh at 285-pounds secured the win. While Lehigh (2-2) was favored in both of those matchups, some surprising results for Binghamton (3-1) earlier in the match did not give the Bearcats enough of a cushion on the scoreboard to hold on.

“I was expecting to come in here and win, and we lost a couple of matches that I thought we were going to dominate,” Borshoff said. “Overall, it is just a little disappointing. It’s great that we’re closer to them than we were last year, but I certainly expected to win tonight.”

The bright spot for Binghamton was the performance of its freshmen, with Micah Roes and Brevin Cassella continuing a strong start to their collegiate careers. The pair both picked up victories and moved to 4-0 on the season.

“Our freshmen wrestled great,” Borshoff said. “I think that’s the story of our season so far. I’m really proud of those guys.”

Both Roes and Cassella are true freshmen, competing in a sport where most athletes redshirt their freshman year. With the NCAA granting athletes an additional year of eligibility due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the pair have had unique success in their first year of college.

“I think they just believe in themselves and they’re tough,” Borshoff said. “I think a lot of it’s just about self-belief, and they’re buying into what we’re doing. A lot of these guys that they’re beating were bigger recruits in high school then they were … obviously, that doesn’t matter anymore, and our guys keep winning.”

Sophomore Jacob Nolan and redshirt junior Lou DePrez also increased their record to 4-0 on Saturday. DePrez picked up a major decision at 184-pounds, and Nolan earned a decision. Junior Michael Zarif also won for Binghamton at 149-pounds.

“I was happy with a lot,” Borshoff said. “A lot of our guys I thought wrestled well, but obviously we lost the dual and there were a couple of guys that I think could’ve wrestled better and need to wrestle better as we move forward.”

After everything seemed to go their way last weekend in an impressive win over Army, the Bearcats had momentum coming into the match against Lehigh but were not able to secure a victory in the end.

“It was great, but I think we got brought back down to earth a little bit today,” Borshoff said. “Last week was awesome, the team overall wrestled really well. It was cool to get recognized, but we want to keep getting higher, and losing this match tonight will drop us out of the rankings.”

Next up for the Bearcats is a dual meet against Bucknell next Sunday. The match is set to begin at 2 p.m. at the Gerhard Fieldhouse in Lewisburg, Pennsylvania.