For its second home meet of the season, the Binghamton wrestling team hit the mats against Stanford on Sunday morning. Despite three individual victories for the Bearcats, the hosts failed to post enough points to make a dent in the Stanford lead and dropped the competition 25-13 for its third loss of the season.

“We lacked effort in today’s meet,” said Binghamton head coach Kyle Borshoff. “I don’t think we had the right attitude going into today’s meet. That’s a dual meet that we should’ve won. I believe effort is the reason we lost, and that’s frustrating. The changes we made [in] the [Jonathan Kaloust Bearcat Open], we kind of reverted back today to where we were a couple of weeks ago. That’s frustrating as a coach. I know the guys on the team aren’t happy because they realize and know they could’ve given better effort.”

BU (1-3) came out to a slow start, failing to post a win in its first five bouts. True freshman Nick Curley dropped the 125-pound matchup in a 10-4 decision, senior Anthony Sobotker fell to No. 32 Stanford (1-2) 133-pound junior Jackson DiSario 1-0 and redshirt junior Michael Zarif lost 9-3 in the 141-pound contest. To further extend their 9-0 lead, the Cardinals grabbed six points in the 149-pound event after No. 8 Stanford redshirt sophomore Jaden Abas won by fall over redshirt senior Nick Lombard. True freshman Logan Gumble kept his match within one point after two periods in the 157-pound weight class, but was ultimately downed in a 6-3 decision, stretching the team score to 18-0 in favor of the Pac-12 team.

“At [133], I didn’t see anything out of our 133-pounder, [Sobotker],” Borshoff said. “He has all sorts of ability, didn’t see it today. [Gumble] wrestled really hard at 157 against a good wrestler from Stanford. If [Gumble] keeps putting his effort forward, I think he’s going to be fine.”

The first points for Binghamton came in the 165-pound event, where Stanford’s national champion redshirt junior Shane Griffith forfeited his match, handing six points directly to the Bearcats. Although Binghamton now had a third of Stanford’s overall score, it was unable to capitalize on its newfound points, as sophomore Brevin Cassella fell to No. 30 Stanford redshirt junior Tyler Eischens in the 174-pound event in an 8-6 decision after Eischens made a comeback in the second period. Cassella typically competes in the 165-pound matchup but was moved up in weight class to take on the nationally ranked Cardinal.

“[Cassella] weighed in at 165 today, [junior] Jacob Nolan weighed in at 174, so we bumped those guys up since we didn’t have a 184-pounder today,” Borshoff said. “We were missing a handful of our guys but watching those guys bump up a weight, and [Cassella] competing really well against a nationally ranked opponent up a weight class [and Nolan] bumping up and totally dominating his match, those things are nice to see … When we’re talking about [Eastern Intercollegiate Wrestling Association (EIWA) Championships] and winning big matches, that’s the type of attitude we have to approach every match with.”

Nolan, despite competing at 184 down 10 pounds, posted a clean 9-0 major decision over his opponent and remained in control for the entirety of the bout. Then, immediately following Nolan’s four-point victory on the mat, No. 13 redshirt senior Lou DePrez stepped up to the 197-pound event having moved up in his weight class. His opponent, No. 26 Stanford sophomore Nick Stemmet, only scored three points, while DePrez ran away with the victory in an 8-3 decision.

“[DePrez] looked great, that guy from Stanford at 197 is tough, so I’m happy with that,” Borshoff said. “But right now I think it’s a bit of an effort piece. Why aren’t we winning certain situations? Going into [the EIWA Championships, although] a long time from now, hopefully we’ll have it figured out.”

With Nolan and DePrez’s wins added to its score, BU had more than halved Stanford’s lead at 21-13. The win for Binghamton at that point, however, was unattainable with only one event left to go. Redshirt senior Joe Doyle stood idle on the edge of the mat waiting to compete in the 285 event but ultimately pulled out of the matchup in favor of sophomore Collin Burns.

“[Doyle] was injured in his match against Rutgers, he’s been recovering,” Borshoff said. “He’s doing all right, he’s not 100 percent by any means today, but he’s getting there. Leading up to the dual meet, I had the conversation with [Doyle]: ‘Listen, if we’re within five points going into heavyweight, you’ll wrestle.’ He was willing to do that for the team despite not being totally healthy. Going into that match, we were eight behind, so dual’s out of reach, no reason to put in a not-100 percent [Doyle] and potentially tweak something.”

Burns lost the matchup in a 9-0 decision.

“Stanford is tough, they have a lot of good guys in their lineup,” Borshoff said. “Last year, I think they had three All-Americans and a national champion, they’re a good team and they’ve got a lot of talent in their lineup. But we lost the close matches … We need to be more competitive with those guys than we were today.”

BU’s next matchup is scheduled at home against Buffalo on Sunday, Nov. 28. The first matchup is set for 4:30 p.m. at the Events Center in Vestal, New York.