On Saturday, the Binghamton wrestling team traveled upstate to battle No. 7 Cornell. With only one more meet until the postseason tournament, the team opted to rest some of its key contributors as the Big Red won 28-12.

“[The] guys wrestled tough for the most part,” said Binghamton assistant coach Fred Garcia. “We had some guys out of the lineup and some last-minute lineup changes and [we] wrestled a top-10 team and came out with three good wins.”

The match began as the Bearcats (7-10, 5-2 Eastern Intercollegiate Wrestling Association [EIWA]) lost their first five bouts against the Big Red (12-2, 5-0 EIWA). Though the BU athletes were not able to come away with a win, several of the matchups were closely contested. True freshman Nick Curley competed in the 125-pound match and lost in a 13-9 decision. Then, senior 133-pounder Anthony Sobotker was unable to pick up a win, losing in a 5-2 decision. BU lost the following three bouts with a pin, decision and then a technical fall as the Bearcats found themselves down 20-0. In two of those three matches, Binghamton’s athletes wrestled out of their weight class.

“[The] guys wrestled up a weight class so we can fill a live today with some of our last-minute changes,” Garcia said. “[Junior] Christian Gannone [moved] up from [133] to [141]. [Redshirt junior] Michael Zarif wrestling from [141] to [149].”

It was in the 165-pound match when BU got its first win. Sophomore Brevin Cassella took down Cornell senior Jake Brindley in a 7-2 decision. The sophomore has now won four straight bouts and is 16-11 on the season. Coming into Saturday’s match, Cassella was ranked 32nd in RPI rankings.

“Very solid match [at] all three positions,” Garcia said. “[Cassella’s] wrestling the right way right now. We’re excited for him. He’s winning the matches he’s supposed to win. The way he wrestled today that’s solid work-like performance, that’s what wins matches in the postseason … He’s got a super high ceiling.”

The match continued with junior Jacob Nolan who made back-to-back wins for BU. The junior nearly matched Cassella’s score, winning in a 6-3 decision in the 174-pound event. After Saturday’s match, Nolan has a 13-10 record and sits at 26th in RPI rankings. Garcia said Nolan and Cassella are in alike positions right now.

“[Nolan] wrestled composed and really the right way to win and those two, they’re kind of on similar paths, they’re kind of bubble NCAA guys,” Garcia said. “But the way they wrestled today, they took care of business. That’s the way if those guys both wrestle like that at the conference tournament, they’ll find themselves in the NCAA tournament.”

The match continued with losses from redshirt sophomore Cory Day in the 184-pound class and junior Sam DePrez in the 197-pound match. Both BU athletes lost in major decisions to nationally ranked opponents. S. DePrez was filling in at 197 for his brother, redshirt senior Lou DePrez.

“It’s exciting to flip some of those matches later in the conference tournament,” Garcia said. “Excited for the future when we got a full lineup against those guys. We’re to the point where we can not only wrestle with teams like Cornell and beat teams like that.”

In the final bout of the day, 285-pound redshirt senior Joe Doyle ended the match on a high note as he pinned his Big Red opponent. The heavyweight is now 13-6 on the year and has won five straight matches. He is ranked 21st in RPI rankings for his class and of his six losses, three have been caused by medical forfeits or injuries. Doyle was facing a familiar opponent in Cornell senior Brendan Furman.

“[Doyle’s] always been electrifying, dangerous,” Garcia said. “He’s finding that right balance between being solid and dangerous at times. Today was a good example, he wrestled a guy today that he’s actually lost to three times in a row in his career, he really just stayed solid, thick and stayed composed. It was dangerous at the right time and got the pin.”

The team is next scheduled to take on Harvard on the road to conclude the regular season on Saturday, Feb. 19. The first bout is set for 11 a.m. at the Malkin Athletic Center in Cambridge, Massachusetts.