The Binghamton wrestling team dropped its dual against visiting No. 9 Cornell 29-9 on Saturday. Despite winning just three of 10 matches, two Bearcats earned wins against ranked opponents, as BU displayed an improved performance from its 33-6 loss to then No. 8 Cornell last season.

“Obviously, I would have liked to have won a few more matches,” said Binghamton head coach Kyle Borshoff. “We lost a couple close bouts, but in general I think we wrestled pretty tough against a very tough team.”

In Binghamton’s (7-8, 3-2 EIWA) second dual of the day after a narrow loss last Saturday at Brown, graduate student Micah Roes bounced back against Cornell (7-1, 3-0 Ivy League). After a successful leg attack in the first five seconds of the dual gave Roes a 3-0 lead, and a second successful takedown attempt in the second period gave him a 6-2 lead he would not relinquish as he earned an 8-5 decision win in the 133-pound matchup for Binghamton’s first of the day.

“[Roes] did a great job,” Borshoff said. “That’s something that he’s been focusing on, putting more pressure on his opponents as he’s competing. He did a really nice job this weekend of going out and setting the tone.”

Senior Ivan Garcia, who recently entered the National Coaches Poll at No. 33, took on the reigning 149-pound EIWA champion in the 149-pound matchup. Both wrestlers earned a point for escapes early on, as the match remained deadlocked. Late in the third period, with less than a minute remaining, a stall call earned Garcia a point and the 2-1 lead that he would hold on to for the remainder of the match for BU’s first individual victory over a ranked opponent on the day, and Garcia’s third of the year.

“[Garcia’s] being incredibly offensive,” Borshoff said. “He’s out attacking his opponents, I can’t even put a number on it but it’s got to be somewhere around the margin of 5-to-1 or more — his attacks versus his opponents attacks … I think he’s finally doing a great job of staying offensive throughout a match.”

No. 16 graduate student Cory Day took on his No. 33 opponent in the 285-pound matchup for the final dual of the day. Day opened the first period with an unsuccessful single-leg takedown attempt, and soon after, he was given a stall warning. Entering the second period deadlocked at 0-0, Day nearly opened scoring with an escape, but it was a reversal that gave him the 2-0 lead. Late in the third period, with a narrow 2-1 lead and a stall warning against him, Day conceded a stall point to tie the dual, but he was able to secure a 3-2 victory with an extra point.

“The Cornell guy did his best job that he could to not open himself up to [Day’s] offense,” Borshoff said. “He did a really nice job doing as much as possible to keep the match close.”

Eight of Cornell’s 10 wrestlers entered the dual in the national rankings, as several top Bearcats dropped their matches. No. 28 junior Will Ebert suffered a 16-1 loss by technical fall in his 184-pound dual, while No. 32 junior Carter Baer suffered a 4-0 decision loss in the 165-pound class. Filling in for fifth-year Brevin Cassella in the 174-pound dual, sophomore Roberto Padilla lost 16-0 by technical fall. With two losses by major decision and three by technical fall, Binghamton conceded eight bonus points en route to a 29-9 loss against the Big Red.

“Cornell does a nice job wrestling in the top position and scoring back points, and they have a great program,” Borshoff said. “Really good wrestlers tend to score lots of points.”

The Bearcats will next face off against first-year EIWA member Morgan State on Friday, Feb. 7. First bout is scheduled for 6 p.m. at the Hill Field House in Baltimore, Maryland.