The Binghamton wrestling team swept its dual meets on Saturday, earning a 26-12 win at Harvard and a come-from-behind 18-17 victory at Brown. Despite taking an 11-3 lead over the Bears through four, the Bearcats found themselves down 18-15 heading into the final duel, but a narrow victory and unsportsmanlike penalty against the Bears cemented the Bearcats’ Saturday sweep.
“Our team did a great job today wrestling against two tough teams,” head coach Kyle Borshoff told BU Bearcats. “We stayed composed and competed hard across both duals. I’m proud of the effort that we had today.”
Binghamton (7-7, 3-2 EIWA) trailed early on Saturday in their 2 p.m. matchup at Harvard (0-4), as No. 33 junior Carter Baer went into BU’s fourth duel with the Bearcats down 9-0 after three matches. A 15-2 victory by major decision for Baer in the 165-pound bracket kickstarted the Bearcats’ day, as they won the next five consecutive duels to take a commanding 26-9 lead.
A key piece in Binghamton’s six-duel streak, No. 16 graduate student Cory Day earned a team-leading 10th victory by fall this season, cementing a second consecutive season with double-digit pins. Despite dropping the final duel to Harvard, BU won 26-9 and went 6-of-10 overall. Notably, in the 125-pound bracket, sophomore Carson Wagner took down his No. 18-ranked opponent, Harvard senior Diego Sotelo, winning 10-5, earning BU’s final individual victory of the meet.
Riding high from their early victory, BU traveled to Providence to take on the Brown Bears (1-4) for a Saturday night duel. Aided by dominant major-decision wins from fifth-year Brevin Cassella at 174 pounds and Baer, who each moved to 2-0 on the day with their victories, BU lept to an early 11-3 lead over Brown.
After dropping four of its next five duels, BU faced an 18-15 deficit heading into the final matchup, where redshirt junior Nate Lucier faced off against Brown senior Ian Oswalt in the 141-pound class for the final duel of the night. With just 30 seconds left in the match, a takedown from Lucier secured a 7-6 victory by decision to tie the duel at 18-18, and a post-duel point deduction against Brown secured BU an 18-17 win.
The Bearcats will compete in their penultimate nonconference duel against No. 10 Cornell on Saturday, Feb. 1. First bout is set for 2 p.m. at the West Gym in Vestal, New York.