Feb. 4, 2007
WASHINGTON - American University's wrestling team won six matches of ten matches against EIWA foe Rutgers Saturday, but the Scarlet Knights captured three by bonus points including the day's final bout at heavyweight by pin to edge the Eagles 19-18.
There were several exciting matches on the day, but none as nail-biting as the heavyweight matchup between AU's Evan Murtaugh and Rutgers' Mike D'Amico. American led 18-13 into the final match and needed Murtaugh to avoid a pin to secure a tie or win. With the crowd cheering him on, Murtaugh fought his way through two periods, despite giving up almost 80 pounds to his opponent. The AU junior scrambled out of D'Amico's grasp on the mat several times to make the score 12-4 into the last two minutes. Just seconds into the final period, Murtaugh was finally overcome by D'Amico's size as he was thrown to his back on the mat and pinned at 5:19 mark. With the pin, Rutgers took the match 19-18.
American's EIWA ranked wrestlers all won their matches. At 165 Mike Cannon dominated for more than six minutes of his match. Leading 14-2 with 30 seconds to go and looking for the technical fall, Cannon shot from far out and his opponent countered and put him to his back. Cannon avoided the pin, but his opponent scored two takedown points and three nearfall points to make the score 15-8. At 174, Rudy Rueda dominated his opponent with a takedown and three near fall points in the first period on his way to a 7-1 win. At 197, Josh Glenn scored an escape to start the third period for the 1-0 win over RU's Lamar Brown.
American's lightweights also wrestled well. Jasen Borshoff had a clutch performance at 125, scoring a takedown as time ran out after being down 8-7 with 15 seconds left for the 9-8 win. Jordan Lipp and Damian Swietlik also won by decision, but Rutgers countered with wins at 141 by major decision and at 157 by fall to go with a decision win at 184 to give themselves a shot in the heavyweight match.
American is now 8-8 on the season and 2-3 in the EIWA. The Eagles have four days to prepare for their final home match of the season versus Maryland on Friday, Feb. 9 at 7 p.m.
Rutgers 19, American 18
125: Jasen Borshoff (AU) Dec. Ryan Jablonski 9-8
133: Jordan Lipp (AU) Dec. Dan Hilt 6-3
141: Kyle Milanese (RU) Major Dec. Nick Pitas 9-1
149: Damian Swietlik (AU) Dec. Jack Barrett 5-4
157: Chris Norrell (RU) Fall Jimmy Pepper 4:11
165: Mike Cannon (AU) Dec. Matt Pletcher 15-8
174: Rudy Rueda (AU) Dec. Mike Whalen 7-1
184: Keith Dobish (RU) Dec. Anthony Fuschino 4-3
197: Josh Glenn (AU) Dec. Lamar Brown 1-0
HWT: Mike D'Amico (RU) Fall Evan Murtaugh 5:19
