PISCATAWAY – The Rutgers University wrestling team will be trying to do something Sunday against Illinois in a Big Ten Conference match at Jersey Mike’s Arena that it last did six years and a little over two weeks ago – beat a team ranked in the top 10.
The match will be streamed live on Big Ten Plus beginning at 1 p.m. Minn
Since a 17-16 win over then No. 10 Wisconsin on criteria on Jan. 11, 2019, Rutgers has lost 22 straight against teams ranked in the top 10. That includes a 35-3 defeat to No. 1 Penn State before a sellout crowd of 8,057 at Jersey Mike’s Arena and the heart-breaking 17-15 defeat to No. 4 Ohio State on Jan. 12.
Illinois (8-2, 3-2) is ranked 10th. Rutgers (10-4, 2-2) is 14th.
One of Rutgers’ head coach Scott Goodale’s public preseason goals was for his team to beat a top 10 team finish the season ranked in the top 10.
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This match, and a match at No. 8 Minnesota, are the Scarlet Knight’ last opprtunities this season to beat a top 10 team in a dual meet.
In addition to the Penn State and Ohio State matches, Rutgers also was defeated this season by top 10 teams North Carolina State and Virginia Tech.
This match, was always going to be a far more important match for the Scarlet Knights than Penn State because of the realistic opportunity to score a major win. Rutgers never, on paper, had a realistic chance to beat the Penn State Juggernaut. Very few teams do.
“It (the lopsided defeat to Penn State) was not a lack of effort,,” Rutgers coach Scott Goodale said Friday night after the match. “You can wrestle as hard as you want to wrestle, and sometimes it doesn’t matter because you’re just outmatched in some cases. You saw that in the second half of the match.
“Listen, this (the back-to-back matches with Penn State and Illinois) simulates what the Big Ten Championships (the Big Ten Tournament March 8-9 at Northwestern) is going to be like. You get a Penn Stae guy in the quarter (quarterfinal). You win, you move on and got another really good guy. If not you bounce back and you got Illinois Sunday. We have to be ready to go Sunday.”
How they match up
Illinois, which defeated Maryland (8-6, 3-1) 33-7 Friday night, has also defeated No. 24 Indiana 34-3 and Northwestern 33-7 and been defeated 24-9 by Ohio State and No. 2 Iowa 28-6 in the Big Ten.
Rutgers defeated Indiana 28-6, Wisconsin 31-7, in addition to the defeats to Penn State and Ohio State in the Big Ten.
The Fighting Illini have nine wrestlers ranked. Three of them, led by 2023 NCAA 133-pound third-place finisher and three-time top 133 top five finisher Lucas Byrd – are ranked in the top 10.
The match appears to be close, with plenty of swing bouts on paper.
The marquee bout is at 133 between Byrd and 2024 national seventh-place finisher and defeding Big Ten champion Dylan Shawver. If Rutgers can win that bout, it will have a legitimate chance to win the match.
Byrd, whose only defeat is 4-2 to Iowa’s No. 1 Drake Ayala. defeated Maryland’s No. 11 Braxton Brown 8-5 Friday night.
Shawver was defeated 2-1 on the riding time point by Penn State’s No. 6 Braeden Davis Friday night. Davis rode Shawver out in the second period.
Swing bouts are:
141: Between past NCAA qualifiers Joey Olivieri of Rutgers and Danny Pucino.
Olivieri wrestled competively in a 7-3 defeat to Penn State’s returning national runner-up Beau Bartlett Friday night.
174: Between 2021 NCAA eighth-place finisher Jackson Turley of Rutgers and three-time national qualifier Danny Braunagel.
Turley wrestled Penn State’s returning national champion Levi Haines tough in a 5-2 defeat Friday night.
197: Between Rutgers John Poznanski, the NCAA fourth-place finisher at 184 in 2021 and four-time national qualifier Zac Braunagel.
Poznanski, after being ridden out by Penn State’s unbeaen and No. 4 Josh Barr in the second period, was overpowered and taken down seven times in a little over a minute in the third period as a scorless bout turned into a 22-6 win by technical fall for Barr Friday night.
“That kid (Barr) just went to another gear in the third period,” Goodale said, when asked about the third period of the Poznanski-Barr bout. “And if you don’t match it, that’s what happens. You have to be able to match it. ”
Heavyweight: between returning NCAA seventh-place finisher Yaraslau Slavikouski of Rutgers and three-time national qualifier Luke Luffman.
Slavikouski was defeated 2-0 by defending national champion and No. 2 Greg Kerkvliet of Penn State Friday night.
Luffman defeated Maryland’s No. 12 Seth Nevillis 4-2 Friday night.
Rutgers would appear to be favored with the potential for bonus points at 125, with Dean Peterson, who is coming off the 4-1 win over Penn State’s previously-unbeaten and No. 6 ranked Luke Lilledahl.
Illinois is a slight favorite at 133 and favored at 149, 157 and 165 and 184. But, Rutgers does have a ranked wrestler at each of those weights.
Also, Illinois’ 184-pounder Edmond Ruth, the national seventh-place finisher and Big Ten champion at 174 last year, was pinned by Rutgers’ Brian Soldano in sudden victory Nov. 10 in the Journeymen Classic. Rutgers’ current 184-pounder Shane Cartagena-Walsh has six wins over wrestlers who have been ranked. Ruth was defeated 4-3 by Maryland’s No. 13 Jaxon Smith Friday night.
Possible Lineups
Rankings are from intermatwrestle.com and flowrestling.org
Rutgers wrestlers listed first
125: 19/15 Dean Peterson (15-3) or Ayden Smith (4-4) vs. Caelan Riley (3-10)
133: 9/9 Dylan Shawver (14-4) vs. 2/3 Lucas Byrd (12-1)
141: 14/13 Joey Olivieri (12-4) vs 12/17 Danny Pucino (11-2)
149: 20/24 Andrew Clark(17-7) or Alex Nini (9-6) vs. 12/15 Kannon Webster (9-4)
157: 31/NR Conner Harer (12-6) vs. 22/22 Jason Kraisser (7-5)
165: 26/26 Anthony White (12-6) or Andrew Barbosa (5-3) or Ryan Ford (7-5) vs. 13/16 Brandon Scoles (11-2)
174: 22/23 Jackson Turley (12-6) vs. 21/20 Danny Braunagel (7-6)
184: 18/19 Shane Cartagena-Walsh (17-6) vs. 10/12 Edmond Ruth (8-5)
197: 16/17 John Poznanski (11-5) or P.J. Casale (7-8) vs. 18/13 Zac Braunagel (9-4)
HWT: 7/8 Yaraslau Slavikouski (12-4) or John O’Donnell (7-3) vs 10/9 Luke Luffman (11-2)
