For the third consecutive season, the Binghamton wrestling team closed its Eastern Intercollegiate Wrestling Association (EIWA) schedule against Bucknell, and for the second straight season, BU’s (11-7, 7-4 EIWA) fate came down to the dual’s final match.
Billed as Binghamton’s senior night, both of BU’s graduating wrestlers — 125-pound redshirt sophomore Kyle Kelly and 174-pound senior Jack McKeever — walked away with individual victories. But the Bison (12-6, 6-3 EIWA) won the evening, 21-15, and broke Binghamton’s undefeated mark at home this season. But despite the result, Binghamton’s regular season finale will serve as a good starting point for the Bearcats, now looking ahead to the EIWA Championships at Princeton on March 5.
“I loved our fight, I loved our aggression,” BU head coach Matt Dernlan said. “Now what we got to do is clean up our execution. We had plenty of opportunities out there, but we left a lot of opportunities on the mat, so that’s the last part of the phase … and if we can make that jump between now and two weeks from now, we’re going to get a lot of results.”
The Bearcats kicked off the match with a non-scoring exhibition victory by Kelly. Seeing only limited action in the 2015-16 season, Kelly wrestled his opponent to a 16-4 victory to open the night. Following a BU loss in the 125-bout to open scored play, junior Jacob Nicholson brought the Bearcats roaring back in the 133-pound match. Facing off against Bucknell junior Grim Gonzalez, Nicholson captured the dual’s first pinfall win to put BU ahead, 6-3.
Bucknell recaptured the lead, 9-6, after victories at 141 and 149 before 157-pound sophomore Vincent DePrez tied the match, 9-9, midway through the meet. With his team trailing, 12-9, McKeever won his first career match against a Bucknell opponent, 3-2, to tie the match again at 12. As McKeever ended the regular season with a ranking in the national top-30 at a 14-3 record, his senior night victory isn’t likely to be his last in a Bearcat uniform.
“The journey’s not over yet for Jack,” Dernlan said. “I think he still really has some great things to accomplish here in the next month and we got to enjoy the moment.”
Sophomore Steve Schneider picked up a decision victory in the 184-pound battle to give Binghamton the lead late, 15-12, but a loss in the dual’s penultimate match at 197 tied both teams at 15 headed into the heavyweight match-up.
Falling twice to his Binghamton opponent — Tyler Deuel — in the 2014-15 season, Bucknell heavyweight senior Joe Stolfi entered the ring against BU with the match on the line for the second straight year. Facing off against Bucknell’s eighth-ranked heavyweight for Binghamton was redshirt freshman Connor Calkins. Wrestling a strong first period, Calkins managed to fend off Stolfi to a 0-0 stalemate to end the stanza. But a change in momentum in the second period led to a Stolfi pin to give Bucknell the victory, 21-15.
With the loss, Binghamton finished its third EIWA regular season with a record of 7-4: an encouraging mark that is two wins better than its 2014-15 campaign and four better from its first season in the conference in 2013-14.
“Everybody wants everything overnight, but that doesn’t happen,” Dernlan said. “If you want to build something the right way that sustains itself, you got to do it with the right types of kids. You got to be committed to the process and we’ve got those two things. Are we satisfied? We’re never satisfied. We want more.”
The Bearcats are set to return to action in the EIWA Championships on March 5 and 6. The start time for the event has yet to be announced.