The Binghamton wrestling team opened its season with back-to-back events, falling to Illinois 30-10 on Saturday, while also earning three individual wins in Sunday’s Journeymen Collegiate Classic. Junior Will Ebert swept the weekend, collecting four wins after he knocked off two wrestlers ranked in the top 30. Fifth-year Brevin Cassella, in his lone match, earned four points for BU after defeating his ranked opponent by major decision.

“I thought we wrestled tough,” said Binghamton head coach Kyle Borshoff. “We won some nice matches [and] lost some very close matches to some very good opponents. So overall, between the tournament and the dual meet, we had a lot of good things that we were doing. I generally thought our guys wrestled really hard and they competed very well against some of the best guys in the country right out of the gate.”

Binghamton (0-1) kicked off its campaign on Saturday with a duel against No. 17 Illinois (1-0), dropping seven of 10 matchups against the Fighting Illini. Sophomore Carson Wagner competed in BU’s first dual of the day. Wagner faced a 3-1 deficit in the first period, but a takedown and near fall earned him five points and gave him the lead and a takedown in the final period cemented his victory in the 125-pound matchup by decision. In the 184-pound bracket, Ebert picked up his first win of the season after blanking his 2024 All-American, and No. 5 ranked Edmond Ruth with a win by decision.

“[Ebert] had a great offseason,” Borshoff said. “He’s been training really hard and he has a lot of talent. I think this weekend we saw an early culmination of some of the efforts he’s put in since March when we finished up. He wrestled a very smart game plan against each of his opponents and demonstrated that he’s very hard to score on, so I think he’s just figuring out how to put it all together against this level of opponent.”

Cassella added to BU’s tally, earning BU’s final win of the day with a major decision win over No. 11 Illinois’ redshirt senior Danny Braunagel in the 174-pound match. After taking a 3-0 lead in the first period with a late takedown, Cassella controlled the remainder of the match, adding four and seven points in the next two periods, en route to a 14-1 win. Key returners for BU, graduate students Micah Roes and Cory Day opened their seasons with losses. Roes lost 3-2 via decision in the 133-pound weight class, and Day fell 11-1 by major decision in the 285-pound class.

“[Cassella’s] been great,” Borshoff said. “He came in five years ago, was under recruited … and when he came to Binghamton he was pretty raw. I think it’s been very important for his teammates to watch him grow from someone that was not considered a top recruit in high school to becoming one of the top guys in the country at the NCAA Division I level. It’s very important to have guys like him.”

BU continued its weekend slate at the Journeymen Collegiate Classic, winning 26 of 46 matchups, and three divisions at Sunday’s round-robin style tournament. Opening play on Sunday, Ebert forced a pin in under three minutes against his No. 29 ranked opponent. He collected two more wins, coming out on top in the 184C bracket while moving to a 4-0 record and up the No. 21 ranked wrestler in his weight class. Ebert’s performance over the weekend earned him Eastern Intercollegiate Wrestling Association wrestler of the week honors. Junior Carter Baer and redshirt freshman Jordan Brown also enjoyed strong performances, as both wrestlers went 3-0 en route to first-place finishes in the 165C and 157G brackets, respectively.

“We just try to take it one match at a time,” Borshoff said. “The goal and the expectation is always to win, so we’re going to work hard [and] we’re going to try to win regardless of who we wrestle. Doesn’t matter where they’re from [or] what’s their rank. We have an expectation to win.”

The Bearcats will split their pool of wrestlers for their next fixtures, competing at both Army’s Black Knight Invite and Cornell’s Big Red Invite on Sunday, Nov. 24. First bouts will be at times to be determined at the Christl Arena in West Point, New York, and the Barton Hall in Ithaca, New York.