On Saturday, the Binghamton wrestling team traveled to Cambridge, Massachusetts for its final Eastern Intercollegiate Wrestling Association (EIWA) dual meet of the season. Despite winning five of the 10 bouts, the Bearcats fell to Harvard 19–17 as the Crimson accumulated more bonus points.

“We didn’t compete well,” said Binghamton head coach Kyle Borshoff. “I think this was a bad loss for us, obviously we’re missing a couple of our starters in the lineup, but at the end of the day, that’s why we have more guys on the team than just 10. I was hoping for a better effort out of some of the guys that lost their matches today, and that’s where the difference was.”

The match started with 125-pound true freshman Nick Curley losing in a 9-8 decision, handing the Crimson (4-5, 4-5 EIWA) a 3-0 lead. The Bearcats (7-11, 5-3 EIWA) followed up with an 11-1 major decision from senior Anthony Sobotker in the 133-pound match to take the lead at 4-3.

In the next bout, 141-pound sophomore Ryan Anderson took to the mat to compete against his former high school teammate. Anderson won the bout in a 5-1 decision for his eighth-straight win while extending BU’s lead to 7-3.

“The guy [Anderson] wrestled did a really great job of doing nothing,” Borshoff said. “He just tried to avoid action positions, and he tried to keep the match close and did a pretty good job of that, but [Anderson] was still able to control the entire bout and come away with that win.”

In the 149-pound match, redshirt junior Michael Zarif wrestled out of his weight class and was pinned, allowing Harvard to leapfrog the Bearcats and take a 9-7 lead. Then 157-pound sophomore Tyler Martin lost in a major decision as the Crimson extended its lead to six points.

While sophomore Brevin Cassella won the following 165-pound matchup in a 6-0 decision, the Bearcat was unable to get a pin and tie the meet score. Borshoff said both Cassella’s and Sobotker’s opponents were actively trying to avoid getting pinned rather than win.

“Their opponents didn’t try to win their matches,” Borshoff said. “They just tried to go out and keep them as close as they could. I suppose you could say they did a good job of that because Sobotker and Cassella didn’t come away with pins or tech falls, but it was just total domination. I was happy with the effort out of both of those guys as well.”

BU lost its next two bouts in a row in the 174-pound and 184-pound matches. Junior Jacob Nolan and redshirt sophomore Cory Day each lost in decisions as Harvard led 19-10 with two bouts to go.

In the penultimate match of the day, junior Sam DePrez wrestled up a weight class in the 197-pound bout. The junior was able to come away with a 3-2 decision to pull BU within six points. With only one bout left, 285-pound redshirt senior Joe Doyle stepped to the mat needing a pin to give Binghamton a chance. Similar to Cassella and Sobotker, Borshoff said Doyle’s opponent was stalling, and the heavyweight came away with a 12-1 major decision as Binghamton fell 19-17.

“[Doyle’s] opponent got called for stalling four times in the match, and unfortunately the ref allowed the opponent to lay flat on the ground for the last 30 seconds and didn’t pull the trigger on that last stall call which would have disqualified Harvard’s wrestler,” Borshoff said. “[Doyle] totally dominated, and the referee just didn’t pull the trigger on that which was disappointing. But [Doyle] did everything he possibly could to pin that guy, and the guy just laid in a ball on the ground, so it’s frustrating.”

The defeat to the Crimson concluded the Bearcats’ regular season as they enter the postseason with the EIWA championships slated for early March.

“We have a lot of positive things to build on going into the conference tournament,” Borshoff said. “That is very independent of this one dual meet result. Although I’m not happy with the dual meet result today, and I don’t think we wrestled particularly well, I think we’re still in good position for the conference championship, and I think we’re in a good position to send a lot of guys to the NCAA [Championships].”

The EIWA Championships are scheduled for Saturday, March 5 and Sunday, March 6. The all-day tournament is set to take place at the Newman Arena in Ithaca, New York.