Rutgers Wrestling falls short in Home Opener to No. 8 Virginia Tech
It was a tale of two halves for Rutgers wrestling when they hosted Virginia Tech in the Scarlet Knights’ home opener.
Rutgers would be looking to repeat history, as the number eight Hokies came to the Jersey Mike’s Arena. Coach Goodale led his Scarlet Knight squad to an upset victory over the then number three Virginia Tech in 2011. Rutgers matched up well with the Hokies in their 2023 – 24 home opener. They just needed to execute.
“I truly believe we prepared really well, our guys were into it. There was an excitement around campus, it was all good”, head coach Scott Goodale said of the build up leading into their dual with Virgnia Tech.
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Rutgers was perfectly on script in the opening five bouts, as Dean Peterson kicked things off for Rutgers at 125-lbs. Peterson took on New Jersey native and former All-American, Eddie Ventresca. Peterson utilized a dominant ride in the third period of his bout to edge out a 2 – 0 win.
Rutgers only won one of the four bouts that followed Peterson, but the Scarlet Knight were on script, if not, better.
Mitch Moore won his match, as he was able to gut out a 2 – 1 performance in his first match at the Jersey Mike’s Arena. Rather than seeing the regular 141-lb starter, Hunter Mason, whom Moore would have been favored to potentially score bonus points on, the Hookies sent out highly touted freshman Mac Church.
The move paid off for the Hookies, as the rookie, Church, was able to hold Moore to a decision. Despite Moore getting three points for the Scarlet Knights, Rutgers was able to limit the damage in other spots where Virginia Tech would be heavily favored.
Dylan Shawver and Jacob Butler wrestled nail biting matches against two All-Americans from Virginia Tech, where they fell short, but kept the losses to decisions.
Shawver faced Sam Latona, where Shawver was the aggressor most of the match. Latona’s defense, however, was able to fend off several deep leg attacks from Shawver, avoiding any match deciding takedowns. The two traded off escapes, which led to a sudden victory period, where Latona got the match winning takedown off a scramble.
Jacob Butler, who was a considerqble underdog against Virginia Tech’s Caleb Henson, also brought his match down to the wire. This was a weight where Virginia Tech was hopeful that their talented sophomore would be able to find some bonus points, but Butler had other plans.
Butler had tremendous defense from his feet, and was unable to be held down by Henson when on bottom. But it was a late third period takedown by Henson that ended up being the deciding factor, as Henson walked away with the 5 – 1 victory.
Even Al DeSantis, who gave up a major decision to Bryce Andonian, wrestled with a lot of heart and made Andonian work for most of the match.
Going into the intermission, Rutgers trailed Virginia Tech 10 – 6, but this is exactly where Rutgers expected to be by this point in the match. In the first five bouts, Rutgers wrestled extremely scrappy and fought for every inch of the mat. The action filled Jersey Mike’s Arena with a buzz, and gave the Rutgers faithful a lot to be excited about going into the second half of the match.
On paper, Rutgers would be favored in four of the last five bouts, giving Rutgers a great opportunity to win this dual meet. But as they say, they don’t wrestle on paper.
Virginia Tech decided to pull another red shirt off another one of their star freshmen, and sent out Rafael Hipolito at 165-lbs to take on Anthony White. The first period started with a lot of action, as each wrestle scored from their feet. A pair of takedowns from Hipolito gave him the 6 – 5 advantage going into the second period.
The match continued with back-and-forth actions as, in the second period, but it was the third period where Hipolito was able to run away. The constant offense of the Hokie gave him a 13 – 7 win, and a huge swing match for the Hokies. Rutgers was now behind schedule, but still not out of the match.
“Felt good about the match up”, Goodale expressed of his feelings on White’s chances going into the match with Hipolito. “I was a little shocked by that, to be honest”, when speaking of White’s loss.
“There were three really easy, easy takedowns”, said Goodale of White’s defense against Hipolito.
Jackson Turley followed White, where he took on local favorite and former National Champion, Mekhi Lewis. Lewis, a Bound Brook, NJ native, picked up an 8 – 2 decision over Turley. This was a match Rutgers knew they would have a tough time taking, and probably were thankful that Turley was able to keep Lewis to a decision and keep the team still in the match.
Now trailing 16 – 6, Rutgers would have needed to sweep the final three matches, with one of those wins being a bonus point victory to send the dual to criteria tie breaker.
Unfortunately for Rutgers, Virgina Tech could seal the dual with just one more win. The Hokies would be looking for Sam Fisher to pull off the upset over Brian Soldano, and secure the team victory.
Soldano went down big in the first period, with Fisher scoring two takedowns. It was clear Virgnia Tech had Soldano very well scouted, as Fisher stayed low on Soldano’s ankles, avoiding Soldano’s patented chest-wrap defense. Soldano trailed 6 – 2 going into the second period, but was able to rally back in the second period, finishing the period tied 8 – 8.
Thanks to a Fisher reversal, the score became 10 – 8 with just under a minute remaining. Soldano was able to get to his feet, where he would have an opportunity to win the match with a takedown. Soldano got to Fisher’s legs with six seconds remaining and was just inches away from scoring the match-winning takedown. Soldano was unable to get Fisher to the mat before time expired, and the Hokies locked up the dual meet.
John Poznanski and Yara Slavikouski followed Soldano with very solid wins over ranked opponents. However, it was too little, too late, for the Scarlet Knights. Virginia Tech would win the dual meet 19 – 12.
“You guys all know I want to win dual meets, those are important to me”, Goodale said following the loss. “We wanted that one bad, and we felt like we let one get away there, for sure”.
Goodale felt the match was lost on the feet. In two of Rutgers four wins, they did not score a takedown. The Scarlet Knights went without giving up a riding point, and were quite stingy on top. It wasn’t a matter of toughness or conditioning, either. However, a lack of scoring and counter attacks off of Virginia Tech’s offense is where Goodale feels the match was lost.
“We got off the bottom, we rode really, really hard on top, but we knew points would be hard to come by”, said Goodale. “At the end of the day, it’s a leg attack sport. We have to score more points on our feet”.
WHAT'S NEXT?
Rutgers wrestling returns to action this Sunday, but in individual form. The Scarlet Knights will be wrestling at the Black Knight Invitational in West Point, NY on the 19th. The next Rutgers dual meet will be at Edinboro on December 1st, where the Scarlet Knights will look to get back in the win column.
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