December 9, 2006 - Maryland 25 Rider 16
December 9, 2006
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
College Wrestling
University of Maryland 25, Rider University 16
LAWRENCEVILLE—The Broncs won four bouts and lost a non-conference dual to the University of Maryland Saturday afternoon before over 800 fans in Alumni Gym. “I think Maryland out wrestled us today,” said head coach Gary Taylor. “Their coaches did a nice job preparing them for the match.”
For Rider (1-2), senior 157 Dave Miller (Southampton, N.J./Lenape) won by fall, junior 133 Zac Cunliffe (Farmingdale, N.J./Howell) won a major decision and junior 197 T.J. Morrison (Mechanicsburg, Pa./Cedar Cliff) and sophomore 149 Mike Kessler (Randallstown, Md./Owings Mills) also posted wins.
“My opponent [Mike McGill] was attempting a takedown,” said Dave Miller who won by pin in the second period of his match. “I did something stupid and almost got pinned, but then I was able to get a reversal and pin him. Associate head coach John Hangey told me before the match that we would need to pick up some bonus points in order to win the match and I tried to do my part to get us those points.”
“Dave’s a pinner,” said Taylor, who is in his 29th season as head coach at Rider. “He doesn’t panic in situations and he was able to use his opponent’s momentum to gain a reversal and actually pin him when it looked like he was about to be pinned. Dave is a seasoned wrestler and doesn’t panic when he gets into trouble.”
Due to not making weight at 141, the Broncs forfeited that bout, putting Rider at an early disadvantage.
“Part of the confidence for a team is to have all ten wrestlers going for you,” Taylor added. “If you don’t have one guy, you are being placed with more pressure than normal and Maryland has a very good team and there was no margin for error.”
The Terrapins improved to 6-3 on the season.
“I have a lot of respect for Maryland,” Taylor said. “They came in and wanted to beat a good team, a team that had beaten some good wrestlers and they did what they came in to do. My hat is off to them. They are building a good program and they have a nice group of kids that wrestled hard. I don’t think it was a case that we didn’t wrestle hard however in a couple of bouts, they wrestled smarter and came up with the wins.”
The Broncs wrestle in the Midlands Championships, December 29-30, at Northwestern University.
“All you have to keep doing is putting our wrestlers against tougher kids,” said Taylor. “You have to believe that it will eventually pay off and you can see some things with some individual wrestlers but it’s hard being in the middle of the season to gauge where we are at. We won’t really know how things pay off until we get to the end.”
-RU-
Maryland 25 Rider 16
125 James Knox-M wbf. Tom Lorenzo-R 3:39 0-6
133 Zac Cunliffe-R major dec. Jon Koehler-M 15-1 4-6
141 Charlie Pinto-M won by forfeit 4-12
149 Mike Kessler-R def. Andrew Schlaffer-M 11-7 7-12
157 Dave Miller-R wbf. Mike McGill-M 3:40 13-12
165 Jason Kiessling-M major dec. Rob Morrison-R 17-5 13-16
174 Mike Letts-M def. Doug Umbehauer-R 5-4 13-19
184 Josh Haines-M def. Mike Miller-R 7-5 (ot) 13-22
197 T.J. Morrison-R def. Hudson Taylor-M 5-3 16-22
Hwt. Jerry Afari-M def. Nick Ciufo-R 6-2 16-25
