Polizzi's 100th Win

HOBOKEN, N.J. (February 1, 2015) – The Stevens Institute of Technology wrestling team improved to 11-5 overall and 4-1 in the Centennial Conference with a pair of wins in the Canavan Arena Sunday afternoon.
 
The Ducks opened the day with a 35-16 win over Muhlenberg, before posting a 31-18 triumph over No. 21 Ursinus, erasing an 11-0 deficit in the process.
 
Highlighting the day was senior 157-pounder Mike Polizzi who earned the 100th win of his career in the dual against the Bears. Polizzi is the fourth wrestler in program history to reach the milestone, joining Brandon MacWhinnie, current coach and former standout Joey Favia and Ryan Dormann.
 
Stevens 35, Muhlenberg 16
Sophomore Rob Murray opened the doubleheader with a technical fall at 125 pounds, but the Mules tallied a win by fall and major decision to take a 10-5 edge after three bouts.
 
From that point, the Ducks won six of the final seven matchups to cruise to the win. Freshman Zach Wilhelm earned a 20-6 major decision at 149, before Polizzi notched a technical fall for the 99th win of his career and a 14-10 Stevens lead.
 
Senior CJ Caserta earned win 30 of the season with a fall just 1:17 into his match, and rookie AJ Kowal followed suit at 184, picking up a win by fall at 32 seconds of his bout.
 
Junior Kalen Gans made it five-straight Duck victories, picking up the teams unprecedented third technical-fall-victory of the dual, and following a loss at 197, senior heavyweight Chris Florek, picked up a 12-4 major decision for the final 35-16 margin.
 
Stevens 31, No. 21 Ursinus 18
The nationally-ranked Bears jumped out to an early 11-0 lead with a win by fall at 125 and a technical fall at 133. Junior 141-pounder Ryan Wilson brought the Ducks back into the match with a big-time major decision.
 
The Ducks dropped their match at 149 pounds, but Polizzi followed with his 100th at 157 to make it 15-7. Polizzi was able to avenge an early-season loss to the Bears' Richard Jasinski, earning a 5-2 decision and winning for the 15th individual bout in a row to improve to 22-2 on the season. Jasinski was the fourth-ranked wrestler in Division III heading into the weekend with Polizzi checking in at No. 8.
 
Caserta followed with his second win by fall of the day, earning six big team points for the Ducks to get them within two at 15-13. Kowal – like Caserta – nabbed his second pin 4:11 into his bout with freshman Cody Richmond, and Stevens had a lead it would never let go of.
 
Freshman Phil Woods battled at 184, falling 3-1 in overtime to senior Daniel Manganaro, but freshman 197-pounder Ryan Jachim was able to follow with a monster win-by-fall (6:32) to clinch the dual-match win by putting the Ducks up seven (25-18) heading into the heavyweight matchup.
 
Florek completed his perfect day and put an exclamation mark on the Stevens win with a pin in the first period for the 31-18 final.
The losses dropped Muhlenberg to 2-4 overall and Ursinus to 9-2.
 
The Ducks will return to action when they visit No. 28 New York University at 8:30 p.m. Wednesday night. NYU defeated Ursinus and Muhlenberg on Sunday as well.
 
Stevens 35, Muhlenberg 16
125: Murray (S) technical fall (6:32) over Flank (M), 18-2 (Stevens, 5-0)
133: Gutierrez (M) fall (2:21) over Dickerson (S) (Muhlenberg, 6-5)
141: Calantoni (M) major decision over Gilman (S), 11-3 (Muhlenberg, 10-5)
149: Wilhelm (S) major decision over Chengsupanimit (M), 20-6 (Muhlenberg, 10-9)
157: Polizzi (S) technical fall (1:42) over Lamb (M), 15-0 (Stevens, 14-10)
165: Caserta (S) fall (1:17) over Laughlin (M) (Stevens, 20-10)
174: Kowal (S) fall (:32) over Gordon (M) (Stevens, 26-10)
184: Gans (S) technical fall (1:57) over Goldrosen (M) (Stevens, 31-10)
197: Gimbar (M) fall (2:17) over Jachim (S) (Stevens, 31-16)
HWT: Florek (S) major decision over Smith (M), 12-4 (Stevens 35-16)
 
Stevens 31, Ursinus 18
125: Donaldson (U) fall (2:03) over Murray (S) (Ursinus, 6-0)
133: K. Hoogheem (U) technical fall (2:53) over Dickerson (S), 17-1 (Ursinus, 11-0)
141: Wilson (S) major decision over C. Hoogheem (U), 15-5 (Ursinus, 11p;---[-;'[344)
149: Arnold (U) major decision over Wilhelm (S), 8-0 (Ursinus, 15-4)
157: Polizzi (S) decision over Jasinski (U), 5-2 (Ursinus, 15-7)
165: Caserta (S) fall (2:14) over Seri (U) (Ursinus, 15-13)
174: Kowal (S) fall (4:11) over Richmond (U) (Stevens, 19-15)
184: Manganaro (U) decision over Woods (S), 3-1 (OT) (Stevens, 19-18)
197: Jachim (S) fall (6:32) over Aaroe (U) (Stevens, 25-18)
HWT: Florek (S) fall (1:33) over Trauger (U) (Stevens, 31-18)