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UPDATE: Visiting No. 7 Iowa beats No. 16 Rutgers, 23-15, in front of a record RAC crowd

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by University of Iowa, Rutgers University

Photo of Nick Suriano of Rutgers courtesy of Rutgers Athletics.

IOWA PRESS RELEASE, by Chris Brewer


PISCATAWAY, New Jersey -- The University of Iowa wrestling team won six of the final seven bouts to rally past No. 16 Rutgers on Friday night in front of a record 6,754 fans at the Rutgers Athletic Center.


The Hawkeyes fell behind 12-0 after losses at 125, 133, and 141, but strung together four straight wins to grab the lead and move on to their 23rd straight Big Ten road win.


“We’re going to be in the funny farm if we have to keep digging ourselves out of holes,” said UI head coach Tom Brands, who rolled out a new lineup that saw fresh faces at 133 and 141.


“We know we have good guys at every weight. The thing that is going to make these guys part of this team is, are you going to perform. It’s not even about winning. It’s about wrestling the entire match. Nothing in life works if you wrestle only part of it.”


All-Americans Brandon Sorensen and Michael Kemerer chipped into the lead with a decision at 149, and a technical fall at 157. Kemerer piled up six first-period takedowns en route to a 24-8 technical fall.


“I like to go out and score,” Kemerer said. “That’s what fun out there. Going out there and scoring points. It sparked the team too, helped us out.”


Iowa pulled within a point in the team race when redshirt freshman Alex Marinelli worked for an overtime win in his Hawkeye debut. Marinelli fell behind 2-0 to U23 World champion Richie Lewis, but answered with a takedown in the second period and ended the match on a single-leg takedown with 21 seconds left in the first sudden-victory period.


“It didn’t go quite like I planned,” said Marinelli. “I have to get to my attack and extend the leg. He was being a little defensive and I tried to push the pace a little bit, but I’m excited to be on this mat.”


The next three matches saw three lead changes. Iowa grabbed its first lead with a 5-4 decision from Joey Gunther at 174. Rutgers won a 4-0 decision at 184, and Cash Wilcke set up a winner-take-all heavyweight bout with a commanding 8-3 win at 197.


The Hawkeyes led 17-15 when Sam Stoll did as he tends to do. Stoll turned a first-period takedown into a first-period fall, flattening Razohnn Gross in 2:40 to clinch the win. It was Stoll’s fifth pin in six matches this season.

NOTABLES

• Iowa has won 23 straight conference road duals.

• Iowa is 4-0 all-time against Rutgers

• Paul Glynn and Carter Happel made their Big Ten debuts.

• Alex Marinelli made his Hawkeye and collegiate debut

• Eighteen of Sam Stoll’s 35 career wins have ended in fall.

• Records: Iowa (6-0, 2-0), Rutgers (3-2, 1-1).

• Attendance was 6,754 (RAC record)

#7 IOWA 23, #16 RUTGERS 15

125 -- #2 Nick Suriano (R) tech. fall Justin Stickley (I), 23-5; 0-5

133 – #13 Scott DelVecchio (R) major dec. Paul Glynn (I), 12-4; 0-9

141 -- #17 Michael Van Brill (R) dec. Carter Happel (I), 3-2; 0-12

149 -- #2 Brandon Sorensen (I) dec. #14 Eleazar DeLuca (R), 4-1; 3-12

157 -- #3 Michael Kemerer (I) tech. fall Brett Donner (R), 24-8; 8-12

165 -- #13 Alex Marinelli (I) dec. #9 Richie Lewis (R), 6-4 SV1; 11-12

174 -- Joey Gunther (I) dec. #19 Jordan Pagano (R), 5-4; 14-12

184 -- #9 Nicholas Gravina (R) dec. Mitch Bowman (I), 4-0; 14-15

197 -- #8 Cash Wilcke (I) dec. Kevin Mulligan (R), 8-3; 17-15

285 -- #6 Sam Stoll (I) pinned Razohnn Gross (R), 2:40; 23-15

RUTGERS PRESS RELEASE, by Bradly Derechailo


PISCATAWAY, N.J. – In front of a record crowd of 6,754 fans, No. 16 Rutgers wrestling (3-2, 1-1), was edged by No. 7 Iowa (6-0, 2-0), 23-15, Friday night at the RAC. The Scarlet Knights raced to a 12-0 lead with wins from 125-pound Nick Suriano, 133-pound Scott DelVecchio and 141-pound Michael Van Brill, but the Hawkeyes closed out the match with victories in six of their last seven bouts.


The 6,754 fans in attendance were the most to watch Rutgers wrestling at the RAC, breaking the previous mark of 6,071 when RU hosted Penn State on Jan. 16, 2015.


“It’s a dual meet that got away from us,” said head coach Scott Goodale. “I know that’s how these guys feel. You want to win these and there are opportunities out there for us. You have to take advantage of these opportunities that don’t come around to often. There are no moral victories. We let one get away and this one will sting a little bit.”


Suriano did not disappoint in his RAC debut, as he defeated Justin Stickley by tech fall, 24-5. The former Bergen Catholic star collected three takedowns and four near fall points for a 10-2 lead on Stickley after the first period. Suriano continued to dominate, using a near fall with four seconds left in the third period for the 24-5 result. For Suriano, it marked his second tech fall during the 2017-18 dual season.


DelVecchio continued the momentum for the Scarlet Knights, adding a takedown of Iowa’s Paul Glynn 20 seconds into the match. From there, DelVecchio outscored Glynn, 10-4, with the riding time point clinching a 12-4 major decision for the redshirt senior.


“[DelVecchio and Suriano] wrestled really hard and give us a 1-2 punch, maybe the best in the country.” Goodale said. “We just have to keep riding them and get other guys to finish suite.”


Van Brill rose to the challenge and took advantage of the energy generated from the sold-out crowd. The Mullica Hill, New Jersey, native collected a takedown of Carter Happel for a 2-0 lead in the first period, with his escape in the second period securing a 3-2 win to give Rutgers a 12-0 lead.


Iowa’s No. 2 Brandon Sorenson produced Iowa’s first win of the night at 149 pounds, but it did not come easy thanks to the performance of Eleazar DeLuca. DeLuca wrestled to a 1-1 tie with Sorenson midway through the third period, but Sorenson added a takedown and collected the riding time point for a 4-1 decision.


No. 2 Michael Kemerer registered a tech fall of Brett Donner at 157 pounds to make it 12-8 in favor of RU at intermission.


From there, the Hawkeyes continued to churn own wins and eat into the RU lead. No. 14 Alex Marinelli earned a 6-4 decision in sudden victory over No. 9 Richie Lewis, who was wrestling up a weight at 165 pounds. In his RAC dual debut, Joseph Grello faced Joey Gunther, with a controversial takedown awarded to Gunther in the second period proving to be the difference in a 5-4 Grello loss at 174 pounds. Grello’s loss gave Iowa its first lead of the night at 14-12.


No. 9 Nicholas Gravina continued his strong start to the season with a 4-0 decision over Mitch Bowman to regain the lead for Rutgers, 15-14. But back-to-back losses by Kevin Mulligan and Razohnn Gross at 197 pounds and heavyweight, respectively, against ranked o clinched the dual for Iowa.


Rutgers returns to action from Dec. 29-30 when it competes at the Midlands Championships at the Sears Centre Arena in Hoffman Estates, Illinois.

QUOTES (supplied by Rutgers University)

Rutgers head coach Scott Goodale

About the night overall: “Two big matchups there in second part of the match, 165 and 174, just got away from us. We have to find a way to close those out. To beat a really good team you got to do that. You’ve got to close out those matches.”


On Iowa: “There’s opportunities for us out there. You’ve got to take advantage. These opportunities don’t come around that often. Like Nick said, they’re a fun team. They fight and scrap and claw. I don’t know if they’re the best athletes but they scrap. They’re really good in position. There’s no moral victories. We let one get away, and this one will sting for a little bit. We’ll get back at them at “The Midlands” and there’s an opportunity to win a team title there and that’s what we’re shooting for.”


On Joe Grello’s performance “Reset the guy. Keep him off your legs. Use your face. Put your face in there and don’t let him on your legs. It gives yourself an opportunity to win if you do that. Maybe it’s a freshman, whatever it is it’s a mistake and you’ve got to learn from that mistake. He’s a good kid.”


On Richie Lewis’ loss: “It doesn’t matter how good you are if a guy keeps coming and keepings coming and keeps coming and you don’t have an answer? [Lewis] didn’t have an answer right there, so that was a big part of the match.”

Rutgers 125-pounder Nick Suriano

About his strong start: “Momentum’s definitely important, and a Big Ten schedule right off the bat? You’ve got to go out and score points. That’s Big Ten wrestling.”


On the record crowd: “I can feel it out there. I feel a real crowd. I feel real vibes. People, fans, just real fans cheering for me. The energy’s there. I thrive off good energy- good positive energy. I got my family here, friends, it’s a real awesome feeling.”


About his opponent: “With the Big Ten schedule there’s a lot of guys … you can’t take anyone lightly. I knew he’d come out swinging and ready to go. I don’t care who it is. My goal is to be an NCAA champ this season. It is what it is, whoever they put out, it doesn’t matter! You’ve got to take it the same way. Discipline.”

Rutgers 133-pounder Scott DelVecchio

About earning respect: “I don’t know if we earned more than we walked away with what we had. I think we would’ve earned a little more respect if we had won that match. I think they knew what they were walking into. We were expecting a crowd like this. If we had picked up those individual matches and won this dual meet, I think it would have been a lot different. You never go out there just to compete. I think tonight we kind of just competed. You go out there to win, and if we had won this one we would have gotten that respect. You don’t get respect from losing. You want to win that match and that’s where you gain that respect.”

Iowa Head Coach Tom Brands

On his general thoughts on the dual meet: “We dug ourselves a hole and then dug us out. Marinelli, tough win, attacked the whole time and wrestled 420 seconds. Actually, more than that because it was an overtime takedown. Wilcke looks good and he’s got a lot more to give. Those are the things off the top of my mind.”


On his thoughts throughout their rough start: “We know that we have good guys in every weight. Even at 25, you know, you give up the five-point team win there and you know you have a 33 pounder that you’re counting on and believe in. Then he goes out and then you’ve got a 41 pounder that’s has an opportunity. It’s a different lineup. The thing that is going to make these guys a part of this team is, are you going to perform? It’s not even about winning. It’s about wrestling the entire match. Nothing in life works if you wrestle only through part of it. Even if I’m driving a bus, if we were to get on a bus right now and you’re driving every other mile, you’re going to get into a lot of trouble. It’s like these guys only want to wrestle thirty seconds in the first period. They only want to wrestle part of the second period. They only want to wrestle part of the third period. I’m being critical but if you get your chance in the lineup go make the most of it.”


On his approach to figure out the 41-weight class: “We’re going to keep doing what we’re doing. I just told Ben Berhow in the locker room that we’re going to be in the funny farm because we’ve got to keep digging ourselves out of holes. You know what, we’ve got some firepower back home. We’ll see other things in the lineup.”

Iowa 165-pounder Alex Marinelli

On if today went as he thought it would: “The crowd was amazing. It’s better to wrestle in those environments than going to a dual meet where there’s 2,000 fans. I couldn’t have wanted anything better for my first match. Didn’t go quite like I planned. I’ve got to get to my attacks, extend the leg. He was kind of being a little defensive. I tried to push the pace a little bit. But, I’m excited to be on this mat.”


On whether anything about Richie Lewis surprised him: “Not really. Nothing surprised me. I got taken down at first and that’s not what needs to happen. But, he’s a wrestler and wrestlers have shots and I should’ve been ready for that. Nothing really surprised me. He took me into overtime which, I need to put the nail in the coffin way better, but I came out with the win and I’m happy about it.”


On how he feels physically after his first competing in his first match in a while: “Tom knew that I had to fight either way. Telford even told me yesterday, ‘it may be a little tougher than you think to get to the leg at first. But, once you get to that takedown, it’ll start flowing.’ I think that advice really helped to get me prepared. I knew it was going to be a war and I was ready for it.”

Iowa 157-pounder Michael Kemerer

On the atmosphere: It’s a good atmosphere. I mean, lots of fans. It got loud a couple of times but it’s kind of our job to make them quiet.”


On whether he was looking forward to wrestling Richie Lewis: “Yeah. I’ll go out and wrestle whoever is in front of me. Marinelli got the opportunity to wrestle him and he took advantage of it. If he had weighed in at 57, I would’ve gone out and would’ve had to do the same thing and take care of business. Ultimately, you’re just focused on wrestling whoever is in front of you.”


On changing the momentum with his takedowns: “That’s the goal every time. I like to go out and score and have some fun out there. Going out and scoring those points sparks the team too.”

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