CORTLAND, N.Y. – The ninth-ranked Ithaca College wrestling team won six of the 10 bouts in an 18-15 dual-meet victory at 27th-ranked Cortland on Wednesday, Feb. 18. Ithaca won a pivotal match between nationally-ranked wrestlers at 184 pounds as Carlos Toribio beat the fourth-ranked wrestler in the country to lead Ithaca's effort. Ithaca is 11-2 on the season and Cortland is 9-4.
 
The dual started at 125 pounds and Jimmy Kaishian of Ithaca faced Mat Bradice of Cortland. Neither wrestler scored in the first period. Kaishian started the second period on bottom and got an escape 24 seconds into the period for the first point of the match. He added a takedown with 15 seconds left in the period for a 3-0 lead and rode out the rest of the period. Bradice started the third period on the bottom and escaped, but Kaishian had another takedown. He went on to a 7-3 decision victory. Kaishian is ranked 10th in the latest NWCA rankings at 125.
 
Ithaca forfeited the 133-pound match and Cortland led 6-3.
 
Nick Wahba had a first-period takedown to take a 2-0 lead. Berry started second period down and Wahba recorded two near-fall points before Berry was awarded a point for stalling. Berry then got a reversal, but Wahba answered with a reversal. A penalty-point to Berry sent Wahba to the third period with a 6-4 lead and two minutes of riding time. Wahba started down and escaped early in the period. His riding time point made for an 8-4 decision to tie the team score 6-6.
 
At 149 pounds, Eamonn Gaffney had a late takedown and two near-fall points at the end of the first period against Cortland's Greg Cherry. Gaffney had an escape early in the second period to lead 5-0. Cherry had a third-period escape for his only point and Gaffney won a 5-1 decision.
 
Kevin Collins took a 2-0 lead with a first-period takedown at 157 against Cortland's Mike Beckwith and rode out the rest of the period for a riding-time advantage of 2:15. Collins started down in the second period and reversed Beckwith to lead 4-0. An escape in the second and start of the third for Beckwith made it 4-2. Collins had a riding-time point guaranteed, and a late takedown in the third gave Collins a 7-2 decision.
 
After five matches, Ithaca led 12-6 in the team score.
 
At 165 pounds, Ithaca's Nick Velez and Cortland's Colin Barber met in a matchup of wrestlers who attended the same high school, Westfield High School in Westfield, N.J. Velez took the lead with a takedown in the first period, and Barber escaped in the second period. Velez started down in the third period and escaped for a 3-1 lead. A late penalty-point against Velez made it a 3-2 final and another decision victory for Ithaca.
 
Nik Hansen had an early takedown but Joe Cataldo of Cortland scored a reversal to tie the score 2-2 after the first period. Cataldo started bottom in the second and had a reversal and rode out the rest of the period for a 4-2 lead and potential riding-time point. The third period started neutral and Hansen picked up a takedown to tie it, and then yielded an escape to Cataldo. The match stayed on its feet the rest of the way and Cataldo won a 6-4 decision.
 
A matchup of nationally-ranked wrestlers at 184 pounds highlighted the dual in a high-scoring match. Ithaca's Carlos Toribio, ranked eighth, had a takedown and near-fall points in the opening 20 seconds of his match at 184 against fourth-ranked Tyler Beckwith. Toribio had another takedown, but was reversed by Beckwith before quickly escaping. Toribio led 7-3 after the first period and started the second period with the advantage, but was reversed and turned to his back. Near-fall points gave Beckwith an 8-7 lead, but Toribio escaped and had another takedown for a 10-8 lead, and he rode out the period. Toribio started down in the third period and escaped. A penalty point to Beckwith made it 11-9 in Ithaca's favor, and Beckwith got a takedown with one second left to tie the score 11-11. Toribio had a takedown nine seconds into sudden-victory for the decision win. Ithaca led 18-9 in the team score with two matches remaining.
 
At 197, Cortland's third-ranked Joe Giaramita had three takedowns in the first two periods and held a 6-3 lead over Ithaca's Greg DuVall. Giaramita added an escape in the third period and another takedown, but DuVall escaped, and Giaramita won a 10-4 decision victory.
 
That clinched the dual for Ithaca as even a win by pin for Cortland at heavyweight would only tie the match and Ithaca secured the tiebreaker criteria by winning six of the 10 bouts. It didn't come into play, however, as 10th-ranked Lance Moore of Cortland defeated Ithaca's Dan Glinko by 4-0 decision.
 
#9 ITHACA 18, #27 CORTLAND 15
Corey Gymnasium; Cortland, N.Y.
125 – Jimmy Kaishian (ITH) dec. Mat Bradice (CRT) 7-3
133 – Paul Fields (CRT) won by forfeit
141 – Nick Wahba (ITH) dec. Adrian Berry (CRT) 8-4
149 – Eamonn Gaffney (ITH) dec. Greg Cherry (CRT) 5-1
157 – Kevin Collins (ITH) dec. Mike Beckwith (CRT) 7-2
165 – Nick Velez (ITH) dec. Colin Barber (CRT) 3-2
174 – Joe Cataldo (CRT) dec. Nik Hansen (ITH) 6-4
184 – Carlos Toribio (ITH) dec. Tyler Beckwith (CRT) 13-11 (ot)
197 – Joe Giaramita (CRT) dec. Greg DuVall (ITH) 10-4
HWT – Lance Moore (CRT) dec. Dan Glinko (ITH) 4-0