ITHACA, N.Y. -- The Cornell wrestling team set up a showdown for the Ivy League title with unbeaten Princeton thanks to a 27-10 victory over Penn on Friday evening at the Friedman Wrestling Center. Cornell won the final five matches to overcome a 10-7 deficit midway through the dual and improved to 11-2 on the season (4-0 Ivy) with its 77th straight Ivy win.
The Big Red and the Tigers, a 32-6 winner at Columbia on Friday, will square off at 3 p.m. on Saturday on the Ivy League Digital Network. Cornell will celebrate its seniors prior to the match, then will welcome Joe Mazzurco '06 and Jerry Rinaldi '07 into the Cornell Hall of Distinguished Wrestling Alumni at halftime.
A pair of Big Red seniors won battles against nationally ranked Quakers,
Gabe Dean took career win number 142 via forfeit and
Craig Scott and
Brandon Womack bookended the second half of the dual to set up a championship rematch against Princeton. A year ago, Cornell took to the road and clinched its 14th straight Ivy title with a 23-16 victory.
Cornell will have its hands full against the Tigers for the second straight year, but Penn gave the Big Red all it could handle early. After freshman
Noah Baughman remained unbeaten in Ivy matches with a hard-fought 5-1 decision over Jeremy Schwartz at 125 - his 20th win of the year - the Quakers won three of the next four matches, including a major decision at 133. Will Koll had the lone win for the Big Red during that span with an 11-1 major decision at 141 before Joe Oliva and May Bethea tied the match and put the visitors ahead at 10-7.
Brandon Womack tied the dual with his team-best 25th victory of the year, a 10-5 decision over Brooks Martino at 165, to start Cornell's rally. Realbuto dominated the feature matchup of the day, turning 13th-ranked Casey Kent for two and posting the only takedowns of the match in an 11-3 major decision victory.
After Dean had his hand raised for a forfeit victory,
Owen Scott used a takedown with 40 seconds remaining in the third to overcome 17th-ranked Frank Mattiace for the win at 197 and twin brother Craig dominated Tyler Hall for a 17-3 major decision to close out the win.
#9 Cornell 27, Penn 10
125:
Noah Baughman (C) won by decision over Jeremy Schwartz (P), 5-1
133: Carl Antrassian (P) won by major decision over
Jacob Lehr (C), 16-4
141: Will Koll (C) won by major decision over A.J. Vindici (P), 11-1
149: Joe Oliva (P) won by decision over
Joey Galasso (C), 4-2
157: May Bethea (P) won by decision over
Taylor Simaz (C), 11-5
165:
Brandon Womack (C) won by decision over Brooks Martino (P), 10-5
174: #3
Brian Realbuto (C) won by major decision over #13 Casey Kent (P), 11-3
184: #1
Gabe Dean (C) won by forfeit
197: #19
Owen Scott (C) won by decision over #17 Frank Mattiace (P), 3-2
285:
Craig Scott (C) won by major decision over Tyler Hall (P), 17-3
