The American University wrestling team (5-7) faced the Navy Midshipmen (4-4) on Jan. 24. The Eagles competed in their fourth EIWA match after a 22-17 loss to Army on Jan. 18. The Eagles were 1-2 in EIWA play and had won only one of their last four matches. The Midshipmen were on a two-match win streak heading into this event, and barely beat American by 3 points in a 24-21 thriller last year.
In the first match, the Midshipmen’s freshman Andrew Binni took on the Eagles’ sophomore JJ Peace. After a tense first minute, neither Peace nor Binni gained control over the other. Binni came close to slamming Peace, but he quickly adjusted his hips and stayed on his feet. Peace did not make it easy in the second round as Binni had multiple opportunities for a takedown; Peace adeptly thwarted an attack.
After both wrestlers traded points for escapes, the referees controversially gave Binni a point for stalling, saying Peace did not make enough action to continue the match. The decision gave Binni a 2-1 win.
In the second match, Midshipmen senior Brendan Ferretti took on American redshirt senior Maximilian Leete. A minute into the match, Leete took down Ferretti with a vicious takedown. Ferretti escaped and earned a point. However, Leete’s pressure remained constant as he had opportunities to increase hus lead in the first.
In the second, after a quick escape, Ferretti cut the lead to 1 point. Opposed to the first period, the second had less action as neither opponent could land significant hits. Leete managed to swivel his hips and land his butt away from Ferretti to escape and control his space. After Ferretti got freed up, he lunged at Leete, who quickly jumped away and took Ferretti down. Leete secured a 7-2 win and tying up the event with Navy at 3-3.
In the fourth match, Midshipmen senior Kaemen Smith took on redshirt sophomore Gage Owen. Owen was almost taken down multiple times in the first minute when Smith took control of his legs, but managed to recover well to prevent an early takedown. After Smith lunged for Owen’s leg again, Owen found himself under Smith. However, he twisted his way out of a takedown.
Owen earned the first score of the match after an escape point. The wrestlers continued to fight for ground and Owen thwarted most of Smith’s attacks. In the third round, Owen ended up having to prevent Smith from escaping to keep his lead. He held up amazingly well and got within inches of a takedown. After Smith rolled out of Owen’s grasp, he pinned himself on top of Owen and earned a reversal. Owen made his way out of the ring, leaving him down 1 point and giving himself 18 seconds to tie the match with a reversal. Owen struggled to escape Smith’s pin and went out of the ring with 10 seconds left. He escaped and forced a two-minute overtime. Just a minute into overtime, Smith took control of Owen’s hips, taking him down for the 5-2 win.
The fifth match was between the Midshipmen junior Jonathan Ley and the Eagles’ redshirt sophomore Kaden Milheim. Early on, both wrestlers fought for hand control and position. Milheim found himself in danger as Ley took his leg and pulled Milheim down, giving him the first takedown of the match. Ley then displayed his physicality by picking up and slamming Milheim. Unable to capitalize, Milheim was only down by 2 points despite Ley’s dominant first round.
Ley had an aggressive start to the second round. He prevented an escape, lifted Ley up by his knee and forced him out of the ring. Milheim finally escaped and cut the lead to 1 point while playing more conservatively in an attempt to prevent Ley from getting control of his hips. Ley started the third round quickly by forcing a takedown and gaining control of Milheim’s leg. Milheim spun out of Ley’s grasp and almost had a takedown to give himself the lead. Ley ended up getting the best out of Milheim and took him down to secure the win. After Ley’s win, the Eagles found themselves in a hole, down 13-3 and still to face Navy’s two best wrestlers.
In the eighth match, Navy junior Daniel Williams took on American redshirt junior Caleb Campos. Williams’ pressure caused Campos to struggle to find angles. After Campos almost forced a takedown, Williams grabbed a hold of his leg and lifted him before taking him down. After Campos spun out of bounds, he forced an escape point. In the second, Campos attempted to grab Williams’ foot but missed, and Williams lifted Campos’ hips, despite Campos’ recovery. Williams continued his pressure and once again drove Campos’ hips into the ground, resulting in a takedown for Campos, who came up with a bloodied nose.
Williams took control of Campos’ hips, lifting him twice. Campos found his footing and did not give in easily. Down 7-2 in the third period, Campos started the round well and escaped before Williams used an illegal hold, giving Campos another point and making his nose bleed again. Campos lunged at Williams, almost pinning him, before Williams countered and took control of Campos’ legs, landing a takedown. Williams almost turned around Campos, before Campos escaped. A late takedown for Campos was too little too late as he lost 11-9. This match gave the Midshipmen a 26-3 lead.
In the final match, Navy put out freshman Spencer Lanosga to grapple American redshirt sophomore Emmanuel Ulrich. Going into this match, Lanosga was ranked as a top-15 heavyweight in the country. Lanosga took down Ulrich to start the bout before Ulrich recovered with an escape. Ulrich did a great job resisting Lanosga’s attacks in the first round and found himself down two to start the second. After a quick Lanosga escape, Ulrich managed to set the tone and limited Lanosga’s attacks.
Near the end of the round, Lanosga took control of Ulrich’s leg, but Ulrich managed to prevent a takedown. With two minutes to create a takedown in the third round, Ulrich tried a lunge, which left him in danger. However, he found his way out of a takedown. Despite his effort, he narrowly lost to Lanosga.
Eagles head coach Jason Borrelli praised the play by Ulrich, who had improved a lot since his last match versus Lanosga, “He got beat at the Navy Classic on the first weekend of the season, and so that shows so much growth for us, how much we’ve closed the gap in about a month or two months.”
Overall, the Midshipmen dominated, winning 34-3 and going to 3-1 in conference play. Coach Borrelli reflected on this disappointing result, stating, “We were focused on weights where we really felt like would help us win the duel in 125, 133, 141, 149, 157, 184. Like there were a lot of matches where we felt like, there was enough life out there for us to win, and we couldn’t get it done.” Borrelli also believed that the “effort was there, but we didn’t execute, and that showed in about two or three weights where we needed to execute better.”
The Eagles take on Morgan State on Feb. 8 in their fifth EIWA match. For the upcoming Morgan State match, Borrelli wants “to keep having big crowds and have the atmosphere energized.” Despite the rough loss, the wrestling team faced a good challenge to learn from and improve and hopes to be ready for next Sunday’s match.
This article was edited by Connor Sturniolo, Jack Stashower and Walker Whalen. Copy editing done by Avery Grossman, Ryan Sieve and Jaden Maitland Anderson.
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