LA CROSSE, Wis. (blugolds.com) — The University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire wrestling team fell to UW-La Crosse 30-12 in a Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (WIAC) dual on Wednesday at Mitchell Hall. The third-ranked Blugolds won three matches, but the fourth-ranked Eagles took the others to win a clash of top-five teams.
Wrestling began at 125 pounds, where
Travis Moelter (Fr. – River Falls, Wis.) faced 11
th-ranked Remington Bontreger. Moelter battled against the ranked foe, but fell by 6-1 decision.
Top-ranked
Tyler Fleetwood (Sr. – Fulton, Ill.) got the Blugolds on the board at 133 pounds. He overturned an early 3-0 deficit and ended the match via pin late in the second period.
The Eagles took the next two matches.
Bo Niewiadomski (Jr. – Rosholt, Wis.) fell by pin in the 141-pound match, while fifth-ranked
Zach Sato (Jr. – Oswego, Ill.) fell by slim margins in the 149-pound bout. Sato battled third-ranked Tyler Goebel down to the wire before falling 2-1.
The Blugolds had to forfeit for medical reasons shortly after the start of the 157-pound match. That brought 11
th-ranked
Tristan Massie (Sr. – Hillsdale, Wis./Barron) to the mat for the 165-pound match. He was steady throughout and worked his way toward a 9-2 decision victory.
Second-ranked
Jared Stricker (Jr. – Ashland, Wis.) made it two straight wins for the Blugolds by prevailing at 174 pounds. He never trailed en route to an 8-1 decision victory. It made the dual score 18-12 with three bouts remaining.
Connor Collins (Sr. – Oshkosh, Wis./West) led 14
th-ranked Marcus Orlandoni 1-0 entering the third period at 184 pounds, but the Eagles escaped with a victory. Orlandoni rallied in the final period to win by major decision at 11-3. UW-La Crosse wrapped up the match by winning by major decision at 197 and 285, where
Cole Matulenko (Fr. – Libertyville, Ill.) and
Jackson Schichel (Sr. – Hastings, Minn.) fell for the Blugolds.
UW-Eau Claire (8-4, 2-1) will next be in action at the Midlands Championships hosted by Northwestern University. Wrestling is set for December 29-30 at NOW Arena in Hoffman Estates, Ill.
