This time around, the Wildcats couldn’t blame forfeits for their dual losses against the Big Ten’s second- and third-best teams.
Northwestern (5-10-1, 0-4 Big Ten) came away from its first conference road trip on the wrong side of two lopsided matches: 37-10 to No. 12 Penn State and 37-6 to No. 4 Ohio State. Though the Cats dropped six points in both matches by defaulting the 141-pound weight division, neither forfeit affected the dual’s outcome. NU has now lost four straight Big Ten matches heading into next weekend’s road trip to No. 1 Iowa and No. 13 Wisconsin.
“It’s a frustrating thing,” sophomore John Schoen (197) said. “At Penn State I had to sit through our team getting handled. But it fueled my fire when I got out on the mat. At Ohio State it was the same thing-I had to watch my teammates get beaten.”
Friday’s loss to the Nittany Lions (11-5-1, 3-2 Big Ten) came in front of more than 4,000 fans at Rec Arena in University Park, Pa. Two days later, the Wildcats fell even harder against the Buckeyes (16-1, 5-0 Big Ten) in Columbus, Ohio.
Senior Eric Metzler (133) was the lone NU wrestler to go 2-0, winning 8-4 against Penn State’s Bryan Pearsall and 3-1 against Ohio State’s Ian Paddock. Beyond that, NU got only three other individual wins: redshirt freshman Brian Roddy, Jr. (174) and Schoen against Penn State and junior Aaron Jones (184) against Ohio State. Schoen earned a 13-4 major decision over the Nittany Lions’ Clay Steadman, before falling 3-1 in overtime to the Buckeyes’ C.J. Magrum.
“Penn State was good even though my team wasn’t performing well,” Schoen said. “Then at Ohio State, we were just outmatched. It’s a disappointing loss, but I know when I see (Magrum) in a few weeks at the Big Ten tournament, I’ll beat him pretty good.”
Junior Andrew Nadhir (149), who is ranked No. 13 in the nation in his weight class, had the toughest challenge in facing the No. 2 and No. 4 wrestlers in the 149-pound division. Nadhir wasn’t the only underdog: NU faced eight other top-20 wrestlers between its two matches.
“As we get closer to Big Tens, the guys are thinking more individually,” coach Tim Cysewski said. “They’re focused on getting more healthy, doing some extra pulls in the weight room and getting themselves ready for the end of the year.”
In some sense, the score line alone doesn’t indicate how lopsided NU’s losses were. The Cats were on the losing end of 12 major decisions, pins or technical falls.
The losses add more disappointment to NU’s season. With wrestling being both a team and individual sport, the Cats’ focus is shifting toward preparing for postseason tournaments.
“Every time I step up there, I have to be focused on doing my part,” Schoen said. “That’s going to take care of me when it comes down to Big Tens and seeding for nationals.”[email protected]
