Northwestern
Iowa
No. 1 Iowa Overpowers Northwestern in Iowa City
2/12/2010 12:00:00 AM | Wrestling
Feb. 12, 2010
IOWA CITY, Iowa -- Northwestern gave it their all Friday night, but No. 1-ranked Iowa's seven top-10 wrestlers proved too much to overcome as the Hawkeyes claimed a 49-0 dual win in front of a crowd of 7,125 at Carver-Hawkeye Arena in Iowa City. It was the first time Northwestern was held scoreless in a dual match since Nov. 24, 2000.
Undefeated Iowa (20-0, 5-0) used five pins, four of which came in the first period, to amass their final margin of victory. The Hawkeyes now have won three consecutive matches by shutout and have won 32 consecutive dual bouts.
Prior to the start of the match, the host Hawkeyes put the center-mat spotlight on Northwestern head coach Tim Cysewski, honoring the 1977 Iowa graduate and former head of the Hawkeye Wrestling Club who at the end of the season will relinquish his duties as head coach after 20 years at the helm in Evanston.
Northwestern's best opportunity to snap Iowa's shutout streak came at 197 pounds, where redshirt freshman John Schoen squared off with Iowa's Luke Lofthouse. Schoen trailed 2-0 following the first period but scored once on an escape in the second. Lofthouse matched that score with his own escape in the third to go ahead 3-1, but Schoen came up huge with a takedown with 25 seconds remaining to even things at three. With riding time not a factor, Schoen needed only to ride Lofthouse to the buzzer to force overtime, but Lofthouse fought free to score one point on an escape and win the bout, 4-3.
After a fall by Iowa's Matt McDonough to the open the match at 125, NU senior Eric Metzler competed hard against Iowa's Daniel Dennis before falling in a 12-3 decision. Metzler displayed great skill on defense against the nation's No. 3-ranked wrestler and took his own shots on offense, but could never secure a takedown to truly threaten the Hawkeye's advantage.
An NU forfeit at 141 pounds gave Iowa six points before top-ranked Brent Metcalf, the 2008 Hodge Trophy winner, added another six to Iowa's total with a first-period pin of Northwestern's 14th-ranked Andrew Nadhir. Nadhir is now 19-7 on the season.
Wildcat freshman Kevin Bialka, one of three true freshmen in NU's lineup, was in the match the entire way before falling by 6-3 decision to Iowa's Aaron Janssen, who improved to 11-4 on the year. Iowa native Robert Kellogg fell victim to a pin by All-American Ryan Morningstar at 165, as did Northwestern's Brian Roddy, Jr. against second-ranked Jay Borschel at 174.
One week from tonight, Northwestern (5-11-1, 0-6) begins its final weekend of regular season competition with a road contest at No. 19 Wisconsin. On Sunday, the Wildcats welcome Michigan to Welsh-Ryan Arena in the final home dual match under the direction of head coach Tim Cysewski. The 6 p.m. match will be aired live by the Big Ten Network.
No. 1 Iowa 49, Northwestern 0
125: Matt McDonough (IA) FALL Levi Mele (NU), 4:32 (IA 6, NU 0)
133: Daniel Dennis (IA) Maj. Dec. Eric Metzler (NU), 12-3 (IA 10, NU 0)
141: Montell Marion (IA) win by forfeit (IA 16, NU 0)
149: Brent Metcalf (IA) FALL Andrew Nadhir (NU), 2:20 (IA 22, NU 0)
157: Aaron Janssen (IA) dec. Kevin Bialka (NU), 6-3 (IA 25, NU 0)
165: Ryan Morningstar (IA) FALL Robert Kellogg (NU), 4:48 (IA 31, NU 0)
174: Jay Borschel (IA) FALL Brian Roddy, Jr. (NU), 2:27 (IA 37, NU 0),
184: Grant Gambrall (IA) dec. Aaron Jones (NU), 9-3 (IA 40, NU 0)
197: Luke Lofthouse (IA) dec. John Schoen (NU), 4-3 (IA 43, NU 0)
285: Dan Erekson (IA) FALL Marcus Shrewsbury (NU), 3:52 (IA 49, NU 0)
Players Mentioned
