Northwestern Caps Non-Conference Schedule with SIUe Saturday

12/9/2016 1:33:00 PM | Wrestling

NORTHWESTERN WRESTLING: MATCH INFORMATION
DATE	OPPONENT	TIME	LOCATION	BROADCAST	LIVE STATS
Saturday, Dec. 10	SIU-Edwardsville	8 p.m. CT	Welsh-Ryan Arena (Evanston, Ill.)	BTN Plus	TrackWrestling
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Match Notes

EVANSTON, Ill. – Northwestern finishes off non-conference competition when SIU-Edwardsville comes to town Saturday night for an 8 p.m. dual.

The meet between the Wildcats and Cougars will be streamed live on BTN Plus. Live scoring is available via TrackWrestling. Links to both can be found in the table above.

This is the final match before Northwestern gets the Big Ten part of the schedule underway with a match at No. 5 Ohio State next Friday.

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YOUTH MOVEMENT
The Wildcats are an extremely young team this year, boasting 16 underclassmen. The only upperclassmen on this year's team are seniors Jacob Berkowitz and Ben Sullivan and junior Mitch Sliga, all three of whom are in the starting lineup. Over half of the team (10 of 19) are freshmen this season -- six redshirts and four true.

Four of those freshmen, redshirts Anthony Rubinetti (125), Jason Ipsarides (133) and Alec McKenna (141) and true freshman Shayne Oster (149) start for Northwestern. The Wildcats will also trot out three sophomores in Anthony Petrone (157), Johnny Sebastian (174) and Conan Jennings (285).

SHUT 'EM DOWN
Johnny Sebastian (174), Mitch Sliga (184) and Jacob Berkowitz (197) are all a perfect 5-0 in duals, wrestling one after the other in the lineup. They have locked down those three weight classes in dual matches, scoring a combined 61 points for Northwestern, while giving up none. Sebastian and Berkowitz have each outscored the opposition, 20-0, while Sliga has done so by a 21-0 margin.

PUT POINTS ON THE BOARD
Head coach Matt Storniolo has been preaching offense all season long, and the Wildcats have delivered. In four dual meets so far this year, Northwestern wrestlers are outscoring their opponents, 299-181.

The Wildcats' four upper weights have delivered on offense and defense with each wrestler scoring more than 30 points in duals, while limiting their respective opponents to significantly fewer. Johnny Sebastian (174) has outscored his five opponents 41-11, Mitch Sliga (184) is dominating with a 48-5 margin, Jacob Berkowitz (197) is at 44-11 and Conan Jennings (285) is off to a nice start with a 31-10 margin.