No. 13 Northwestern Battles No. 4 Ohio State In Home Finale Sunday

NORTHWESTERN WRESTLING: DUAL INFORMATION
DATE	OPPONENT	TIME	LOCATION	Live Stream
Sunday, February 5	#4 Ohio State	2 p.m.	Welsh-Ryan Arena Evanston, Ill.	B1G+
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EVANSTON, Ill. (February 3, 2023) – Winners in each of its last three duals, No. 13 Northwestern wrestling (5-2, 4-2 B1G) returns to Welsh-Ryan Arena for the final time this season on Sunday afternoon to take on No. 4 Ohio State. The 'Cats will honor their senior class in a pre-match ceremony prior to the 2 p.m. start.

LAST TIME OUT
Northwestern swept a pair of dual meets last week, edging No. 13 Wisconsin, 18-17, last Friday at Welsh-Ryan Arena ahead of a 28-6 demolition of No. 23 Rutgers two days later in Piscataway, N.J. The Wildcats were dominant in Sunday's road win over the Scarlet Knights, prevailing in eight of the day's 10 bouts.

Lucas Davison (285 pounds) impressed in both duals, scoring the deciding decision, a 4-1 win over Trent Hillger, in Friday's win over the Badgers before winning by fall against Rutgers' Kyle Epperly on Sunday.

Chris Cannon (133 pounds), Frankie Tal-Shahar (141 pounds), Yahya Thomas (149 pounds), and Troy Fisher (174 pounds) also put up 2-0 weekends for the 'Cats, with Fisher making his first appearances since December's Midlands Championships.

SCOUTING OHIO STATE
Ohio State has rattled off six straight wins to move to 11-1 overall (5-0 B1G) and climb to No. 4 in the National Wrestling Coaches Association (NWCA) Top 25. The Buckeyes host No. 1 Penn State on Friday evening.

Head Coach Tom Ryan's team stayed unbeaten in the Big Ten last week with wins over No. 3 Michigan, 23-15, and No. 22 Michigan State, 36-3.

The Buckeyes' lineup features six wrestlers ranked inside the top 10 of the latest FloWrestling individual rankings. Leading the way for that group is the trio of Sammy Sasso (149 pounds), Ethan Smith (174 pounds), and Kaleb Romero (184 pounds).

Ranked third in the nation, Sasso, who enters the week a perfect 30-0 record in Big Ten duals for his career, is set for a showdown with Thomas in a matchup of two of the nation's best at 149 pounds. Smith, a four-time NCAA qualifier, holds a 2-0 conference record, while Romero, who earned All-American honors last season, is a perfect 5-0 during league action.

In total, Sunday's dual is slated to feature head-to-head ranked matchups in nine of 10 weight classes.

SERIES STUFF
Northwestern and Ohio State will meet for the 75^th time on Sunday afternoon, a series in which the Buckeyes hold a 44-29-1 (.601) advantage in.

Ohio State has prevailed in the each of the last six matchups, most recently grabbing a 28-10 win back on February 9, 2020 at the Covelli Center.

The 'Cats will be in search of their first win over the Buckeyes since the 2010-11 campaign when they picked up a 27-13 victory in Columbus, Ohio. Northwestern's last home win over Ohio State came back on February 3, 2006 in a 31-6 triumph.

WEEKEND PROBABLES
#13 Northwestern
125: #7 Michael DeAugustino (3-4)
133: #12 Chris Cannon (13-5)
141: #13 Frankie Tal-Shahar (5-4)
149: #4 Yahya Thomas (17-1)
157: #13 Trevor Chumbley (19-4)
165: #15 Maxx Mayfield (20-7)
174: #18 Troy Fisher (15-4)
184: Evan Bates (11-13)
197: HM Andrew Davison (14-10)
285: #4 Lucas Davison (15-2)

#4 Ohio State
125: #10 Malik Heinselman (18-2)
133: #10 Jesse Mendez (11-1)
141: HM Dylan D'Emilio (12-6)
149: #3 Sammy Sasso (18-2)
157: #24 Paddy Gallagher (8-4)
165: #10 Carson Kharchla (8-2)
174: #6 Ethan Smith (14-3) -OR- Isaac Wilcox (12-5)
184: #5 Kaleb Romero (19-3)
197: #15 Gavin Hoffman (15-4)
285: #15 Tate Orndorff (9-3)

*All individual rankings courtesy of FloWrestling (January 30)

UP NEXT
Northwestern wraps up the regular season portion of its 2022-23 schedule next weekend, visiting Northern Illinois (February 10) and Purdue (February 12), with the matchup against the Boilermakers set to air on Big Ten Network.

No. 13 Northwestern Battles No. 4 Ohio State In Home Finale Sunday

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Players Mentioned

Evan Bates

Chris Cannon

Trevor Chumbley

Andrew Davison

Lucas Davison

Michael DeAugustino

Troy Fisher

Maxx Mayfield

Frankie Tal-Shahar

Yahya Thomas

Northwestern University Athletics