2008 Woodie Awards
Wrestling improves to 10-1 overall
Alex Voigt
Issue date: 2/4/08 Section: Sports
|
Friday night, the No. 16 ranked Huskies faced a similar challenge on the road against No. 7 ranked MSU-Moorhead and responded with a thrilling 17-15 victory.
The dual was well fought by both teams, with SCSU and Moorhead each winning five matches for the evening. However, the Huskies managed two major decisions in the dual to make up the difference in points, with redshirt freshman Gabe Suarez winning 15-6 at 141 pounds and junior Brad Padgett winning 17-5 at 184 pounds.
Padgett, who is currently ranked seventh in the nation, improved to 24-5 on the season with the win.
"When you're in a close match against a team like Moorhead, every point you can get is huge," head coach Steve Costanzo said. "Suarez and Padgett came up with some big performances and that was what did it for us."
Aside from the two major decisions, every match was close. Three matches went into overtime and seven matches were decided by three points or less, with neither team recording a pin in the dual.
Costanzo said there wasn't a weak performance in the entire evening.
"I was pleasantly surprised with the performances of all 20 guys on the mat," Costanzo said. "Everyone on our team wrestled and I felt (Moorhead) really fought out there, too. It was fun to watch."
With the loss, Moorhead fell to 10-6 for the season.
Saturday evening, SCSU faced a winless Southwest Minnesota State and took care of business winning 50-0 in a dual that featured three pins and three forfeit victories for the Huskies. None of the decision matches got within five points for the Huskies in a dominating performance over the blanks
The 50 points represented a season high for the Huskies and was just 4 points shy of the team record, set in the 1976-77 season. With their two wins on the weekend, the Huskies improved to 10-1 for the season with a 1-1 record in the NCC.
With four duals remaining on the season, it would be easy for the team to start looking ahead to the North Region Championship and Division II Championship meets in March. It would be even easier for the team to look ahead to their NCC showdown with No. 1 ranked Minnesota State University-Mankato Feb. 22 to close out the regular season.
However, Costanzo doesn't want his wrestlers to worry about anything except their next match against St. John's at home this Friday. St. John's is currently ranked 29th in the latest Division III wrestling polls.
"We've got to take things one match at a time," Costanzo said, "We're facing a good team this Friday and we need to worry about that. When regions and nationals roll around, we'll worry about it then."