A little luck, a lot of grit lift Wrestling

Penn's close call with Cornell puts Ivy title in reach Heads or tails? For the Penn wrestling team, a lucky flip of the coin was arguably the determining factor in Saturday's exhilarating dual-meet victory over Cornell, 21-16. The win established the Quakers (4-2, 2-0 Ivy) as the heavy favorites to win this year's Ivy League crown. Penn hosted three opponents at the Palestra this weekend, defeating Columbia, 23-12, on Friday night and Seton Hall Saturday night. The Quakers' most important match of the year, however, took place Saturday afternoon, when the Quakers hosted the reigning Ivy League champion Big Red. Two years ago, the Quakers defeated Cornell at the Palestra to break the Big Red's 42-match winning streak and capture the Ivy League crown for the first time since coach Roger Reina took over in 1986. Last year, Cornell won back the title with a 21-12 victory in Ithaca, N.Y., setting up Saturday's showdown. Before the start of the dual-meet, the wrestlers and the fans observed a moment of silence in memory of the late Dave Schultz, the Olympic gold-medal winning wrestler, who was murdered last week. "What made this event special was how our team came together in light of the tragic news of the death of a person who was a good friend of the staff and many wrestlers on the team," Reina said. Penn began the dual-meet quickly with sophomore Ben Hata's 5-3 win at 118 pounds. When team co-captain Brian Eveleth was upset 6-1 by Cornell sophomore Ben New in the 126-pound match, the Big Red began to pick up speed. "At that point there was some concern that that may give them some momentum," Reina said. After surviving the Cornell push and winning three of the next five matches, the Red and the Blue tied the score at 12 heading into the 177-pound match. Penn co-captain Clinton Matter, ranked second at 177 pounds in the Eastern Intercollegiate Wrestling Association -- the conference which encompasses all Eastern schools -- pinned the EIWA's top-ranked Joel Hoelman in 2 minutes, 48 seconds to give the Quakers an 18-12 lead. Penn freshman Andre Rodzianko had difficulties with his taller Cornell opponent during the 190-pound match, and he was taken down with less than 10 seconds remaining in the match to finalize the 16-8 loss. The final takedown gave Cornell four team points instead of three, reducing the Quakers' lead to 18-16 and ensuring the heavyweight match would determine the overall winner. With the Ivy League title likely at stake, senior Joey Allen took the mat for the Quakers at heavyweight against Monty Shot. The heavier Shot, a freshman, was also ranked higher than Allen in the EIWA. "I took that personally that some first-year varsity wrestler was ranked ahead of me in the East," Allen said. "I'm really glad I got put in that position. I thrive on that. I like pressure." The first period ended with no score, and Shot scored an escape in the second period to make the score 1-0. In the third period, Allen recorded a reversal to take a 2-1 lead. But Shot quickly escaped once again to tie the match at 2-2. In the two-minute sudden-death overtime period, Allen repeatedly attacked Shot, while Shot continued to wrestle the defensive style that typified the Cornell strategy for the entire dual-meet. The period ended with no takedowns. In collegiate wrestling rules, the referee flips a coin at the conclusion of the first overtime period, and the winner of the coin flip chooses the top position or the bottom position for the second overtime. If the bottom wrestler escapes in 30 seconds he wins the match, but if the top wrestler holds down the bottom wrestler for the 30 seconds, he wins the match. With the season on the line, Allen won the coin toss. The Penn bench erupted. Allen chose bottom, and he escaped in less than 15 seconds to win his match and seal the dual-meet for the Quakers. "I'm sure the match could have turned out differently [if Cornell had won the coin toss]," Eveleth said. "But I don't think it comes down to just the coin toss. It comes down to the heavyweight in the sense that he's the last to wrestle, but there's a lot of other key matches throughout the lineup. "But the coin toss was big. We were hoping that Joey would get a takedown before that because you don't really want to leave it up to a coin toss. It's definitely tougher to hold someone down than to get out." Allen, however, believes the coin toss was inconsequential. "I would have held him down anyway," he said. "I know I would have. I can't sell myself short." Regardless, Penn has now established itself as the heavy favorite to regain the Ivy League title, with only the Brown and Harvard dual-meets remaining. More importantly, the victory over No. 15 Cornell gives the Quakers the national recognition they have been searching for and the top ranking in the EIWA. "That was the most exciting dual-meet I have ever been a part of," Matter said. "We have a really good chance at being Ivy League champions. We have a very good chance of being top 20 in the country. We have a chance at being Eastern champions and having some all-Americans. Those were our goals at the outset and they are all still within our reach."