Wrestling plays host to archrival Cornell

The Ivy League's two dominant squads of the 1990s battle tonight. The real season begins for the Penn wrestling team tonight. After a grueling slate of non-conference meets and tough tournaments, the Quakers begin their quest to repeat as Ivy League champions when they host league foes Cornell and Columbia at the Palestra this weekend. This should be a welcome change of pace for Penn, which has already seen its share of tough non-conference meets. The Quakers are 2-4 record but are ranked No. 15 in the National Wrestling Coaches Association (NWCA) poll, having performed solidly against a slew of national powerhouses. The first visitors to the Palestra this weekend will be Cornell, as the Big Red face Penn at 9 p.m. tonight following the women's basketball game. Ranked 14th in the latest NWCA poll, Cornell (4-3, 0-0 Ivy) took an impressive seventh-place finish at the Cliff Keen/NWCA National Dual Meet Championships last weekend at Penn State. In that meet, Cornell defeated Central Michigan (27-11), Penn State (19-14) and Cal State-Bakersfield (18-12), while losing to No. 2 seed Minnesota (28-6) and unseeded Arizona State (27-12). Sixth-seeded Penn, on the other hand, won its first round dual meet against West Virginia (23-20) before losing to third-seeded Oklahoma State (26-9) and bowing out against ASU, albeit by a closer score than Cornell (22-16). Last January, the Quakers escaped chilly Ithaca, N.Y., with a 16-16 tie; the two teams would ultimately share the Ivy title. In the 1990s, Penn won four titles outright while Cornell claimed five before the two squads shared last year's crown. The match with Cornell -- clearly the highlight of the weekend before Penn hosts Columbia -- features several intriguing individual matchups. At 157 pounds, senior Brett Matter defends his No. 2 national ranking against 19th-ranked Leo Urbinelli. At 174, junior Rick Springman, ranked No. 2, will likely face No. 14 Joe Tucceri. Finally, the heavyweight matchup features senior Bandele Adeniyi-Bada, ranked fifth nationally, against 11th-ranked Seth Charles of Cornell. Matter is coming off a spectacular weekend in which he recorded his 111th career victory, a new Penn record. The Delran, N.J., native surpassed the record previously held by Brandon Slay, earning Penn Male Athlete of the Week honors in the process. After going 1-2 last weekend at State College, Pa., the Quakers fell three spots in the NWCA rankings while Cornell stood fast at No. 14. The Quakers were not satisfied with the result at the National Duals, and they realize that whichever squad wins the Penn-Cornell dual meet tonight will control its own destiny in the Ivy League title race. "We have less than two months [left in the season]," Matter said. "It's really getting down to the wire." "Now the Ivies start, and the Easterns after that," junior Mike Fickell said. "This is the road to Nationals." The Quakers will turn around and face Columbia on Saturday at 2 p.m. The Lions (3-1-1, 0-0) are coming off a sixth-place finish at the New York State Championships last weekend in Binghamton, where they used a patchwork lineup that was missing several regulars due to illness and injury. Wrestlers to watch for Columbia are Brian Melgar, ranked No. 5 in the EIWA at 125 pounds, and 197-pound freshman Matt Greenberg, also ranked fifth in the EIWA. Last season, the Quakers cruised to an easy 35-6 win over the Lions on the road.