ITHACA, N.Y. -- It was a bittersweet weekend for head coach Roger Reina and the Penn wrestling team.
On one hand, the coach picked up his 200th career victory as Penn dispatched Columbia 21-13 on Friday. On the other hand, the Quakers (No. 24, USA Today/NWCA Coaches' Poll) failed to carry the momentum into Ithaca, where they were blown out by No. 14 Cornell, 30-3.
The loss drops Penn to 1-1 in the Ivy League and 4-3 overall. More importantly, it likely puts the team out of contention for the Ivy League title, as the Big Red figure to run the table and claim the honors for the third straight year.
For much of Saturday afternoon, nothing went right for the Quakers. In front of a heavily partisan Cornell crowd in the Friedman Wrestling Center, the Big Red won each of the first nine matches, swelling their meet lead to 30-0. Aside from Mason Lenhard's early 1-0 edge against Mike Mormile in the first match at 125 pounds, no Penn grappler held a lead until Dustin Wiles built a 4-2 advantage on No. 9 Joe Mazzurco at 174 pounds, the seventh bout of the dual meet.
Wiles went on to lose the decision, 5-4.
Because the Cornell wrestlers continued to score first, the Quakers were forced to wrestle more aggressively than they would have liked, and the change did not benefit them.
"A lot of times we weren't going out and getting the first takedown and that's something that we are going to focus on," Reina said. "It's hard to battle from behind and it makes it easy for an opponent to try and counterattack. Scoring first is important."
Penn managed to take away some consolation from the meet, ending the day with a strong victory by senior co-captain, Matt Feast. Penn's heavyweight, ranked fifth in the nation, beat Cornell's Tyler Shovlin, 11-5, to put up the Quakers' only points of the day.
The story of the afternoon was Cornell's ability to win the close match. Out of the nine bouts that Penn lost, four were decided by just one point, another in overtime, and another by three points.
"Those are all winnable matches," Reina said. "In some of those matches, the Cornell opponent earned it, and in some of those matches we made mental mistakes that cost us."
Even Cornell coach Rob Koll could readily admit that everything seemed to go right for his team.
"I don't feel too bad for them, but I've been on the other side of that, where everything that could go goes wrong, and we just happened to be the lucky recipients of every break today," Koll said. "They're a better team than that and I know it will be a lot closer in the Eastern [Intercollegiate Wrestling Association Championships]."
One factor that helped strengthen Cornell's performance and drain Penn's morale was the home gym advantage for the Big Red. The Friedman Wrestling Center was packed, and in the close quarters, the venue exuded support for the home team.
"It was a great environment, an exciting environment," Koll said. "We've been in some awfully tough matches in the last couple of weeks so I think that got [the Cornell team] ready for tonight. This is the best they've wrestled all year."
Realistically, the Quakers were the underdogs even before the match started. They would have needed to turn in their best performance of the year to have a chance.
"We just really needed to step up our level and win every key flurry, win every key situation coming into this," Reina said. We knew that it was an uphill battle for us, that if we wrestled absolutely perfectly, if we did our absolute best, that we would be in the hunt."
Instead, it was Cornell that turned in its best performance of the year.
The season series is not over, however. Penn will get another crack at Cornell at the EIWA Championships this March. With all the close matches on Saturday, the Quakers know they are capable of performing better.
"Those are all matches that we can win at Easterns," Penn's Doug McGraw said of the close ones.
On a more positive note, the Quakers did earn a victory this weekend. More significantly, it was the 200th of Reina's career at Penn. The coach, however, downplayed the significance of the milestone.
"Well in some ways it was just another day. I was pleased with the way our guys wrestled. I really wasn't thinking too much about it."
Whether he had it in mind or not, Reina is the only coach in program history to reach 200. With no end in sight, 300 is not entirely out of the question. It is safe to say, though, that the 19-year coach will be thinking more about this season, and how best to rebound after the 30-3 trouncing at Cornell.
