Fresh off Friday's 31-10 victory over Columbia, the No. 25 Penn wrestling team faced No. 15 Cornell at the Palestra Saturday in a match that left coaches on both teams scratching their heads.
Four of the 10 bouts resulted in upsets, but the Quakers couldn't pull off the overall upset and ultimately lost, 19-15.
In one of the meet's key bouts, Penn heavyweight Trey McLean squared off against No. 11 Zach Hammond. The two had met in November, when Hammond walked away with a 4-2 victory.
Hammond started out quickly with a takedown. But McLean fired back with an escape that left Hammond clutching his elbow in pain.
"I heard and felt it crack," McLean said. "It's a real testament to his will that he was able to come back and wrestle."
Hammond wrestled the rest of the match with only one non-injured arm, eventually losing 13-6. But by not forfeiting, he lost only three team points instead of six.
McLean's win gave Penn a three-point lead, with the Quakers' highest-ranked wrestler on deck.
"We didn't expect Hammond to lose," Cornell assistant coach Cory Cooperman said. "With [Penn's eigth-ranked] Rollie Peterkin coming up, you got to say [Penn was] favored.
But Cornell's Mike Rodriguez had no such plans. Catching Peterkin on his back, Rodriguez quickly jumped ahead by six points in the first period.
Peterkin fought back to no avail, as the referees did not giving him points for what appeared to be take downs. In the end, Peterkin lost a 14-4 major decision.
Had Peterkin won as expected, the Quakers (11-5) would have won the match. Instead, his loss sealed Penn's fate.
The Quakers blew other opportunities throughout the day. Cornell's backup 174-pounder, Justin Kerber, surprised his own coaching staff with a 3-2 win at 197 pounds against Penn's Thomas Shovlin.
"We didn't expect them to have their starter in at 197," Cooperman said, referring to Shovlin. "[Kerber] came through with a big win."
Bonus points were the deciding factor in many matches, as Penn failed to capture a single bonus point victory, while Cornell (6-5) secured four.
In the first match of the afternoon, for instance, Penn's Rick Rappo overmatched Nick Bridge. But in what was an ominous sign, Bridge still kept the bout close, getting a late takedown that made the final score 12-5.
"That last takedown kept Rappo from getting a major," Cooperman said. "That was huge. Little things like that add up."
Steve Anceravage's pin of Penn's Scott Griffin at 174-pounds also was key. The Big Red could have used Anceravage at 197 pounds instead of Kerber, a weaker wrestler. By using Anceravage at the lighter weightclass, The Big Red seemed to be betting on a pin.
They got it. The No. 10-ranked Anceravage toyed with Griffin before throwing him onto his back in the second period. That gave Cornell six points, instead of three.
"[Anceravage's] a big match wrestler that's very good at putting people on their backs," Cooperman said.
But even though they lost, there was one bright spot for the Quakers. Lior Zamir upset Cornell No. 11 ranked Josh Arnone.
Zamir was down in the first two periods, but he had renewed energy in the third. Down by a point with four seconds remaining, he took down Arnone to win a 4-3 decision that stirred Penn's bench to their feet with applause.
"We're the best-conditioned team in the country," Penn coach Zeke Jones said of Zamir's third period comeback. "That shows in third period."
