Nov. 23, 2008
Stanford, Calif. - Competing against one of the nation's top 10 teams today at Burnham Pavilion, the Stanford wrestling team wouldn't go down easily. The Cardinal (1-5, 0-2 Pac-10) won three of the eight contested weight classes, but suffered a 25-15 loss at the hands of No. 10 Northwestern.
The Cardinal, which once again wrestled a man short, got hard-fought wins from sophomore Porfirio Madrigal (9-4), junior Jake Johnson (11-4) and senior Luke Feist (1-2).
The day started at 125 pounds, where Northwestern All-American Brandon Precin caught Cardinal freshman Matt Sencenbaugh (2-8) on his back in the second period. The Wildcat junior picked up six points for his team with a win by fall in 4:54.
At 133 pounds, Madrigal stepped on the mat and immediately gave Stanford some momentum with a win over Wildcat sophomore Robert Joyce. The Healdsburg, Calif. native scored all three of his points in the final period, including a key takedown that proved to be the difference in the bout. The 3-2 decision improved the sophomore to 9-4 on the year, with a team-best 5-1 mark in duals.
Down 6-3, Stanford suffered tough losses at 141 pounds and 149 pounds. Freshman Timmy Boone (3-6) put up a fight against No. 16 Keith Sulzer, but dropped an 8-2 decision. Sophomore Max Rosefigura (5-6) took senior Marty Gould to overtime, but gave up a takedown to allow Gould the sudden victory win, 6-4.
Sophomore Lucas Espericueta (6-3) claimed a win by forfeit at 157 pounds, bringing Stanford within three points, 12-9.
In the 165-pound bout, redshirt freshman Nick Amuchastegui (8-2) had his seven-match winning streak snapped by Northwestern junior Dominic Marella, 6-4. In the next bout, 174-pound freshman Victor Haug (4-6) fell by major decision to Robert Kellogg, 18-7.
Stanford forfeited the 184-pound bout, sealing the match in favor of the Wildcats.
Down 25-9, however, Stanford rallied in its final two bouts of the afternoon. Feist, Stanford's lone senior and a two-time NCAA qualifier, wrestled for the first time at 197 pounds and shut out John Schoen, 7-0.
Johnson then wrestled as a heavyweight for the first time in his career and came through with an exciting 7-5 win. Entering the third period locked at 4-4, the Cardinal junior escaped, then scored a key takedown to nab his team-leading 11th win of the year.
Stanford returns to the mat on Wednesday, taking on a pair of Bay Area foes in Menlo College and San Francisco State. Action begins at 5 p.m. in Burnham Pavilion.
Stanford 15, Northwestern 25
125 - No. 4 Brandon Precin (N) pinned Matt Sencenbaugh (S), 4:54
133 - Porfirio Madrigal (S) dec. Robert Joyce (N), 3-2
141 - No. 10 Keith Sulzer (N) dec. Timmy Boone (S), 8-2
149 - Marty Gould (N) dec. Max Rosefigura (S), 6-4 (OT)
157 - Lucas Espericueta (S) by forfeit
165 - Dominic Marella (N) dec. Nick Amuchastegui (S), 6-4
174 - Robert Kellogg (N) maj. dec. Victor Haug (S), 18-7
184 - No. 2 Jake Herbert (N) by forfeit
197 - Luke Feist (S) dec. John Schoen (N), 7-0
HWT - Jake Johnson (S) dec. Ben Kuhar (N), 7-5