“It was an amazing event,” said Binghamton head coach Kyle Borshoff. “Our guys competed hard and both made it to the second day. They would have liked to have won more matches, but I’m proud of the effort and accomplishments they had throughout the season.”

In his fourth consecutive appearance at the NCAA Wrestling Championships, Cassella entered the weekend as the No. 6 seed in his 174-pound bracket. Taking on the No. 27-seeded wrestler from Drexel in the first round, Casella battled back from a 1-0 deficit early on to move to the second round with a 3-1 decision win. In the second round, facing a 2025 All-American from Iowa, Cassella suffered a 3-0 loss to get knocked into the second round of the consolation bracket.

“I think both of their careers are among the best of any student athletes that we’ve had here,” Borshoff said. “Brevin being a four-time national qualifier, Cory being a three-time national qualifier — I thought that the impact they had on our team was tremendous.”

After a successful takedown in the first and second periods of the consolation bout, Cassella built a 6-0 lead he would not relinquish en route to an 8-0 major decision win against his Minnesota opponent. Squaring off against the No. 14 seeded wrestler from NC State in the third round of the consolation bracket, Cassella faced a 5-3 deficit when he attempted a last second takedown for the victory, despite getting to his opponent’s ankles he was unable to finish the move, ending his season.

“They both did an outstanding job representing our University and have really carried the torch for our program over the past several seasons,” Borshoff said. “I’m looking forward to having them as alumni now instead of student-athletes.”

Competing in his third consecutive NCAA Championships, Day entered the event as the No. 19-seeded wrestler in the 285-pound bracket. Facing the No. 14 seed from Lock Haven in a rematch of an early season dual which he lost 6-3, Day was unable to recover from a late 3-2 deficit, losing in a 10-2 major decision. In his first round matchup in the consolation bracket, Day fought to stay another day, taking a 5-1 lead after two periods of wrestling before securing the pin in the final seconds of the match for an 8-1 victory by fall over his Wyoming opponent. Looking to reach the third round of the consolation bracket, Day took on the No. 13 seeded wrestler from Maryland in the consolation bracket second round. Despite his best efforts, Day fell behind early and he went on to lose by technical fall 17-2.

“We’ve got to train hard with the guys that we have,” Borshoff said. “Our guys are very committed; they’ll be training here most of the summer after students leave after finals. Our guys for the most part stick around, and they work hard, wrestling, lifting, conditioning. We’re just always looking for the next guy to step up. So now it’s figuring out who that’s going to be for us.”

Wrestling’s season comes to a close in Philadelphia with its two competitors at the NCAA championships earning three combined wins. Cassella’s two wins over the weekend moved him to 102 wins, while he earned main bracket victories in consecutive NCAA championships to bring his collegiate career to a close. Meanwhile, Day’s day one victory brought him to three career wins at the NCAA championships, as his collegiate career came to an end with 82 wins and 36 pins, 14 of which came this season.

Although Cassella and Day will not be returning to compete for BU on the mat next season, Borshoff’s squad is expected to retain five of the nine wrestlers who earned podium placements at the EIWA Championships.

“I was really proud of Brevin and Cory,” said Binghamton head coach Kyle Borshoff. “I thought they did a great job, obviously punching their ticket through to the NCAA championship … I thought overall we had a good effort, putting nine guys on the podium, and I thought we had a lot of bright spots throughout the weekend.”

After four years of appearances in the EIWA championships, wins in the quarterfinals and semifinals propelled Cassella into the 174-pound bracket final, where a late stall call in the third period forced the dual into overtime. After two overtime periods in which the foes remained deadlocked in a 1-1 tie, a takedown in the sixth period won Cassella his first-ever EIWA title and Binghamton’s first individual title since 2022. Cassella’s final victory also marked his 100th career victory as a Bearcat.

For his efforts, Cassella was one of two wrestlers awarded the Coaches’ Trophy, which is given to the most outstanding wrestler of the EIWA Championships.

“It’s a great way to cap off his career,” Borshoff said of Cassella. “Winning the EIWA is a hard thing to do. Brevin continues to prove that he is one of the best guys in the country. He’s certainly one of the most outstanding wrestlers our program has ever had, and I’m just really happy for him.”

Day also secured his best EIWA placement, finishing second in the 285-pound bracket. After a 1-0 victory by decision in the quarterfinals, thanks to a successful escape in the final period, and a 6-1 decision win in the semifinals, he advanced to the finals. Taking on the No. 1 seed in the bracket, he allowed two three-point takedowns in the final en route to a 7-1 decision loss. The tournament results helped Cassella and Day clinch spots in the NCAA championships: Cassella earned the No. 6 seed in the 174-pound bracket and Day the No. 19 seed in the 285-pound pound bracket.

“Cory did a great job,” Borshoff said. “He had a tricky first round matchup and then he had a tough competitor in the semifinal round, and he was able to wrestle a really nice game plan in that match. And then going into the finals I thought we had a much better effort against the wrestler from Lehigh than we had earlier in the season.”

The highest podium placer of five Bearcats to secure the honor for the first time in their careers was sophomore Carson Wagner with a third-place finish. After falling in the semifinals to the eventual 125-pound bracket champion, wins in the consolation semifinals and finals secured his third-place finish. Despite Wagner’s efforts at the tournament and a strong 2025 campaign, he was not awarded an at-large bid to the NCAA championships. Also earning his first podium finish was junior Carter Baer, who won three duals overall before falling in the consolation finals as he finished fourth in the 165-pound bracket.

“I think Carson had a great year,” Borshoff said. “Obviously improving immensely since last season … I also think that [redshirt senior] Ivan Garcia had an outstanding season this year … having wins over multiple guys that will be competing next weekend at the national championships … He did his best to try to fight through that injury.”

The remaining first-time podium place finishers included junior Will Ebert in the 184-pound bracket, redshirt sophomore Cayden Bevis in the 197-pound and Garcia in the 149-pound bracket. All three wrestlers finished in sixth place after losing their respective fifth-place bouts. Garcia — who entered the weekend as the No. 3 seed — competed despite undergoing open knee surgery one week before the event.

“So we’ll be back in practice just with everyone,” Borshoff said. “We’ll have the whole team around tomorrow. We’ll be practicing, we’ll be lifting, we’ll be conditioning this week, just making sure that we’re working on a couple of the areas that those individuals need to focus on.”

The Bearcats’ 2024-25 campaign will come to a close at the NCAA Championships, which run from Thursday, March 20 to Saturday, March 22. Cassella and Day’s final quests to bring home a title will take place at the Wells Fargo Center in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

“I thought that overall we started slow and put ourselves in a hole early in matches,” wrote Binghamton head coach Kyle Borshoff. “We dominated the third period in most matchups but didn’t have enough time to catch up on the scoreboard.”

The Bearcats (10-9, 5-3 EIWA) got off to a slow start in their dual meet at Army (8-3, 5-2 EIWA), dropping all three bouts in narrow-decision losses as they trailed 9-0. In the 125-pound bout, sophomore Carson Wagner went down 8-6, while graduate student Micah Roes and redshirt junior Nate Lucier lost 5-4 in the 133-pound and 4-2 in the 141-pound bouts, respectively. A 7-2 loss in the 149-pound bout from redshirt freshman Caleb Sweet in his first dual since early January saw BU’s deficit grow to 12-0. In the 157-pound bout, trailing 2-0 with under a minute to go, Nadeau earned both an escape and a takedown for the 4-3 victory despite his opponent’s extra point off riding time.

“[Nadeau] did an excellent job of keeping the match close enough to make pace matter,” Borshoff wrote. “And [he] was able to get a late takedown for the win.”

After Nadeau’s victory saw BU earn its first points, a 5-2 loss in the 165-pound bout from junior Carter Baer saw the Bearcats trail Army 15-3. Capping off his dominant final regular season, Cassella earned a 3-1 win in the 174-pound bout over his No. 30 ranked opponent. With his victory, Cassella moved to 22 wins and 14 dual victories on the season, leading the Bearcats in both categories this season. BU’s woes continued as junior Will Ebert suffered a 3-1 loss in his 184-pound bout and a loss via pin in the 197-pound bout from junior Cayden Bevis.

The Bearcats had to forfeit their final dual, the 285-pound bout, as Army completed its 30-6 rout of the Bearcats.

“Cassella did a great job today closing out his dual meet career and I’m proud of the way he continues to represent the program,” Borshoff wrote.

The Bearcats finished the 2024-25 regular season with a 10-9 dual record, along with a 5-3 EIWA dual record, which was good for second place in the EIWA’s independence division. After a notably difficult schedule for the EIWA, Borshoff feels confident that the team’s experience will set them up for success as they prepare for the EIWA and NCAA playoffs in March.

“We’ve wrestled many of the best teams and individuals in the country all season long, so we are prepared to compete with and beat the best guys in the country,” Borshoff said. “We need to work on our match management and pacing over the next two weeks, as long as we can improve those things we will have a great EIWA tournament.”

The Bearcat’s next duals will take place at the Lehigh-hosted EIWA championships, a two-day event beginning on Friday, March 7. The first bout is scheduled at a time to be decided at the Stabler Arena in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania.

“I thought we wrestled hard and did a nice job,” said Binghamton head coach Kyle Borshoff. “We pushed the pace in most the matches, and we controlled the center of the mat in most the matches. I thought the guys did a nice job getting a good win today.”

The Bearcats (10-8, 5-2 EIWA) took an early 3-0 lead over hosts Buffalo (4-12, 2-4 MAC) when sophomore Carson Wagner earned a hard-fought 7-2 victory in the 125-pound dual. In his first bout since BU’s dual at Cornell, graduate student Micah Roes secured an 11-1 major decision victory in the 133-pound bout to give the Bearcats a 7-0 lead. Redshirt junior Nate Lucier continued BU’s strong start with an 11-3 major decision victory in the 141-pound matchup as BU moved to an 11-0 lead.

“[Roes] did a great job pretty much every time that he attacked,” Borshoff said. “He got in on his opponent’s legs and gave himself a lot of opportunities to score points, and he was able to capitalize on most of those attempts and get that major decision in the dual early on. It was a nice way to set the tone of the pace for the rest of the match.”

After consecutive losses in the 149- and 157-pound matchups, the Bearcats saw their lead shrink to 11-7. Binghamton got back on track with a major decision victory in the 165-pound bout when junior Carter Baer earned an 8-0 win to take a 15-7 lead. Fifth-year Brevin Cassella and junior Cayden Bevis each earned wins in the 174- and 197-pound matchups, respectively, as Binghamton entered the final dual with a 23-10 lead over Buffalo.

“Just got to make sure we’re doing a better job of wrestling through 100 percent of positions and not expecting our opponents to give up points when we almost score,” Borshoff said. “I think that’s something we have to make sure we’re focused on, just continuing to wrestle until the official puts the points up on the board, and not expecting or anticipating that we are going to get the points.”

Graduate student Cory Day returned to Buffalo, where he won a Division II state championship for Iroquois High School back in 2019, to take on Robbie Unruh in the 285-pound matchup. After taking a commanding 15-2 lead early in the second period, Day secured a victory with his career-high 13th pin of the season, as the Bearcats took home a 29-10 victory over Buffalo.

“Day did a great job today,” Borshoff said. “We talked about him getting a few more takedowns today before looking for the fall, and that’s what he went out and did. He put himself in a position to score a lot of points in a lot of different ways, and he looked great.”

The Bearcats’ visit to Buffalo marked the first dual between the in-state foes since Donnie Vinson ‘13 took over as the Buffalo men’s wrestling head coach. The Bearcats’ win moved their season dual record to 10-8, with their EIWA record stationary at 5-2 as they prepare to take on Army in their final conference matchup before the championships.

The Bearcats will take on Army in their final EIWA dual on Sunday, Feb. 23. First bout is set for 2 p.m. at the Christl Arena in West Point, New York.

“I’ve been with all these guys their whole careers,” said Binghamton head coach Kyle Borshoff. “They’ve put a lot of time and effort and love into this program and to this sport, and it’s exciting to see those guys having success this season.”

Binghamton (9-8, 5-2 EIWA) began its weekend with its first-ever dual against Morgan State (4-12, 0-4 EIWA) on Friday. The Bearcats picked up an early 10-0 lead courtesy of technical fall wins from 125-pound sophomore Carson Wagner and 133-pound freshman Dillon Arrick, who made his collegiate debut. In the 149-pound matchup, redshirt senior Ivan Garcia built off last week’s EIWA wrestler of the week nod with an 11-5 victory by decision. Junior Fin Nadeau continued Binghamton’s red-hot start with a 19-3 technical fall victory in the 157-pound bout, propelling BU to a 24-0 lead through five duals.

“[Arrick’s] an animal,” Borshoff said. “[Arrick] did an amazing job. It’s not easy to step in as a true freshman and fill in the shoes of a fifth-year senior, but he was ready to go and he proved that.”

The Bearcats’ rout of the Bears continued in the 165-pound bout when redshirt freshman Jordan Brown earned his first collegiate victory with a 17-2 victory by technical fall. The No. 9 ranked wrestler in the FloWrestling poll, fifth-year 174-pound fifth-year Brevin Cassella continued Binghamton’s domination with a 5-0 decision win, While junior Cayden Bevis picked up BU’s final technical fall win in the 197-pound bout. In BU’s final bout of the day, No. 16 graduate student Cory Day secured his 11th fall, as the Bearcats claimed their first shutout victory since 2021 with a 53-0 performance.

“[Day] is a pinning machine,” Borshoff said. “[Day is] doing a great job and I’m just really proud of the way that he evolved as a wrestler for us … [He] has a huge bright future ahead of him and he’s done an unbelievable job of winning matches for us.”

On Sunday, Binghamton continued its EIWA slate, hosting Sacred Heart (1-13, 0-3 EIWA) at the events center for its Senior Day. Redshirt junior Nate Lucier opened Sunday’s action with a 4-1 victory by decision in the 141-pound bout in his final home dual as a Bearcat. In the 157-pound dual, Nadeau was held scoreless through the first period, but he quickly built a 4-0 lead before getting a fall in the second. Junior Carter Baer continued BU’s onslaught in the 165-pound bout with a 17-2 technical fall victory in the first period to give the Bearcats a 14-3 lead. Also competing in his final home dual meet as a Bearcat, Cassella moved to 2-0 on the weekend with a 17-0 technical fall victory in the 174-pound bout.

“That’s how [Lucier] needs to win,” Borshoff said. [He] needs to just hammer away, chisel away, just keep going, one point at a time. He had great position in his match today. He was never in danger of being scored on, he pushed the pace for seven minutes, and when you do that, you win matches.”

Junior Will Ebert and Bevis added to the rout of the Pioneers, each earning victories by decision in the 184 and 192-pound duals, respectively. Fresh off his 11th pin on Friday, Day dominated his 285-pound matchup, securing a pin in the first period. With his 12th pin, Day moved into a second-place tie in the NCAA’s DI for most falls. Competing in the last bout of the day in the 133-pound dual, Arrick built an early lead, going ahead 11-0 in the first period, before winning by fall in his second collegiate dual as the Bearcats defeated Sacred Heart 43-3.

“I think we’re doing great,” Borshoff said.“We’ve wrestled a better schedule than anybody in our conference … these are dual meets that have no impact on the EIWA championships, so we’ve got to make sure we stay focused on what is important and that’s the EIWA championships … We’re ready.”

The Bearcat’s will compete in their final nonconference dual at Buffalo on Sunday, Feb. 16. First bout will be at 1 p.m. at the Alumni Arena in Buffalo, New York.

“Obviously, I would have liked to have won a few more matches,” said Binghamton head coach Kyle Borshoff. “We lost a couple close bouts, but in general I think we wrestled pretty tough against a very tough team.”

In Binghamton’s (7-8, 3-2 EIWA) second dual of the day after a narrow loss last Saturday at Brown, graduate student Micah Roes bounced back against Cornell (7-1, 3-0 Ivy League). After a successful leg attack in the first five seconds of the dual gave Roes a 3-0 lead, and a second successful takedown attempt in the second period gave him a 6-2 lead he would not relinquish as he earned an 8-5 decision win in the 133-pound matchup for Binghamton’s first of the day.

“[Roes] did a great job,” Borshoff said. “That’s something that he’s been focusing on, putting more pressure on his opponents as he’s competing. He did a really nice job this weekend of going out and setting the tone.”

Senior Ivan Garcia, who recently entered the National Coaches Poll at No. 33, took on the reigning 149-pound EIWA champion in the 149-pound matchup. Both wrestlers earned a point for escapes early on, as the match remained deadlocked. Late in the third period, with less than a minute remaining, a stall call earned Garcia a point and the 2-1 lead that he would hold on to for the remainder of the match for BU’s first individual victory over a ranked opponent on the day, and Garcia’s third of the year.

“[Garcia’s] being incredibly offensive,” Borshoff said. “He’s out attacking his opponents, I can’t even put a number on it but it’s got to be somewhere around the margin of 5-to-1 or more — his attacks versus his opponents attacks … I think he’s finally doing a great job of staying offensive throughout a match.”

No. 16 graduate student Cory Day took on his No. 33 opponent in the 285-pound matchup for the final dual of the day. Day opened the first period with an unsuccessful single-leg takedown attempt, and soon after, he was given a stall warning. Entering the second period deadlocked at 0-0, Day nearly opened scoring with an escape, but it was a reversal that gave him the 2-0 lead. Late in the third period, with a narrow 2-1 lead and a stall warning against him, Day conceded a stall point to tie the dual, but he was able to secure a 3-2 victory with an extra point.

“The Cornell guy did his best job that he could to not open himself up to [Day’s] offense,” Borshoff said. “He did a really nice job doing as much as possible to keep the match close.”

Eight of Cornell’s 10 wrestlers entered the dual in the national rankings, as several top Bearcats dropped their matches. No. 28 junior Will Ebert suffered a 16-1 loss by technical fall in his 184-pound dual, while No. 32 junior Carter Baer suffered a 4-0 decision loss in the 165-pound class. Filling in for fifth-year Brevin Cassella in the 174-pound dual, sophomore Roberto Padilla lost 16-0 by technical fall. With two losses by major decision and three by technical fall, Binghamton conceded eight bonus points en route to a 29-9 loss against the Big Red.

“Cornell does a nice job wrestling in the top position and scoring back points, and they have a great program,” Borshoff said. “Really good wrestlers tend to score lots of points.”

The Bearcats will next face off against first-year EIWA member Morgan State on Friday, Feb. 7. First bout is scheduled for 6 p.m. at the Hill Field House in Baltimore, Maryland.

“Our team did a great job today wrestling against two tough teams,” head coach Kyle Borshoff told BU Bearcats. “We stayed composed and competed hard across both duals. I’m proud of the effort that we had today.”

Binghamton (7-7, 3-2 EIWA) trailed early on Saturday in their 2 p.m. matchup at Harvard (0-4), as No. 33 junior Carter Baer went into BU’s fourth duel with the Bearcats down 9-0 after three matches. A 15-2 victory by major decision for Baer in the 165-pound bracket kickstarted the Bearcats’ day, as they won the next five consecutive duels to take a commanding 26-9 lead.

A key piece in Binghamton’s six-duel streak, No. 16 graduate student Cory Day earned a team-leading 10th victory by fall this season, cementing a second consecutive season with double-digit pins. Despite dropping the final duel to Harvard, BU won 26-9 and went 6-of-10 overall. Notably, in the 125-pound bracket, sophomore Carson Wagner took down his No. 18-ranked opponent, Harvard senior Diego Sotelo, winning 10-5, earning BU’s final individual victory of the meet.

Riding high from their early victory, BU traveled to Providence to take on the Brown Bears (1-4) for a Saturday night duel. Aided by dominant major-decision wins from fifth-year Brevin Cassella at 174 pounds and Baer, who each moved to 2-0 on the day with their victories, BU lept to an early 11-3 lead over Brown.

After dropping four of its next five duels, BU faced an 18-15 deficit heading into the final matchup, where redshirt junior Nate Lucier faced off against Brown senior Ian Oswalt in the 141-pound class for the final duel of the night. With just 30 seconds left in the match, a takedown from Lucier secured a 7-6 victory by decision to tie the duel at 18-18, and a post-duel point deduction against Brown secured BU an 18-17 win.

The Bearcats will compete in their penultimate nonconference duel against No. 10 Cornell on Saturday, Feb. 1. First bout is set for 2 p.m. at the West Gym in Vestal, New York.

“I think we had a bit of a down performance,” said Binghamton head coach Kyle Borshoff. “I think we are missing some effort in some of our closer matches, and we need to do a better job of closing out matches where we’re ahead and sealing the deal at the end, late in matches.”

Binghamton (5-7, 3-2 EIWA) began Saturday’s slate at noon with a dual against Franklin & Martin (1-2, 0-1 EIWA). Junior Carter Baer, who was named the No. 33 wrestler in the Intermat poll for the 165-pound class, began his day with a 10-4 victory by decision. No. 17 graduate student Cory Day picked up another victory for BU with a team-leading ninth pin.

“[Baer’s] a great wrestler, he’s doing a really nice job,” Borshoff said. “Progressively getting better every week, and we’re looking for him to have a strong end to the season and make an appearance at the NCAA championship this year, and that’s a nice starting goal for him to have to look forward to.”

Adding on for Binghamton’s 9-1 rout of the Diplomats were No. 25 junior Will Ebert and No. 33 sophomore Carson Wagner, who picked up wins in the 184- and 125-pound weight classes respectively. Rounding it out for the Bearcats was sophomore Roberto Padilla, who earned his first dual win as a Bearcat, defeating his 174-pound opponent in an 8-1 decision.

“[Back-to-back matchups] need to not have an impact,” Borshoff said. “It’s something that we need to do when we are competing … it’s something that we need to be prepared for, but I don’t know if it had an impact or not [on Saturday]. It’s hard to say.”

The Bearcats continued their day with a matchup at Drexel (5-8, 1-1 EIWA) at 6 p.m., in which they struggled, going 3-7 in the duel. Senior Ivan Garcia led the way for BU, earning his second victory of the day, 4-1, by an overtime takedown for his fourth consecutive win.

“I think the team might have overlooked Drexel a little bit,” Borshoff said. “Those guys are tough, the Drexel team wrestled like it was a street fight and our guys just didn’t put 100 percent effort in.”

Day also moved to 2-0 on the day with a 9-0 major decision victory, earning a bonus point for BU. Baer was the only other BU wrestler to go 2-0 on Saturday, which he accomplished with a 2-1 sudden victory by decision in the first period of overtime. With the loss to Drexel, Binghamton maintained its second-place position in the EIWA Independence Division.

“The same thing we focus on every week — figuring out ways to win matches against good teams,” Borshoff said. “We stay the course, we stay consistent and consistency is what is most important in this sport to prevent big ups and downs.”

The Bearcats’ upcoming slate begins with a doubleheader with their first dual against Harvard on Saturday, Jan. 25. The first bouts will be at 2 p.m. at the Malkin Athletic Center in Cambridge, Massachusetts. The Bearcats will then take on Brown at 7:30 p.m. at the Pizzitola Sports Center in Providence, Rhode Island.

The Binghamton wrestling team competed in its first events since joining the Independence Division in the Eastern Intercollegiate Wrestling Association earlier in the week, at the Big Red and Black Knight Invitationals on Sunday morning.

“It’s a rare opportunity when we have every guy on our team competing,” said Binghamton head coach Kyle Borshoff. “It was nice to see everybody get some matches … overall, I thought it was a good weekend for us and it will be helpful for us moving forward.”

Binghamton (0-1) began Sunday’s slate at 9 a.m. at Cornell’s five-team Big Red Invitational with six wrestlers winning their respective brackets at the two-tiered round-robin tournament. Graduate student Cory Day began his day with two wins by pin and a 5-0 win via decision in his final dual earned him the victory in the 285-pound A bracket. Junior Will Ebert continued his strong start, moving to 8-0 on the season with four wins while clinching the 184-pound A bracket. Sophomore Carson Wagner rounded out the A bracket victories for BU with a 3-1 record on the day to claim the 125-pound win.

“[Ebert is] doing a great job so far, he’s 8-0 on the season,” Borshoff said. “He’s got some great wins under his belt … he’s doing a great job from all three positions — neutral, top and bottom — right now and I’m certainly looking forward to watching him grow throughout the season.”

Several BU underclassmen found success in the B brackets of the Invitational. Redshirt freshman Jay McDonnell, propelled by two sudden victories, went 3-0, claiming the 125-pound bracket. His fellow redshirt freshmen, Caleb Sweet and Trent Sibble, each tied for a BU best record on the day, with both going 5-0 in the 149-pound and 285-pound brackets, respectively.

“It’s encouraging,” Borshoff said. “It’s always encouraging to see the younger guys go and get some wins … I thought they did a really really nice job, and it’s encouraging for the future of the program to see those guys have success and winning matches.”

BU found less success in West Point, finishing eighth out of nine schools at Army’s Black Knight Invitational which included wrestlers from No. 1 Penn State and No. 17 Rutgers. Leading the way for the Bearcats was junior Carter Baer. After a technical fall loss to the No. 1 ranked wrestler in the 165-pound class, he picked up technical fall and major decision wins before falling short in his fifth-place match. Senior Ivan Garcia also secured a sixth-place finish for Binghamton, going 3-1 before also dropping his fifth-place matchup in the 149-pound bracket.

“We finished better in a lot of our neutral attacks,” Borshoff said. “I thought we won the bottom position better this weekend. We weren’t getting ridden in most cases, and those are two things we need to continue to focus on. There are areas we still need to improve, but we made small gains in some of the areas we had targeted in practice.”

Sunday’s two tournaments mark Binghamton’s first events since announcing its membership in the new EIWA Independence division last week. Binghamton will face off against each of the other six teams in the division over the 2024-25 season, and beginning in the 2025-26 season the league will begin a full divisional dual meet schedule.

“I’m looking forward to just having competitive battles with the schools that we ended up with in our division,” Borshoff said. “I’m hopeful that we’re going to be able to come out on top of the Independence Division this season and that’s certainly the goal.”

The Bearcats will next compete at the Cliff Keen Las Vegas Collegiate Wrestling Invitational from Friday, Dec. 6 to Saturday, Dec. 7. First bout will be at a time to be determined at the Las Vegas Convention Center in Las Vegas, Nevada.

“I thought we wrestled tough,” said Binghamton head coach Kyle Borshoff. “We won some nice matches [and] lost some very close matches to some very good opponents. So overall, between the tournament and the dual meet, we had a lot of good things that we were doing. I generally thought our guys wrestled really hard and they competed very well against some of the best guys in the country right out of the gate.”

Binghamton (0-1) kicked off its campaign on Saturday with a duel against No. 17 Illinois (1-0), dropping seven of 10 matchups against the Fighting Illini. Sophomore Carson Wagner competed in BU’s first dual of the day. Wagner faced a 3-1 deficit in the first period, but a takedown and near fall earned him five points and gave him the lead and a takedown in the final period cemented his victory in the 125-pound matchup by decision. In the 184-pound bracket, Ebert picked up his first win of the season after blanking his 2024 All-American, and No. 5 ranked Edmond Ruth with a win by decision.

“[Ebert] had a great offseason,” Borshoff said. “He’s been training really hard and he has a lot of talent. I think this weekend we saw an early culmination of some of the efforts he’s put in since March when we finished up. He wrestled a very smart game plan against each of his opponents and demonstrated that he’s very hard to score on, so I think he’s just figuring out how to put it all together against this level of opponent.”

Cassella added to BU’s tally, earning BU’s final win of the day with a major decision win over No. 11 Illinois’ redshirt senior Danny Braunagel in the 174-pound match. After taking a 3-0 lead in the first period with a late takedown, Cassella controlled the remainder of the match, adding four and seven points in the next two periods, en route to a 14-1 win. Key returners for BU, graduate students Micah Roes and Cory Day opened their seasons with losses. Roes lost 3-2 via decision in the 133-pound weight class, and Day fell 11-1 by major decision in the 285-pound class.

“[Cassella’s] been great,” Borshoff said. “He came in five years ago, was under recruited … and when he came to Binghamton he was pretty raw. I think it’s been very important for his teammates to watch him grow from someone that was not considered a top recruit in high school to becoming one of the top guys in the country at the NCAA Division I level. It’s very important to have guys like him.”

BU continued its weekend slate at the Journeymen Collegiate Classic, winning 26 of 46 matchups, and three divisions at Sunday’s round-robin style tournament. Opening play on Sunday, Ebert forced a pin in under three minutes against his No. 29 ranked opponent. He collected two more wins, coming out on top in the 184C bracket while moving to a 4-0 record and up the No. 21 ranked wrestler in his weight class. Ebert’s performance over the weekend earned him Eastern Intercollegiate Wrestling Association wrestler of the week honors. Junior Carter Baer and redshirt freshman Jordan Brown also enjoyed strong performances, as both wrestlers went 3-0 en route to first-place finishes in the 165C and 157G brackets, respectively.

“We just try to take it one match at a time,” Borshoff said. “The goal and the expectation is always to win, so we’re going to work hard [and] we’re going to try to win regardless of who we wrestle. Doesn’t matter where they’re from [or] what’s their rank. We have an expectation to win.”

The Bearcats will split their pool of wrestlers for their next fixtures, competing at both Army’s Black Knight Invite and Cornell’s Big Red Invite on Sunday, Nov. 24. First bouts will be at times to be determined at the Christl Arena in West Point, New York, and the Barton Hall in Ithaca, New York.

The Binghamton men’s wrestling team finished its 2023-2024 season at the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Championships with junior Brevin Cassella, graduate student Jacob Nolan, graduate student Lou DePrez and graduate student Cory Day representing the Bearcats. Cassella, DePrez and Day picked up two wins each, the first time since 2012 that Binghamton has had three wrestlers win two matches at the NCAAs.

“It’s always an amazing experience,” said Binghamton head coach Kyle Borshoff. “Hopefully for our guys we have left, it drives them to be more successful in the future. It is the best wrestling event in the world, hands down. I’m proud and thankful for [Cassella, Nolan, DePrez and Day] to have all gotten back there again this season.”

With two wins, Cassella became the first Bearcat with 30 wins in a season since DePrez won 33 matches during the 2018-2019 season. Cassella shut out his opponent from Virginia Tech 5-0 before suffering an 11-3 loss by major decision against his Penn State opponent, the eventual NCAA runner-up. In the consolation bracket, Cassella narrowly defeated his Indiana opponent 1-0 before a loss to his Oklahoma State opponent ended his season.

“[Cassella] had a great year,” Borshoff said. “I think he made a lot of improvements. Notably, beating the Virginia Tech guy in the first round at nationals this year, that was the guy who knocked us out of the tournament last year and tightened the match up with the Penn State guy from earlier in the season. It was overall a really nice season with a number of really good wins over nationally ranked opponents.”

In the 184-pound bracket, Nolan took an early major decision loss to his Columbia opponent before moving on to the consolation bracket, where he took a close 9-6 decision loss to his Gardner-Webb opponent. With his career as a Bearcat concluding, Nolan finished with 84 wins and four appearances at the NCAAs. Nolan was also selected as Pipe Dream’s Male Athlete of the Year in 2022-2023.

“[Nolan] leaves this school being a four-time NCAA qualifier and there are not many other guys in the program’s history that have done that,” Borshoff said. “[Nolan’s] been a bedrock of the performance of the team over the past five years and it’s going to be tough to fill his shoes. He’s an unbelievable wrestler, a great person and he’ll be graduating with his master’s degree in business administration this spring, [so] he’s got a lot to look forward to.”

After an overtime decision loss to his opponent from Navy, Day earned his first career win at the NCAAs with an overtime consolation win over his Indiana opponent. Day then pinned his opponent from Cornell to earn his 29th win, before his season ended with a loss to his opponent from Campbell.

“[Day] got pinned by his [Cornell opponent] at the EIWA championships a couple of weeks ago, [but] this tournament, [Day] was able to secure the pin and flip the script,” Borshoff said. “Nice to see [Day] get that win, as well as over the Indiana wrestler. Those were [Day’s] first and second win(s) at this event. Overall, a really incredible season, [Day] finished the year with 12 pins and scored a lot of team points for us.”

DePrez moved to the quarterfinals with two early wins before a loss to his opponent from South Dakota State and an overtime loss to his opponent from Little Rock brought his career as a Bearcat to an end. DePrez earned 156 career wins while setting Binghamton records with three individual EIWA Championships, five NCAA Championship appearances and becoming the first two-time All-American Bearcat at the Division I level.

“Looking back on his time at Binghamton, you can really define the whole period of time that he’s been here as essentially the [DePrez] era of Division I wrestling for Binghamton,” Borsoff said. “He’s done so many positive things for the program, both as an individual and from a notoriety standpoint as a four-time top twelve finisher at the [NCAAs]. Truly an incredible legacy that he will leave behind. One of the best, if not the best, to do it at Binghamton.”

In their seventh season under Borshoff, the Bearcats earned a 9-4 overall record — including a 7-3 EIWA record — and another season with multiple NCAA qualifiers.

“The program is in a strong position,” Borshoff said. “We have great leadership in the athletics department. I think we have a lot of people on campus that recognize and realize that we are putting [BU] athletics on ESPN. We are a forward-facing program to a lot of people and I think that the future is bright for the program. I’m just genuinely thankful for the athletes on the team and all the work they put in because nothing I do would matter without those guys.”

Over the weekend, the Binghamton men’s wrestling team competed at the Eastern Intercollegiate Wrestling Association (EIWA) championships — earning seven podium finishes across the board. Graduate student Lou DePrez and junior Brevin Cassella led the way with top-three podium finishes at 197 and 165 pounds respectively, clinching trips to the NCAA wrestling championships with their performances alongside graduate student Cory Day and graduate student Jacob Nolan.

“I thought we had a good weekend,” said Binghamton coach Kyle Borshoff. “Qualifying four wrestlers to the [national] championships is awesome. Glad those guys are going to have that opportunity. Unfortunately, a couple of other guys we were very close to punching through and didn’t quite make it, still had seven podium finishes but fell just short at a couple of those weights. I’m sure a couple of those guys wish they had a few seconds back to change the outcome, but I’m excited to head to the NCAA championships with four guys again.”

Although defeated in a close 4-1 decision by his Cornell opponent in the 197-pound semifinals, DePrez bounced back to take a top-three finish with a major decision win in the third-place bout. Cassella fell 7-0 in the 165-pound semifinals, before earning a decision win in his third-place bout to also earn a top-three finish. Day was defeated in the 285-pound quarterfinals but earned two decision wins in the consolation bracket to take home a top-five finish at the EIWA’s for a second straight year. Nolan was also defeated in the quarterfinals but earned two wins in the 184-pound consolation bracket to finish sixth for the weekend.

“They did a great job,” Borshoff said. “The weight classes are brutal. The EIWA Championships is just a really incredible event [with] tons of nationally ranked athletes competing for spots in the championships. I’m proud of those guys. I’m hoping for a better weekend in a couple weeks, but they did the job that they needed to do to keep their seasons alive, and we get a fresh start out at the NCAA championships.”

Senior Micah Roes earned a seventh-place finish in the 133-pound bracket, recording his second career podium finish at the EIWA championships. After an early defeat, Roes bounced back in the consolation bracket with an upset win over his third-seeded opponent from Penn, ranked 12th in the nation.

“[Roes] had a good season,” Borshoff said. “He moved up a weight class this year. [Against] the wrestler from Penn, ranked 12th in the country, [Roes] dominated that match. It wasn’t even really that competitive. Looking forward to having [Roes] back again next year.”

Redshirt sophomore Nate Lucier and senior Dimitri Gamkrelidze earned their first career podium finishes at the EIWAs, both finishing eighth in their respective 141 and 174-pound brackets. Freshman Carson Wagner earned his first career victory at the conference tournament as the eleventh seed, upsetting his sixth-seeded opponent from Columbia before falling in the quarterfinals.

“I’m happy for those guys,” Borshoff said. “I think [Lucier] did a good job in some of his matches. I’m glad that he was able to get on the podium. [Gamkrelidze] has had a really incredible career for us. He didn’t start wrestling until his senior year of high school, [and] he’s made enormous strides over his career. I’m glad those guys were able to place. [Wagner] had lost to that guy earlier in the season. That guy was a returning national qualifier, [and] a very tough wrestler. It was awesome to watch [Wagner] go out and win that match.”

DePrez was presented with the John Fletcher Memorial Award for earning the most team points at the EIWA Championships throughout his career. His bid to this year’s NCAA tournament marked the fifth time DePrez has competed at the National Championships, setting a program record for Binghamton at the Division I level.

“We’ve never had anyone receive that award before,” Borshoff said. “[It’s a] pretty special thing for [DePrez] that really defines his career contribution at that [EIWA’s] event. [DePrez’s] the best. He’s a great teammate [and] a great leader … It can’t be overstated how much of an impact [DePrez] and his family have had on Binghamton wrestling over the past decade, starting with his older brothers.”

The final stop for the Bearcats will be at the NCAA Wrestling Championships, which run from Thursday, March 21 to Saturday, March 23. Cassella, Nolan, DePrez and Day’s quest for an NCAA title will take place at the T-Mobile Center in Kansas City, Missouri.

The Binghamton wrestling team saw its five dual win streak snapped with a 33-6 loss to No. 8 Cornell. The Bearcats captured two individual wins, one from junior Brevin Cassella who earned his 24th overall win this year. The other came from graduate student Lou DePrez, who kept his momentum going heading into the postseason, earning a victory by decision in his 197-pound matchup over his seventh-ranked Cornell opponent.

“[DePrez] got a really nice win,” said Binghamton coach Kyle Borshoff said. “[Cassella] got a nice win. We dropped a couple of really tight matches at 184 and 174. It would’ve been nice to come out of here with those wins as well. But Cornell’s got a great team. They did a good job today. I am disappointed that we didn’t get more wins, but I think it’s important to wrestle a match like this before the [Eastern Intercollegiate Wrestling Association’s (EIWA)].”

Coming off being named EIWA wrestler of the week, Cassella earned a 5-2 decision win his 165-pound matchup for BU (9-4, 7-3 EIWA) that opened things at Cornell (12-4, 5-0 EIWA). Redshirt junior Dimitri Gamkrelidze hit the mat next, taking a close 4-1 decision loss to his 174-pound Cornell opponent. Then, redshirt senior Jacob Nolan suffered a 4-2 decision loss to his sixth-ranked Cornell opponent.

“[Cassella] did a nice job controlling the match,” Borshoff said. “He got an early takedown, [was] really just never in danger and did a nice job doing what he had to do. We’ve got to be offensive. I’m hoping that [Gamkrelidze and Nolan] learned from those matches and understand that they can’t be hanging and waiting on defense. They have to be aggressive looking to score.”

DePrez’s 7-3 decision win over his seventh-ranked opponent would be the Bearcats’ final win on the day. Sophomore Charlie Tibbitts was pinned in his 285-pound matchup against his 17-ranked Cornell opponent, while freshman Carson Wagner suffered a loss by technical-fall against his ranked 125-pound opponent.

“[DePrez] did a great job,” Borshoff said. “Two takedowns to none got a riding time point as well. [He had] another match where he did a great job controlling the match, and he did it with offense. You try to control matches with offense, not defense. [DePrez] did a great job of that, and he got a really nice win. Probably the best match that he’s wrestled in a couple years. I think that’s a big positive sign of what we should be excited for as we move into the postseason.”

Graduate student Matt Griffin also suffered a loss by technical-fall in his 133-pound matchup, while redshirt sophomore Nate Lucier was defeated in a 9-1 major decision via his ranked Cornell opponent in the 141-pound matchup. Freshman Jordan Brown also faced a ranked opponent from Cornell, suffering an 11-0 major decision loss in the 149-pound dual. Sophomore Carter Baer was the final Bearcat to hit the mat on Sunday, taking a close 1-0 loss by decision. Cornell’s win in the final match brought the final score to 33-6, giving the No. 8 ranked Big Red a decisive victory.

“Those [Cornell] guys are great wrestlers,” Borshoff said. “They did a nice job of putting up bonus point wins. Nobody’s more disappointed in losing than the guys on the team. It’s tough to go out and wrestle the best guys in the country in their home gym.”

In Borshoff’s seventh season at the helm, the Bearcats made big leaps as a team, finishing 9-4 overall. With the dual season wrapped up, going into the EIWA championships, Borshoff is looking forward to what the team can do, competing as individuals.

“We had a great dual-meet season,” Borshoff said. “It’s one of the best dual-meet seasons the team has had since I’ve been here. I think we made a lot of positive strides this year as a program. The EIWA is a different beast. Dual meets have zero meaning when you go to the conference tournament. Now it’s all about the individuals and that’s what I told the guys after the match. They’ve been wrestling for the team, now they wrestle for themselves.”

The Bearcats’ next stop will be the EIWA Championships — hosted by Bucknell — beginning on Friday, March 8. First bout is scheduled at a time to be decided at Sojka Pavilion in Lewisburg, Pennsylvania.

The Binghamton men’s wrestling team extended its win streak to five duals with a 21-15 win over Northwestern on Friday night. The win marked the Bearcats’ first win over a Big 10 opponent since 2017. BU held a slight 18-15 lead heading into the final matchup, where junior Brevin Cassella earned a 5-0 decision win in his 165-pound contest to secure the win for the Bearcats.

“We did what we needed to do to get the win,” said Binghamton head coach Kyle Borshoff. “There’s room for improvement in our performance. It came down to the last match, which was a great experience for [Cassella]. Pressure [was put] on him and [he needed] to get a win against probably the best guy on their team for us to win the dual, and he was able to do that. I was happy that Northwestern challenged us the way they did. It’s been a long time since we’ve taken a flight to compete. We’ve got to figure out how to be a little less flat after a long travel like this.”

Graduate student Lou DePrez, redshirt senior Cory Day and junior Micah Roes led the way for the Bearcats (9-3, 7-2 EIWA), picking up major decision wins over their Northwestern (1-9, 1-7 Big 10) opponents in their respective 197, 285 and 133-pound matchups. Redshirt sophomore Nate Lucier and redshirt junior Dimitri Gamkrelidze also added to the Bearcats’ win total with decision wins in their respective 141 and 174-pound matchups.

“[DePrez, Day and Roes] did great, [and] they did what they needed to do,” Borshoff said. “They attacked well, they executed on all their finishes well, [and] they wrestled clean matches overall. It’s what we expected those guys to do, and they went out and did that. [Gamkrelidze] did a nice job — he put his opponent on his back early in the match, and I really thought he should have had a pin there, but the call didn’t go our way. [Lucier] did a nice job as well, continuing to attack and be offensive.”

Gamkrelidze started Binghamton off with a win before a back-and-forth ensued between the Bearcats and Wildcats. The early 3-3 tie between the teams was broken with DePrez and Day’s back-to-back major decision wins. Roes’ 9-0 major decision win was followed by Lucier’s 9-2 victory by decision, putting the Bearcats up 18-6 with three matches left for the night. The Wildcats bounced back with a major decision win and a win by tech-fall, putting the score at 18-15 heading into the deciding 165-pound matchup.

“First, we’re trying to figure out what happens if we lose [the final matchup],” Borshoff said. “I had my assistant coach Anthony Sobotker looking at match points to figure out what the tie-breaker would look like if we did lose that match.”

The final matchup pitted Cassella against a ranked opponent from Northwestern, with a Wildcat win potentially tying or winning the match. Cassella’s key 5-0 decision win allowed the Bearcats to hang on for the win, extending their win streak to five duals while earning their third straight road win.

“[Cassella] did a great job, just totally controlling the entire match,” Borshoff said. “With a lot of pressure in that scenario, [Cassella] doesn’t know what the tie-breaker situation is. He knows if he loses the dual-meet is tied and if he wins we win the dual-meet. He did a really great job of getting it done in the moment when he needed to, it’s what we expect from a guy like [Cassella].”

The Bearcat’s win put their season record at 9-3, with their Eastern Intercollegiate Wrestling Association (EIWA) record sitting at 7-2 as they prepare to take on ninth-ranked Cornell in its final EIWA conference matchup before the EIWA Championships.

“Cornell’s great,” Borshoff said. “They’re a hard team to prepare for because they have a lineup of ranked guys. We’re gonna prepare for it the same way as we’ve prepared for every other match we’ve wrestled and worry about ourselves and not about them. I’m hoping that we can have our best-ever conference finish before widespread changes within the [EIWA] conference next season.”

The Bearcats are set to take on Cornell on Sunday, Feb. 25. First bout is set for 1 p.m. at the Friedman Wrestling Center in Ithaca, New York.

The Binghamton men’s wrestling team took home two Eastern Intercollegiate Wrestling Association (EIWA) wins this weekend, defeating Hofstra (7-4, 2-1 EIWA) and Princeton (5-5, 3-1 EIWA) to extend its winning steak to four duals. The Bearcats kicked the weekend off with a 31-6 victory over Hofstra on Friday night, followed by a 26-12 win over Princeton on Saturday afternoon.

“We wrestled great,” said Binghamton head coach Kyle Borshoff. “It was a really dominant performance by the team. We controlled all of those matches really well. Our guys’ offense looked great. We need to continue to be offensive and score points. We can do that to a lot of teams out there. Very happy with the effort.”

Leading the way for the Bearcats against Hofstra were redshirt seniors Cory Day and Jacob Nolan, who were joined by junior Brevin Cassella in earning shutout victories in their respective 285, 184 and 165-pound matchups. The Bearcats opened the match with three straight victories, with freshman Carson Wagner starting off with an 8-2 win by decision in his 125-pound matchup. Junior Micah Roes followed with a 4-1 win by decision in his 133-pound matchup, while redshirt sophomore Nate Lucier collected a 5-2 decision win in his 141-pound matchup.

“[Day] wrestled great, majoring that guy from Hofstra is very impressive,” Borshoff said. “[Day] was just dominant this weekend. In two ranked matchups, we’re talking about a guy who’s dangerous in every position. [Wagner] wrestled really well. He did a nice job getting to his offense. I think [Roes], in a match against a sixth-year guy with a lot of experience, did a great job. This weekend, I think [Roes] continues to be a really smart wrestler. He’s doing all of the things right and he’s clicking.”

Strong performances continued on Saturday against Princeton, with graduate student Lou DePrez starting the Bearcats off with a win by major decision over his ranked opponent in the 197-pound matchup. Day followed by earning his second major decision win on the weekend in his 285-pound matchup to put Binghamton up big early. In the lighter-weight matchups, Wagner, Roes and Lucier all earned wins in their respective duals, putting Binghamton up 20-0 after the fifth matchup on Saturday.

“It’s great for [DePrez],” Borshoff said. “They had wrestled previously in the EIWA championships two years ago. It was really nice to watch [DePrez] dominate that match and really just continue to show that he’s at the top. He is and has always been one of the best guys in the country. [It’s] nice to get wins down low and not have to rely on our upper weights entirely as we’ve had to do in the past in some duals. It’s great to see those lighter guys getting good wins.”

Saturday featured a controversial 165-pound matchup between Cassella and his Princeton opponent, with challenges being thrown by both Binghamton and Princeton during the match. A controversial stalling call on Cassella, which would have given Princeton the match, was challenged by the Bearcats. The call was overturned and the match went to overtime, where Cassella took the win in the overtime tie-breaker.

“[Cassella] ran that guy all over the mat the entire match,” Borshoff said. “That guy didn’t do anything but block us. I thought it was fairly egregious. We were totally dominating the match offensively, so I wasn’t even sure why they were thinking of calling [Cassella] for stalling. It was frustrating, but I’m glad they overturned it and we got the opportunity to win.”

Following Cassella’s win, redshirt junior Dimitri Gamkrelidze collected his second win of the weekend in his 174-pound matchup to solidify the road victory over Princeton for the Bearcats. With two conference wins on the weekend, the Bearcats advanced to a 7-2 EIWA record as they prepare for their final two duals of the season before the EIWA championships on March 8.

“Team’s wrestling, right now, very well,” Borshoff said. “We head out to Northwestern for a matchup with them Friday night, then we’ve got one dual left against Cornell. Cornell’s, I think, the second-best team in the country right now. That’ll be a tough one to give us a nice challenge before the EIWA’s. I think if you look at the past four dual meets we’ve wrestled, we’re wrestling hard, we’re wrestling smart, we’re winning close matches when we need to. Overall, I’m very optimistic about what the EIWA’s is going to look like for us in March.”

The Bearcats are set to take on Northwestern on Friday, Feb. 16. First bout is set for 8 p.m. at the Welsh-Ryan Arena in Evanston, Illinois.

The Binghamton men’s wrestling team celebrated senior day this past weekend by sweeping Eastern Intercollegiate Wrestling Association (EIWA) opponents Harvard (3-3, 0-0 EIWA) and Brown (1-4, 0-2 EIWA) in a doubleheader on Saturday. The Bearcats kicked things off by defeating Harvard 28-9 in their opener, followed by a 24-9 win over Brown in their second matchup.

“I thought we did great,” said Binghamton head coach Kyle Borshoff. “Harvard’s a good team. I thought that duel was going to be tight and our guys performed extraordinarily well. Brown scrapped hard. It was a good challenge for our guys, and it’s gonna pay off at the end of the year when we have to win matches back to back through the conference tournament and the NCAA championships.”

In the opening matchup, the Bearcats’ (6-3, 5-2 EIWA) victory over the Crimson was headlined by graduate student Lou DePrez’s win by pin in the 197-pound matchup and redshirt senior Cory Day’s win by pin in his 285-pound matchup. Continuing the Bearcats’ strong performances, junior Brevin Cassella won his 165-pound matchup by decision, while redshirt senior Jacob Nolan collected a major decision win in his 184-pound matchup.

“We went out and controlled that duel from start to finish,” Borshoff said. “Really great performances by our older guys [Nolan, DePrez and Day]. They’ve been doing what they did today for years for this program. It’s gonna be really challenging to make up for their loss next season. Just want to give a special shout-out to all those guys.”

In their second matchup against Brown, the Bearcats defeated kept the momentum going early with wins from junior Micah Roes in his 133-pound matchup and redshirt sophomore Nate Lucier in his 141-pound matchup. Roes and Lucier joined Cassella, Nolan, DePrez and Day in going undefeated at the doubleheader. In addition, after a slim 4-2 loss to his ranked Harvard opponent in his 174-pound, redshirt junior Dimitri Gamkrelidze bounced back to earn a 4-2 win by decision in his matchup with Brown.

“It’s nice to win both matches, but there’s always context included in that situation,” Borshoff said. “[Gamkrelidze] wrestled a top 10 guy in that first match against Harvard and lost a close one. It’s nice to win two, but at the end of the day, it doesn’t really make a difference whether we win two or win one. These matches are practice for the end of the year. As long as we’re learning and getting better — that’s what I’m more concerned about.”

Freshman Jordan Brown collected his first collegiate victory, 10-7, in his 149-pound matchup against Harvard. The match had a contested finish, with a challenge coming from the Crimson’s coaching staff in the final seconds over a non-call on a perceived takedown. The call — which would’ve sent the match to overtime if reversed — stood after review, giving Brown his first career win.

“Big shout out to [Brown],” Borshoff said. “He got his first win in college and at home. As a true freshman, that was a really nice win for him. That was a good opponent from Harvard. Proud of [Brown] and what he was able to do.”

Nolan and Day were among the Bearcats celebrated during the senior night festivities. Nolan, who won went 2-0 on the weekend, reflected on his final time wrestling at home, in front of all the fans, as a Bearcat.

“This is my last home duel,” Nolan said. ” [It was] just good to go out there with my teammates. We worked so hard all year long. Just good to go out there and perform well in front of our fans. It’s the last time they’ll see me wrestle in Binghamton. I just wanted to make them happy and put on a show.”

The Bearcats back-to-back wins put them at a 5-2 EIWA record leading into the final stretch of the season. This weekend’s doubleheader also marked the final time Binghamton will take on Harvard and Brown as conference rivals, with the Crimson and the Bears leaving the EIWA after this season.

“It’s the last time those matches are going to be conference duels, which is a little bit sad,” Borshoff said. “The EIWA is splitting [and] the Ivy League is leaving, so the last time we got to call Harvard and Brown conference opponents was today. It was nice to end on a win.”

The Bearcats will hit the road to take on Hofstra on Friday, Feb. 9. First bout is set for 6 p.m. in the David S. Mack Physical Education Center in Hempstead, New York.

After sweeping its dual meet against Drexel and Buffalo last Saturday, the Binghamton wrestling team took on No. 18 Navy and Army at home on Sunday. Binghamton concluded their doubleheader with an 18-17 win against Navy and an 22-11 loss against Army.

“Matchups make matches in wrestling,” said Binghamton head coach Kyle Borshoff. “Navy is a better matchup for us. They are highly ranked, but it’s a better matchup for us. We kind of knew the Army duel was going to be a little tougher.”

Opening the doubleheader against Navy, the first match saw Binghamton win and take a lead of seven points while Navy sat with zero. The Bearcats and the Midshipmen each exchanged blows and fought to take control of the scoreboard. On the heels of the 157-pound matchup, the Bearcats lost their lead to Navy by one point, making the current score 8-7.

Eventually, Navy would take the lead at 14-7. However, during the 184-pound matchup, the tides turned for the Bearcats. Redshirt senior Jacob Nolan began the match gaining three points with a quick display of skill. Navy attempted to close the gap gaining two points in the second period, but Nolan took seven points in the third period and won the match. Then graduate student Lou DePrez handed out takedowns left and right to earn 19 points in his match, the highest amount of points a Bearcat scored in their bout against Navy. Upon the conclusion of this match, the score jumped to 17-15 with the Bearcats trailing behind Navy by only two points.

The final match saw redshirt senior Cory Day competing in the 285-pound matchup, and the Bearcats’ final chance to settle the score against Navy. An early takedown by Day set the Bearcats in an early lead in the first period. Navy attempted to take the advantage by gaining two points in the second period but Day didn’t let that happen. After another takedown by the redshirt senior, the score was brought to six points. With the final match now concluded, Binghamton stood strong and ended up victorious against Navy with the final score at 18-17 points.

“Toward the end when you kind of seal the victory, the emotions kind of settle in and you realize that you just won a dual meet for your team and that’s a really exciting moment,” Day said.

Binghamton’s second duel of the day was against Army. The Black Knights had the Bearcats on the ropes for the first six rounds, where Army defeated every opponent Binghamton sent their way. The Bearcats were down by 16 points and needed to close the gap with Army quickly. During the 165-pound matchup, junior Brevin Cassella bested his opponent and ended his match with a two-point lead over Army, the final score coming to 3-1.

Nolan also had a close bout in the 184-pound matchup. He gained an early lead after getting two points, but Army was quick to match him. After a stalemate, the redshirt senior pulled ahead and won the match 3-2. During the 197-pound matchup, DePrez garnered the most points against Army yet with an 18-2 win. bringing the meet score to 11-19. It would not be enough, however, with the meet’s final score being 22-11 as Binghamton fell to Army.

“These duel meets are hard,” Borshoff said. “It’s not easy to go and wrestle the Navy and Army back to back. Not a lot of people do it, but were not afraid to do that, and that’s the reason why we’re going to be successful at the end of the year.”

The Bearcats are set to face Harvard and Brown on Saturday, Jan. 27 for their final home doubleheader of the season. The first bout is scheduled for 5:30 p.m. at the Events Center in Vestal, New York.

After placing second at the Mat Town Open I last weekend, the Binghamton wrestling team traveled to Las Vegas, Nevada and finished 19th at the Cliff Keen Las Vegas Invitational. In one of BU’s toughest events of the year, two Bearcats made it to the podium.

“It’s not easy to place in that event,” said Binghamton head coach Kyle Borshoff. “There were 136 ranked wrestlers in it so I was glad that we got to compete with some of the best guys in the country.”

The top performers for BU included redshirt senior Cory Day who captured seventh place in the 285-pound weight class and junior Brevin Cassella placed eighth in the 165-pound weight class. On day one, Cassella took on a No.16 ranked Northwestern opponent at 165 pounds in the round of 16. After battling to a 1-1 tie, Cassella defeated his Northwestern opponent in overtime by recording 30 more seconds of riding time.

“They wrestled a lot of very highly ranked opponents and that’s going to help us here and in the rest of the season,” Borshoff said.

In the quarterfinals, Cassella nearly came back from a 3-0 deficit against his No. 3 ranked opponent from Michigan, but was defeated in a 4-2 decision. Cassella ended day one with a 2-1 decision over his No. 31 ranked opponent from Appalachian State.

Meanwhile, Day garnered his fifth pin in his first bout against an opponent from Morgan State. He would ultimately fall to his No. 15 ranked Campbell opponent in a 17-6 major decision. However, Day bounced back in his next bout against his North Carolina opponent where he won while garnering his sixth pin of the season.

Day gave the Bearcats their second win of the season against a ranked opponent after defeating his No. 30 ranked opponent from Rider in an 11-10 decision during the consolation round of 8. After a bout with No. 16 from Oklahoma State ended in a medical forfeit, Day advanced further in the tournament. Both Bearcats finished the first day with three wins under their belt.

“I thought they did a good job,” Borshoff said. “There’s areas that they need to improve on if they want to get on the podium and see championships, but they did a lot of really good things.”

On day two, Day faced a No.17 ranked opponent from Ohio State, who he eventually succumbed to in a 14-3 major decision. However, after a bout against the No. 16 opponent from Cornell ended in a medical forfeit, Day placed seventh overall.

Cassella’s opening bout on day two against his No. 29 opponent from Stanford resulted in a 2-1 loss by decision. After falling to his No. 8 opponent from Oregon State, Cassella would finish the tournament in eighth place.

“[Cassella] and [Day] had a good tournament,” Borshoff said. “There’s some things to improve on but they both got some really nice wins against some really good guys and the rest of our guys got a lot of great experience.”

Nine Bearcats competed in the meet and, ultimately, Binghamton secured 19th place with 30 points. No. 8 Iowa State won the gold with 130.5 points. Out of the 35 teams present at the tournament, BU finished ahead of three nationally ranked teams — No. 18 Cal Poly, No. 19 Air Force and No. 22 Purdue.

“We finished ahead of three nationally ranked teams at the event so that’s nice, but we were also missing two of our best guys,” Borshoff said. “They both would have scored. Had they wrestled, we were likely to finish much higher.”

Binghamton will return to action on Friday, Dec. 22 to compete at the Wilkes Open. First bout is set for 9:30 a.m. at the Marts Center in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania.

After placing sixth at the Black Knight Invite, the Binghamton wrestling team traveled to Lock Haven, Pennsylvania to compete in the Mat-Town Open I tournament on Sunday, placing second out of 15 teams. BU scored 82.5 points at the tournament, second behind in-state rivals Cornell. Sophomore Carter Baer earned a victory in the 157-pound bracket, while freshman Carson Wagner and junior Dimitri Gamkrelidze earned second-place finishes in their respective weight classes.

“We had a bunch of guys wrestle really well,” said Binghamton head coach Kyle Borshoff. “That’s the whole reason we go to these open events, to get a lot of good matchups. We had three guys in the finals, one champ and a bunch of other guy’s place. I think it was a step in the right direction.”

The top performer for BU [1-1, 1-0 Eastern Intercollegiate Wrestling Association (EIWA)] was Baer, who started his run through the 157-pound bracket with two shutout victories, followed by a win over his opponent from Cornell in the semi-final. Baer would finish his day with a pin in the finals matchup to earn a first-place finish in the 157-pound bracket.

“[Baer] did a great job,” Borshoff said. “He wrestled a handful of Cornell guys, and he’ll get a number of chances to wrestle some more of those guys as the season goes on. He’s a tough guy to wrestle. He’s strong, powerful and explosive. I think we saw a lot of that today.”

Wagner earned a second-place finish after earning three individual victories in the 125-pound bracket en route to his finals appearance. Gamkrelidze also earned three individual victories, making his way through the 174-pound bracket before falling in his finals matchup 8-3.

“The guy [Wagner] beat from Penn State has been a world-class wrestler for a long time,” Borshoff said. “It was impressive to see [Wagner] come away with that win in overtime, and was a really nice win for him to get into the finals. [Gamkrelidze] did a great job. Every guy he wrestled was from Cornell. It was nice to see him go out there, be on the offensive and score a lot of points.”

Sophomore Charlie Tibbitts earned a third-place finish in the 285-pound bracket, taking an individual win in the champions bracket over his opponent from Cornell. After falling to his opponent from Lock Haven, Tibbitts bounced back to earn two individual victories in the consolation bracket, including a 9-1 win in the third-place matchup by way of fall.

“That was the best I’ve ever seen [Tibbitts] wrestle,” Borshoff said. “The guy he wrestled in the semi-finals from Lock Haven is a very good wrestler who’s been around a few years. [Tibbitts] wore the guy out. The match today was very close. The guy defaulted out of the finals because of how much [Tibbitts] took out of him. Was really happy for him — it’s the best he’s wrestled since he’s been here.”

The open tournament also saw the Bearcats earn a victory in the 141-pound third-place contest, with redshirt sophomore Nathan Lucier earning a 7-3 decision over junior Ivan Garcia in a matchup between BU teammates.

“[Lucier] dropped a close 9-8 match in the semi-finals to a very good wrestler, but I was glad to see him and [Garcia] get a win on the backside to put themselves in the third-place match,” Borshoff said. “They wrestle all the time in the room. They both did some good things and a lot of stuff to build off of.”

The Bearcat’s strong placings continued throughout, as freshman Ryan Hartung earned a fourth-place finish in the 133-pound bracket after reaching the third-place matchup finals. Sophomore Will Ebert also earned a fourth-place finish in his respective 174-pound bracket after his appearance in the third-place matchup to add to BU’s strong showing.

“We brought a lot of our young guys today,” Borshoff said. “It was exciting to watch our younger generation compete. It was good to see. I think we competed well. Everyone that wrestled went out, and they were attacking and aggressive. I’m looking forward to Las Vegas. It’s the best in-season tournament of the year.”

Next up for the Bearcats is the Cliff Keen Las Vegas Collegiate Wrestling Invitational which will run from Friday, Dec. 1 to Saturday, Dec. 2. First bout is set for a time to be decided at the Westgate Paradise Events Center in Las Vegas, Nevada.

The Binghamton wrestling team opened its season with a dual meet against No. 2 NC State and an Eastern Intercollegiate Wrestling Association (EIWA) meet against LIU on Friday at the Armbar at the Armory in Albany, New York. After an opening 35-9 loss to the Wildcats, the Bearcats bounced back with a 31-7 win over the Sharks. Junior Brevin Cassella collected two wins in his 165-pound duals to begin his season, while redshirt senior Cory Day closed out both of his matches with wins by pin.

“It was a good start for us,” said Binghamton head coach Kyle Borshoff. “Our guys wrestled hard, [and] they competed well. It’s a tough task to go up against the number two-ranked team in the country right out of the gate, so I was proud of the way our guys went out and fought in some of those matches. Then to bounce back and have to win a dual immediately after was good to see. It shows fight, and it’s something we can build off of.”

The Bearcats (1-1) started their action on Friday against NC State (7-0), falling in eight of their 10 matchups against the Wolfpack. In the 133-pound matchup, junior Micah Roes kept things close, going into overtime against his opponent before falling in a close decision. Cassella gave BU its first win against the Wolfpack with a win-by decision in the 165-pound matchup. Redshirt senior Jacob Nolan took a close loss by decision in his matchup before Day bounced back with a closing win by pin for Binghamton in his 285-pound dual.

“Across the board we gave effort,” Borshoff said. “Coming right out of the gate with our first couple guys taking the fight to NC State. It was encouraging to see [Roes] have a tight overtime bout with the guy ranked sixth in the country, [at 133 pounds], he competed really well. The matches didn’t go our way, but it’s definitely something we can build off of.”

BU got back to work quickly after the opening loss, taking eight of its 10 duals against LIU (2-2) to earn its first win of the season. Freshman Carson Wagner opened things up with a win by technical fall in his 125-pound dual. Roes and Nolan bounced back from their close defeats against NC State opponents, both earning wins by decision in their respective duals. Cassella earned a win by technical fall for his second victory Friday night, while Day closed out the Bearcat’s 31-7 victory with his second pin of the evening.

“You go out, you lose a match, then you’re asked to go win a match immediately afterward, and most of our guys did that against LIU,” Borshoff said. “In our sport at this level, you don’t see a ton of true freshmen starting for their teams. [Wagner] going out and wrestling one of the best guys in the country, then bouncing back and dominating his opponent from LIU as a true freshman at his first event is a big deal.”

Cassella and Day led the way for the Bearcats, starting their seasons off with two wins. Graduate student Michael Zarif won his dual at 149 pounds in a close decision over LIU, while sophomore Carter Baer and junior Dimitri Gamkrelidze collected wins over LIU in their 157 and 174-pound matchups, respectively.

“[Cassella’s] a soldier — we count on [him] to win,” Borshoff said. “The guys that he wrestled tried to do entirely different things, and [Cassella] was able to deal with both of their strategies effectively. [Day] wrestled great, took on a very good wrestler from NC State and went out and got it done. And then [Zarif] got a win over a guy he lost to last year, which is always something we like to see against LIU. [Roes] was able to get that match back for a really nice win.”

Early season action for the Bearcats continued on Sunday, Nov. 19 at the Black Knight Invite tournament. First bout was at 10 a.m. Sunday at Christl Arena in West Point, New York.

“I thought [Nolan] did a good job and I’m excited that everyone’s coming back,” said Binghamton head coach Kyle Borshoff. “[Nolan’s] got another year and [redshirt junior Cory Day] and [sophomore Brevin Cassella] have two more years. It’s an awesome event, and I’m excited for next year.”

Nolan entered the championships as the No. 19 seed in the 184-pound weight class. Despite dropping his first bout on Thursday morning, Nolan rebounded with his performance in the consolation bracket. The redshirt junior’s first victory came in the form of a 12-1 major decision over his Gardner Webb opponent. The win marked his third-ever victory at the NCAA championships, and his first by way of a major decision. Nolan capped off his performance on Friday with a 7-5 decision victory over his Virginia competitor, but ultimately lost in the next round to the eventual eighth-place finisher.

“[Nolan] did well,” Borshoff said. “He lost a tight match early in the event to the guy that eventually placed seventh. Then he dropped his next match a little later on to the guy that placed eighth. So both his losses that he took came to guys that finished as All-Americans. He’s gotten better every year and he’s competed for us, so he’s right there in that conversation with the top eight guys, and I think he’s got a lot to build on.”

Day and Cassella were the other two Bearcats to appear at the championship meet, but were unable to grab individual wins. Cassella participated in the tournament for the second straight season, but couldn’t repeat his 2022 performance where he won his first career match at the NCAA championships. After losing by decision in the first round of the 165-pound bracket, the sophomore was defeated by decision again in his consolation appearance. Day, on the other hand, made his first appearance at the tournament in the heavyweight class. The redshirt junior followed the same path as Cassella, dropping his only two bouts.

“[Day and Cassella] wrestled hard,” Borshoff said. “They didn’t win but they wrestled hard. I think at the end of the day for both of those guys it’s just keeping things in perspective from where they started when they came to Binghamton. [Cassella], I think his first EIWA tournament he finished 0-3. [Day], took him three years to get into our lineup at all, and [he] started at 184 and moved up to heavyweight this year and got to the NCAA tournament.”

BU finished its season at Tulsa with three different qualifiers and two wins at the championships courtesy of Nolan. Nolan’s victories elevated his season record to 22-9 while Cassella and Day finished with a 20-8 record and 18-12 record, respectively. All three wrestlers are slated to return to Binghamton for the next season and Borshoff hopes to see improvement in his players over the offseason.

“[The offseason] is gonna be trying to figure out how to change that mentality in practice a little bit,” Borshoff said. “I’m excited to have [Assistant Wrestling Coach] Lou DePrez on staff, and I’m gonna have him in the room trying to help drive that point home as a guy that’s placed at this tournament. It’ll be good to have him in there driving that point home [that] we gotta wrestle harder. That’s something that we’re gonna change in our training over the next 12 months, and at the end of the day, we’re not gonna change anything drastically because we’ve improved. I think we have guys that are close but need to get over the hump.”

“I’m really happy that all three of them were able to qualify their spots at the NCAA championships,” said Binghamton head coach Kyle Borshoff. “Our program continues to have a presence at the national level. All three of our NCAA qualifiers have the ability to make noise in Tulsa. I was hoping to score some more team points other weights, but at the end of the day the whole purpose of this weekend is to get to the national championship and [redshirt junior Cory Day], [sophomore Brevin Cassella] and [redshirt junior Jacob Nolan] all fight tirelessly to secure their spots.”

Day one of the two-day tournament consisted of the round of 16 and quarterfinals, however, the Bearcats (5-13, 4-5 EIWA) had one competitor in the round of 32, as redshirt senior Anthony Sobotker swiftly took the victory in the 133-pound match, joining his teammates in the next round. Sobotker would go on to lose his round of 16 bout on a technical fall.

In the round of 16, Binghamton had several qualifiers, the first of which was another simple win through the efforts of sophomore Micah Roes — who took the 125-pound bout 6-0. BU’s second advancement to the next round came in the 165-pound match, as Cassella also won 6-0. The final two Bearcats to move on to the quarterfinals came in the higher weight classes, as Nolan and Day won their 184 and heavyweight bouts, respectively. Nolan got a reversal on his opponent to secure a 10-0 victory, and Day achieved a victory on a fall with two and a half minutes left.

In the last eight, Roes took an early exit in a 5-0 decision defeat, yet things looked up after when the 165-pound match came around. Cassella took on an opponent who had previously defeated him in the regular season, getting revenge on the Drexler wrestler by utilizing a late six-point move to win 7-0. In the 184-pound class, Nolan also found victory, albeit at a tighter 4-2 margin. Joining Casella and Nolan in the semis was heavyweight wrestler Day, overcoming his Bucknell opponent 3-2 with an early takedown — narrowly securing his advancement. This win ultimately qualified Day for the NCAA tournament in Tulsa.

First up in the semis was Cassella, who fought a close match against his No. 8 ranked Cornell opponent, holding it to sudden victory. A takedown decision, which was initially challenged by Binghamton head coach Kyle Borshoff, lost it for the Bearcat and sent Cassella to the consolation semis. Nolan followed him, also pushing his bout to overtime. This time he was able to secure the win and join Day in qualifying for the NCAA tournament with a 3-1 victory. In his consolation match, Cassella joined his fellow semifinalist Bearcats in qualifying for Tulsa as well, giving Binghamton three competitors in the upcoming tournament. Cassella’s win also gave him a spot in the third-place matchup for his class. Binghamton’s only finalist of the day would be Nolan in the 184, as Day left him the last Bearcat standing after losing in the heavyweight semifinals bout.

Cassella would finish fourth overall in the 165-pound class on the day, his opponent securing two points through escapes to win the third-place matchup. In Nolan’s final bout, despite scoring an early point, a series of takedowns would ensure Nolan’s second-place finish in the 184-pound class. After dropping the semifinal consolation bout, Day ended the day in the fifth place heavyweight bout. After going up 1-0 early, a takedown with 52 seconds left gave Day the two points needed to secure a 3-0 victory and fifth place finish.

BU’s qualifying wrestlers will compete in the NCAA Championships on Thursday, March 16 through Saturday, March 18. The bouts will take place all day at the BOK Center in Tulsa, Oklahoma.

“We wrestled well [against American],” said Binghamton head coach Kyle Borshoff. ”We won most of the close matches. We didn’t win them all. A lot of times in our sport you end up in tight matches, and we were able to gut them out and come away with wins in a lot of those weights.”

BU (5-13, 4-5 EIWA) got its start early on in the action as sophomore Micah Roes took a victory in the first bout of the day. The sophomore earned a 3-2 decision in the 125-pound match over his Eagle (8-12, 3-5 EIWA) opponent, giving the Bearcats a 3-0 lead. Despite dropping the following 133-pound bout, Binghamton posted victories in two straight to jump out to a 9-3 advantage. Redshirt freshman Nate Lucier and graduate student Michael Zarif earned back-to-back wins in the 141 and 149, respectively. The hosts earned a major decision in the 157-pound match, however, and closed in on the gap, trailing 9-7 heading into intermission.

Borshoff was honored at the intermission of the meet as the BU coach was inducted into the American University’s Stafford H. “Pop” Cassell Hall of Fame on Saturday. Borshoff wrestled for the Eagles and was a two-time All-American during his tenure there.

“The goals are simple, accomplishing them is what’s hard,” Borshoff said. “We have 17 teams in our conference. We have some very good wrestlers in our conference. Everyone knows what it means when you go to the conference championship. Everyone knows what’s on the line and everyone competes a little bit harder than they did during the season.”

Binghamton exited the break and quickly expanded its lead in the meet. The visitors took the next three bouts and held a commanding 19-7 lead heading into the final stretch. Sophomore Brevin Cassella and redshirt junior Sam DePrez picked up the first two victories in the 165 and 174-pound bouts, respectively. The 184-pound matchup followed and redshirt junior Jacob Nolan cleaned up his American opponent with a 13-3 major decision. The victory sealed the meet’s results as the hosts trailed by 12 with just two bouts to go.

“[Nolan] wrestled great,” Borshoff said. “He got back to his top position where he’s effective at scoring. Something that we talk about all the time with him is putting himself into wrestling situations [and] putting himself into positions where he could get turns … When he’s engaged and he’s wrestling, he scores a lot of points, and that’s what he did today.”

The final two grapples saw victories in favor of the hosts, although the meet was out of their reach by then, and BU left with a 19-13 win in its final EIWA matchup. In the meet’s final bout, freshman Charlie Tibbitts made his first career dual start, stepping into the heavyweight match for a resting redshirt junior Cory Day.

“I was happy with how the team wrestled,” Borshoff said. “I thought we had a good team effort. We got pretty far out in the lead there toward the end of the dual, so I was able to get Day some rest and let one of our freshmen get out there and get a little bit of experience.”

As the Bearcats’ regular season came to a close on Friday, they will look ahead to the next time they take to the mat during the EIWA championships. In the previous season, BU placed sixth in the conference championships and sent four athletes to the NCAA championships. Binghamton assistant coach Lou DePrez shined in the team’s 2022 campaign, earning the EIWA individual title at the event.

“The whole point of the conference championships is to get to nationals,” Borshoff said. “The goal is to get guys in the NCAAs, and once you’re there the goal is All-Americans [and] National Champions.”

The EIWA Championships begin on Saturday, March 4 and will conclude the following day. The championship will be held all day at the Palestra in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

“I don’t think we competed hard,” said Binghamton head coach Kyle Borshoff. “It was a disappointing dual meet for us. I think that we were passive, even the matches that we won.”

Although Binghamton (4-11, 3-4 EIWA) went down 4-0 early after dropping the initial 125-pound bout, the team picked up traction in the second bout of the day. Redshirt senior Anthony Sobotker battled in the 133-pound weight class, and the Bearcat secured an 11-3 major decision over his Princeton (3-9, 1-3 EIWA) opponent. During the bout, Sobotker maintained control of his opponent and scored a reversal. This allowed BU to tie the score up at 4-4 heading into the next bout.

“We’ve got to work on the stuff we got beat on tonight,” Borshoff said. “Sobotker getting back on the mat, putting the guy on his back was nice to see.”

Although the Bearcats dropped the following 141-pound bout, this made way for graduate student Michael Zarif to earn Binghamton’s second win of the day at 149 pounds. Although Zarif managed an early takedown to put himself in the lead, the bout would come down to the wire. However, the graduate student pulled through, earning the victory 7-6 and knotting up the score again at seven points apiece.

“We were letting Princeton’s guys control the pace,” Borshoff said. “We’re gonna have to do better from an effort standpoint as we close out the year.”

Despite going back-and-forth at the start of the dual, BU dropped the next three bouts after Zarif’s victory, including a loss by pin in the 165-pound match. This three-bout skid caused the Bearcats to fall behind 19-7 in the meet. Binghamton found itself down 12 points with only three bouts remaining, needing multiple major decisions or pin-falls to make a comeback. However, the Bearcats failed to recover from the deficit.

“Overall, I think that we competed very hard in our past few matches, and we didn’t compete hard tonight,” Borshoff said. “That’s why the score ended up the way it did.”

Despite trailing, BU managed one more victory during the meet. Redshirt junior Jacob Nolan picked up the Bearcats’ final win of the day in the 184-pound matchup. The redshirt junior managed a six-point move to secure an 8-3 decision and added three points to the team’s total. After Nolan’s victory, BU would lose both the 197-pound bout by fall, and the 285-pound bout by decision as it dropped the dual meet to Princeton 28-10.

“[Nolan] got a nice win,” Borshoff said. “I just want to see us compete hard … We have to wrestle hard. We can’t be losing close matches, and we can’t be losing close matches when we’re out there.”

Binghamton will return to action against Cornell on Friday, Feb. 10. First bout is scheduled for 7 p.m. at Hilton High School in Hilton, New York.

“I thought we were tough today,” said Binghamton head coach Kyle Borshoff. “I think we had a good team effort across the board. We had some guys step up and win matches, so I think if we continue to have that same effort and get a little bit better, we’re going to be in a good position come the end of February. I always talk about being ready for the EIWA [championships], and today was a step in the right direction.”

After falling at the first hurdle in the 125-pound class, the Bearcats (3-9, 2-2 EIWA) found their first win of the meet after sophomore Ivan Garcia bested his Harvard (0-2, 0-1 EIWA) opponent by an 8-1 decision in the 133-pound bout. Graduate student Michael Zarif also found a win early on for Binghamton in the 149-pound weight class, scoring a takedown in the process. The graduate student accumulated 1:22 of riding time in the bout to earn an 8-3 decision. Despite this, the hosts kept pace with BU, taking the 141 and 157-pound matches for themselves.

“Really good effort across the board,” Borshoff said. “Even at 149 [pounds] Zarif got a nice win. Ivan Garcia is obviously at [133 pounds] as well. And those upper-weight guys did a great job.”

Going into the 165-pound matchup, the visitors trailed the Crimson 10-6. Sophomore Brevin Cassella’s 3-2 decision victory, however, was able to shift the momentum of the meet in BU’s favor. Then at 174 pounds, redshirt junior Sam DePrez gave Binghamton its first lead of the meet with a 10-2 major decision victory. DePrez’s win gave the Bearcats a 13-10 advantage and not long after, fellow redshirt junior Jacob Nolan extended that lead by another three points with a 7-2 decision. Both Bearcats secured takedowns in their respective bouts.

Binghamton’s victory, however, was sealed by sophomore Dimitri Gamkrelidze, who battled at 197 pounds against his Harvard opponent. Tied at 1-1 after regulation, the Bearcat secured a hard-fought win in overtime for BU.

“Getting that lead back going into 197 [pounds], we were at a point where if [Gamkrelidze] won his match it kind of closed out the duel and put us in a position where we couldn’t lose,” Borshoff said. “It was really encouraging to watch him go out there and gut out a win in overtime. He wrestled 167 pounds for us a couple weeks ago, so to be wrestling 197 right now and getting wins is big for our team.”

The meet was rounded out by the heavyweight bout, as No. 18 ranked redshirt junior Cory Day fought at 285 pounds against a fellow ranked opponent. Although a Harvard decision victory closed out the day, BU had already secured the match victory, leaving the final score at 19-13.

“It’s always nice to come off a win,” Borshoff said. “We have a short turnaround — we have Hofstra coming to Binghamton on Thursday this week. We need to keep momentum rolling, but every match that’s wrestled is independent of every other result. It’s great to get the win, but we’ve got to stay focused on continuing to improve in certain areas. Hofstra has got a good team so we’re going to have to compete hard, and we’re going to have to gut through a lot of matches and find a way to win that duel too.”

Binghamton will return home for its next dual meet as they face Hofstra University on Thursday, Jan. 26. First bout is scheduled for 6 p.m. at the Events Center in Vestal, New York.

“We competed well,” said Binghamton head coach Kyle Borshoff. “Got a couple of good quality wins in. The team competed hard, and at the end of the day you can point to two egregious errors or mistakes we made that cost us the match. It was certainly a tighter dual than the score indicated.”

In the first bout of the dual, redshirt junior Cory Day battled in the 285-pound weight class. The No. 21 ranked Bearcat secured a 3-1 decision over his opponent to give BU (2-9, 1-2 EIWA) an early 3-0 lead over Lehigh (5-6, 2-1 EIWA).

“[Day] won the mat wrestling, which is what he’s been doing all year long,” Borshoff said. “If he continues to do that, he’ll be a dangerous person to wrestle for anyone in the country. So he’s doing a great job on top, he’s doing a great job on bottom and he’s competing well on his feet. He’s not getting scored on, and he did a really great job of controlling his opponent.”

Sophomore Ivan Garcia picked up Binghamton’s second win of the day at 133 pounds. His bout was knotted at one late in the third period, but with a reversal, Garcia took a 3-1 advantage. This secured his victory via decision and gave the Bearcats a 6-3 lead.

Despite going ahead at the start of the dual, BU went on to drop the next two bouts by way of fall, falling behind 14-6. However, sophomores Conner Decker and Brevin Cassella picked up back-to-back wins by decision to narrow the deficit to just two points.

“For [Decker] to come out and compete and win takes a lot of guts,” Borshoff said. “You have to have a real short memory of watching your teammate the match before and just focusing on your individual matchup. [Decker] was able to do that and come away with the win.”

Decker earned his first career dual win in sudden victory during the 157-pound bout. The Bearcat scored a double-leg takedown to secure a 3-1 decision. Next, in the 165-pound bout, Cassella earned a 7-2 decision with a first-period takedown, four near-fall points and 2:24 of riding time.

“[Cassella] had limited matchups this season, but he’s starting to get back into a nice rhythm with his offense,” Borshoff said. “Looking forward to his progress over the next few weeks before the conference championships.”

Binghamton went on to lose the last three bouts of the dual to lose 26-12. Although the Bearcats have a 2-9 record overall, Borshoff is still confident in his team’s ability to compete. Five of their opponents this season are nationally ranked programs.

“We’re competitive against the best teams in the country,” Borshoff said. “We’ve wrestled a lot of good teams. Our record is not great, but as you go through and look at the teams we’ve wrestled, pretty much everyone is a nationally ranked team or ranked highly in the mid-major poll. So we just have to continue to get better and make sure that we put ourselves in the best position for EIWA’s to qualify guys to the NCAA Championships.”

BU will return to action against Harvard on Saturday, Jan. 21. First bout is scheduled for 12 p.m. at the Malkin Athletic Center in Cambridge, Massachusetts.

“It was a good experience,” said Binghamton head coach Kyle Borshoff. “We wrestled a couple Big 10 teams, and we won’t see those guys most likely until the NCAA championships. It was good to get that feel today.”

Despite losing both duals on Sunday, the Bearcats posted multiple individual victories against the Hoosiers, including back-to-back wins by fall from redshirt junior Jacob Nolan and graduate student Lou DePrez in the 184-pound and 197-pound weight class, respectively. The Bearcats struggled against Michigan State, managing just two dual victories over the Big 10 school.

“We had some good individual wins, but as a team we left a lot on the mat,” Borshoff said. “We left a lot of opportunities on the mat that we didn’t take advantage of, and our guys need to do a better job as a team of just building off of each other.”

BU struggled to find early points against the Spartans, dropping its first six bouts and trailing 23-0 heading into redshirt junior Sam DePrez’s 174-pound bout. The redshirt junior’s 6-3 victory by decision earned the Bearcats their first points on the day. Despite this victory, Binghamton’s performance did not rebound as it dropped its next two bouts.

“We have a lot of individual efforts we’re seeing every week that are good,” Borshoff said. “But in a dual meet setting we gotta find some ways to pick up wins in some of those first few weight classes that we’ve been struggling at.”

In the final 285-pound bout against the Spartans, redshirt junior Cory Day continued his undefeated steak with an 8-4 decision. In its next match against Indiana, BU again started off slow, dropping its first five bouts to the Hoosiers. The start put the Bearcats behind 15-0 entering the back half of the meet.

“[Day] got a nice win over the Michigan State guy who beat the nationally ranked Princeton kid his next bout, so that’ll be another good win,” Borshoff said. “And then [Day] had a lot of pressure on him in that next match, and that’s what I’m talking about with individual efforts.”

Sophomore Dimitri Gamkrelidze earned Binghamton’s first points against Indiana, taking a 13-4 decision victory in the 165-pound class. Despite losing the next bout via major decision, BU gained points back after Nolan and L. DePrez earned back-to-back victories by fall. After trailing early to the Hoosiers, the consecutive victories narrowed the team’s deficit to just three points entering the heavyweight bout.

“We needed to be better as a team,” Borshoff said. “[Day] shouldn’t have felt pressure in that match to try to score a bunch of points and really should’ve just been able to focus on himself. I think he was put in a situation where he was trying to do too much, and he made a mistake and got caught. But [Day] continues to wrestle well, our upper weights continue to put the team on their backs.”

Day was unable to replicate his victory against Michigan State earlier in the day as the redshirt junior dropped the 285-pound bout against Indiana. The result secured a 25-16 Hoosier victory as BU exited the weekend without a win.

“[Nolan] goes out and gets a pin against Indiana, [L. DePrez] follows up with a win and now the pressure is on [Day],” Borshoff said. “It’s not a fair situation to put [Day] into. I’d love to see him win that bout. I think in a different setting or a different scenario we’re gonna see a much different outcome in that match.”

Binghamton will return home for its next dual meet against LIU on Saturday, Dec. 10. First bout begins at 1 p.m. at the Events Center in Vestal, New York.

“It was a good meet for us,” said Binghamton head coach Kyle Borshoff. “We controlled the dual meet, our guys wrestled hard. I think top to bottom, at all 10 weights, we put out a good effort, and I’m pretty happy with the performance out of each guy that wrestled tonight.”

After dropping his first three bouts of the season, sophomore Micah Roes secured a pair of takedowns in the first period and then proceeded with three minutes of ride time over the rest of the match to record his first victory via a 5-1 decision. This was the first win in the 125-pound weight class for BU this season.

In the 133-pound weight class, redshirt senior Anthony Sobotker led in the second period after a takedown gave him a 5-4 advantage. His opponent, however, quickly reversed and ran away in the third period to win in a 10-5 decision, tying the meet up 3-3.

Redshirt freshman Nate Lucier took the mat as a 141-pounder, grabbing a takedown in the first period before the Bull escaped to tie the bout at two. In the third period, Lucier escaped early to take the lead and then proceeded to avoid a few takedown attempts to win 3-2 and regain the lead for the Bearcats. This is Lucier’s second straight win in a dual match this season.

“There were a lot of close matches and we came out on top of almost all of them,” Borshoff said. “You got to win the close matches in dual meets and we did that tonight. That gets you wins.”

BU strung together wins with back-to-back 3-2 decisions, as graduate student Michael Zarif secured his sixth win of the year in the 149-pound class. The Bulls didn’t go away easy, taking down freshman Fin Nadeau via decision to make it 9-6.

In the 165-pound match, freshman Will Ebert took the mat and the back-and-forth bout came down to the ride time point to give Ebert a win and extend BU’s lead to 12-6. Redshirt junior Sam DePrez won his first dual start of the season with a 2-0 decision thanks to a third-period escape. DePrez defeated the No. 28 174-pounder in the country to earn his second win against a ranked opponent.

“That’s [S. DePrez’s] second-ranked win of the season,” Borshoff said. “Really good performance out of him tonight. We knew that was gonna be, potentially, a swing weight … [S. DePrez] controlled that match. I think he’s settling into the right weight class finally. It’s his first year at 174. I think he feels confident and strong, and he’s starting to have some good results.

Redshirt junior Jacob Nolan dropped his first bout of the year in the 184-pound match against the No. 25 wrestler in the country to make it 15-9. That was followed up by four takedowns in the first period by L. DePrez, which turned into an 18-5 major decision to extend the Bearcat lead to 19-9.

“We were the more offensive team,” Borshoff said. “We generated a lot of offense tonight. We scored points everywhere, and I think we did a really good job of just controlling the offensive positions in every weight class.”

To end the dual, Day took the mat and recorded an early takedown followed by a second takedown in the second to get a 5-0 decision. This earned him his fifth win of the season, which handed the Bearcats their first dual win of the year.

“We wrestled some of the best teams in the country, and that prepared us for this match,” Borshoff said. “We’re wrestling two Big 10 teams next weekend, and those matches will continue to prepare us for the important part of our season.”

Next up for the Bearcats is the Garden State Grapple, where they’re scheduled to take on Michigan State and Indiana on Sunday, Dec. 4. First bout against the Spartans is set for 2 p.m. at the Prudential Center in Newark, New Jersey.

“Every dual meet we’ve lost by one match, and the matches that we’ve lost, we’ve had some one-point losses,” said Binghamton head coach Kyle Borshoff. “So at the end of the day we wrestled the [11th] ranked team in the country, we wrestled the 18th ranked team in the country and we were a one-point loss away from winning those duals. So we have a lot to build on, you know, it’s frustrating to lose.”

BU (0-3) first matched up with NDSU (2-0) on Friday in a meet that started off slowly for the Bearcats. Binghamton dropped six of its first seven bouts. A late comeback push from the visitors saw the Bearcats claw back with three straight wins. The late push was not enough for BU as the meet ended in an 18-13 defeat. Redshirt freshman Nate Lucier grabbed a win in his second career dual meet, winning 7-5 after a takedown in the third period in the 141-pound weight class.

The late pressure, however, was helped on by wins from Binghamton’s competitors in the heavier weight classes. Nolan, at 184 pounds, started off his winning weekend with a takedown in the third period to defeat his opponent, ranked No. 29 in the nation, 3-1. L. DePrez and redshirt junior Cory Day also secured their second wins of the season in the 197-pound and heavyweight classes respectively. L. DePrez had three takedowns in his victory. Graduate student Michael Zarif was also among the winners against the Bison, being the only Bearcat in the meet to pick up bonus points in his 13-4 major decision win in the 149-pound class.

“Jacob Nolan had a great weekend,” Borshoff said. “He beat the guys ranked 10th in the country and 29th in the country. [L.] DePrez beat the 28th and 29th ranked guys in the country. Day had two huge wins at heavyweight, beating starters from Minnesota and North Dakota. Those three guys had a great weekend. Nate Lucier got his first dual win for us today against Minnesota. Zarif [was] wrestling hard, got a nice win against North Dakota. So overall, I think we’re wrestling hard, but we’ve lost three dual meets.”

In their second meet of the weekend, the Bearcats once again clawed their way back from an early deficit after going down 6-0 against Minnesota (1-0). With two bouts remaining, however, Binghamton found itself with a 15-12 lead.

The last two bouts were taken by the Gophers, with the home team wrapping up a 19-15 victory in the end. Lucier was a standout performer, winning the first dual match of his career with a 9-7 comeback win after being down 5-2 in the final period. Day and DePrez also won once again, rounding out unbeaten weekends for both wrestlers and improving their records to 3-0 across the board.

Nolan was also once again among the winners, this time taking down No. 10 Isiah Salazar. As Nolan maintained a 4-2 lead with nearly a minute left in the second period, Salazar brought it back to 4-4. Nolan gained a 5-4 lead early in the third period, holding his opponent off for the remaining time to remain undefeated and grab an upset win.

“We’ve always known that [Nolan] is an incredible wrestler, and he’s starting to show it to everyone else,” Borshoff said. “So really happy with how he’s been doing and looking forward to next weekend.”

Despite having to make the long journey home, still winless, Binghamton has kept every matchup tight so far this year. Both meets this weekend saw the Bearcats bring it to a close finish after trailing early. In addition, all of BU’s meets this year so far have been decided by six points or less. Nolan came into the weekend ranked 22nd in the nation with DePrez at seventh within their respective weight classes.

“It’s not what I’m going to do, it’s what the team’s going to do,” Borshoff said. “Someone’s got to figure it out … I don’t have any expectations. We need guys to step up and win matches. Need guys that have been losing to step up and win matches.”

Binghamton will continue its season on Sunday, Nov. 27 against Buffalo. First bout is scheduled for 7 p.m. at the Alumni Arena in Buffalo, New York.

“I thought we competed hard,” said Binghamton head coach Kyle Borshoff. “It was a great opportunity for some of the younger guys to get some matches in. Some of our guys haven’t seen a lot of action over the past couple of seasons, and I thought overall we wrestled hard, [but] we made some mistakes in certain areas that we’ve got to clean up and fix.”

The tournament saw several Bearcats (0-1) see their first collegiate action and get wins. Redshirt freshman Nate Lucier and freshmen Fin Nadeau, Carter Baer and Will Ebert all earned their first college wrestling victories of their careers. Lucier won his first bout in the 141-pound weight class, then went on to lose in the round of 32 and in the first round of the consolation bracket. Nadeau took home a sixth place finish in the 149-pound weight class after making it to the quarterfinals and then winning two bouts in the consolation bracket. Baer and Ebert both went as far as the round of 16 before falling, although Ebert went further in the consolation bracket.

“Getting your first college win is just different,” Borshoff said. “Some levels when they get here, you’re starting over. Wrestling Division 1 is much harder than anything they’ve ever done or anywhere they’ve ever competed, so getting a win in our home arena early in their career is great to see.”

Redshirt junior Sam DePrez was BU’s top competitor of the day with a runner-up in the 174-pound weight class. He won his first bout in the round of 16 by a 11-2 major decision, and the redshirt junior went on to take the quarterfinal match along with semifinal match before heading into the final bout. However, DePrez was defeated in the finals by way of a 8-1 decision.

“It was great to see [DePrez] in the finals at his third different weight that he’s competed at, in our open, since he’s been here,” Borshoff said. “He started at 197 a few years back and has made his way down to 174 pounds. Then getting some of the young guys placing, I thought it was a good event.”

Sophomore Dimitri Gamkrelidze finished in third place in the 165-pound tournament. Gamkrelidze won his first match of the day with a 12-1 major decision in the round of 16. The sophomore went on to win his quarterfinal match before losing in the semifinal. However, Gamkrelidze bounced back to win the third place bout via 4-2 decision.

“[Gamkrelidze] did a really nice job at 165 pounds,” Borshoff said. “He didn’t start wrestling until his senior year of high school … But taking third today and beating many guys who have been competing or wrestled their entire lives … I think that’s just a cool story line that will be fun to continue following throughout his career here.”

Other top-five finishers included graduate student Michael Zarif at 149 pounds and sophomore Ivan Garcia at 133 pounds. Zarif swept his first three bouts, winning by decision in all three matches. The graduate student then lost in the semifinal match and eventually dropped the third place match as well to earn a fourth place finish. Despite losing his first bout, Garcia coasted through the consolation bracket and eventually ended up in the fifth place match. There, the sophomore earned a victory via 5-2 decision to take fifth place in the 133-pound weight class.

“The one thing you never want to see as a coach is guys quitting and putting their head down and giving up,” Borshoff said. “Whether they’re down and they give up, or it’s close and they let it slip away, our guys didn’t do that. They wrestled good, tough matches. When we got beat, we got beat because of certain positions, so we got a lot to build on.”

BU will return to action on Friday, Nov. 18 against North Dakota State. First bout is scheduled for 7 p.m. at the Scheels Center in Fargo, North Dakota.