Wrestling Falls 27-14 at American

Saturday, January 11

Washington, D.C.

7 p.m.

Drexel University

American

Photo by: Greg Carroccio/Sideline Photos

1/11/2020 9:15:00 PM | Wrestling

WASHINGTON, D.C. – The Drexel wrestling team suffered a 27-14 defeat at the hands of American in an Eastern Intercollegiate Wrestling Association dual on Saturday night. The loss drops the Dragons to 5-4 overall and 1-1 in EIWA competition. The Eagles improve to 1-3 and 1-1 in the EIWA.

Drexel won three times in the nation's capital and collected bonus points in each victory. Bryan McLaughlin pinned his opponent in just 40 seconds. Chase Shields notched a major decision in his collegiate dual debut, and Michael O'Malley pitched a shutout to collect a major decision as well.

The dual started at 125 pounds, where Antonio Mininno pushed nationally-ranked Gage Curry to sudden victory before falling, 5-3. Mininno entered the third period trailing 1-0 and in the bottom position. He broke free from Curry for an escape then took down the 15^th-ranked 125-pounder to go ahead, 3-1. Mininno could not ride out Curry, and a second stalling call against Mininno tied the match.

Filling in for the injured Chandler Olson, Shields made quite the first impression with a 13-1 major decision over Daniel Kidd at 133 pounds. The true freshman came out firing and led 7-1 after the first three minutes before adding two more takedowns, one each in the second and third periods.

Chase Shields earns the Hammer

He picked up a major decision victory in his collegiate dual debut pic.twitter.com/P9SLYVCe69
— DrexelWrestling (@DrexelWrestling) January 12, 2020

American regained the lead for good with No. 24 Sal Profaci's major decision against Tyler Williams at 141 pounds.

Felix Belga and Elijah Murphy battled in a tightly-contested bout at 157 pounds. A scoreless first period gave way to the second, where Belga started from the bottom position and worked an escape. His 1-0 lead lasted into the third period, but Belga was hit with stalling for the second time to tie the match at 1-1. Murphy scored the decisive escape point, then kept Belga at bay for the 2-1 decision win.

The Eagles led 20-4 after getting a pin at 165 pounds, but Drexel won two of the next three weight classes.

No. 33 Michael O'Malley controlled Benjamin Root for a 9-0 major decision victory at 174 pounds. O'Malley picked apart Root, scoring three takedowns and earning the riding time point. The redshirt-freshman improves to 10-5 on the season. Of those 10 victories, seven have garnered bonus points.

Owen Brooks fell to Tanner Harvey by 13-4 major decision at 184 pounds.

McLaughlin earned six points for the Dragons in his match at 197 pounds. He made short work of William Jarrell, pinning his shoulders to the mat in just 40 seconds.

A takedown in the second period decided the heavyweight bout between Sean O'Malley and Niko Camacho with Camacho winning 3-1.

The Dragons host a pair of home duals next weekend. Sixth-ranked North Carolina State visits the Daskalakis Athletic Center on Friday at 7 p.m. Drexel then squares off with EIWA foe Binghamton at 7 p.m. on Homecoming Sunday.

American 27, Drexel 14
125: No. 15 Gage Curry dec. Antonio Mininno, 5-3 (SV-1) – American 3, Drexel 0
133: Chase Shields major dec. Daniel Kidd, 13-1 – Drexel 4, American 3
141: No. 24 Sal Profaci major dec. Tyler Williams, 15-4 – American 7, Drexel 4
149: No. 9 Kizhan Clarke major dec. Jared Donahue, 14-4 – American 11, Drexel 4
157: Elijah Murphy dec. Felix Belga, 2-1 – American 14, Drexel 4
165: Timothy Fitzpatrick pin Mike Manley (2:25) – American 20, Drexel 4
174: No. 33 Michael O'Malley major dec. Benjamin Root, 9-0 – American 20, Drexel 8
184: No. 11 Tanner Harvey major dec. Owen Brooks, 13-4 – American 24, Drexel 9
197: Bryan McLaughlin pin William Jarrell (0:40) – American 24, Drexel 14
285: Niko Camacho dec. Sean O'Malley, 3-1 – American 27, Drexel 14