Wrestling Edged by Army in Dramatic EIWA Dual, 18-15

LEWISBURG, Pa. – Back-to-back wins at 184 and 197 tied the dual at 15-15 and gave the Bucknell wrestling team a chance to defeat Army for the first time since 2017, but the Black Knights won the battle between the two ranked heavyweights and walked away with an 18-15 victory in one of the tightest matches Davis Gym has seen in some time.

Army (5-3, 4-0 EIWA) held a 15-9 lead with three bouts to go, and the two teams were neck and neck throughout the evening. Outside of an Army pin at 125 that gave the Black Knights an initial 6-0 advantage, every other bout was within four point after three periods. The first two Bucknell (6-4, 2-1 EIWA) wins were decided by just a single point. No. 16 Kurt Phipps (133) defeated No. 31 Braden Basile 1-0 thanks to a second period escape, then Dylan Chappell (141) defeated Logan Brown 5-4 to even the match at 6-6.

Army stretched its lead back to six with wins at 149 and 157. Matthew Williams secured a 4-1 decision over Riley Bower and Nathan Lukez won 5-1 over Cade Wirnsberger in the freshman's first dual action. Both of those bouts sat scoreless through their first periods.

12th-ranked Noah Mulvaney provided drama at 165, stopping the bleeding and kicking off a 9-3 Bison run with a 9-2 overtime victory against Army's Dalton Harkins. Harkins took a 2-0 lead with a reversal at the start of the second period, but a Mulvaney escape seconds later and another to start off the third tied it up at 2-2. Less than a minute into the extra period Mulvaney scored the winning takedown and added back points. He improved to 22-3 with the win.

Next, Myles Takats took 16th-ranked Ben Pasiuk to the wire at 174. The freshman fell behind 6-1 in the first period before tying it up at 6-6 heading into the third. A Pasiuk takedown with 25 seconds left put the match in peril, but Takats pulled out an escape and a takedown in the final seconds to tie it up at 11-11. Pasiuk, with 1:37 of riding time, took the 12-11 win.

Mikey Bartush and Dillon Sheehy's 184 matchup was also decided in the final seconds. The two sat tied at 1-1 until Bartush's finishing takedown with just six seconds left. His 4-1 decision cut Bucknell's deficit to 15-12. Logan Deacetis (197) then evened the match with a 5-1 decision in which he led throughout and captured the riding time point.

For a second year in a row, the match between the Black Knights and the Bison would come down to the final bout. No. 26 Lucas Stoddard struck first with a takedown in the first period against No. 27 Dorian Crosby. Crosby responded with an escape. Stoddard pushed the lead back to three at 4-1 with an escape in the second, and Crosby got it to 4-2 just 10 seconds into the third. Crosby was unable to pull off the winning takedown.

Bucknell hits the road on Sunday, Jan. 28 to face Drexel at the Daskalakis Athletic Center in Philadelphia, Pa. at 1 p.m.

Army 18, Bucknell 15
Saturday, Jan. 27, 2024
Davis Gym – Lewisburg, Pa.
Attendance: 262

125: Charles Farmer (AWP) fall over Owen Bell (BUC), 1:43 (AWP 6-0)
133: No. 16 Kurt Phipps (BUC) dec. over No. 31 Braden Basile (AWP), 1-0 (AWP 6-3)
141: Dylan Chappell (BUC) dec. over Logan Brown (AWP), 5-4 (6-6)
149: Matthew Williams (AWP) dec. over Riley Bower (BUC), 4-1 (AWP 9-6)
157: Nathan Lukez (AWP) dec. over Cade Wirnsberger (BUC), 5-1 (AWP 12-6)
165: No. 12 Noah Mulvaney (BUC) SV-1 over Dalton Harkins (AWP), 9-2 (AWP 12-9)
174: No. 16 Ben Pasiuk (AWP) dec. over Myles Takats (BUC), 12-11 (AWP 15-9)
184: Mikey Bartush (BUC) dec. over Dillon Sheehy (AWP), 4-1 (AWP 15-12)
197: Logan Deacetis (BUC) dec. over Wolfgang Frable (AWP) 5-1 (15-15)
285: #26 Lucas Stoddard (AWP) dec. over #27 Dorian Crosby (BUC), 4-2 (AWP 18-15)