Northern Illinois
Wrestling Drops Season Finale At Northern Illinois, 26-10
2/20/2015 12:00:00 AM | Wrestling
DEKALB, IL – The University at Buffalo, The State University of New York wrestling team (5-14, 0-8 MAC) wrapped up their season on Friday night on the road at Northern Illinois, falling by the score of 26-10 to the Huskies in Max Soria and Wally Maziarz' final matches for the Blue and White.
"We competed really hard tonight as a team," stated second-year head coach John Stutzman. "We outwrestled them at a lot of weights but we just need to learn how to win. I am pleased with the progress we made this season with a very young team that had eight freshman/ sophomores in the lineup. We are not far off as a program and I know we are headed in the right direction."
After falling behind 4-0 after the first match of the night, redshirt freshman Colt Cotten took to the mat with his sights set on getting back some points for the Bulls and he did just that. After a slow start in the first, trailing 2-1 enter the second, Cotten got it going for the Bulls as he recorded a takedown in the second and took the 5-4 lead into the final period. Cotten did not give up in the final period as he wore down his opponent and earned three points for UB with the 9-4 decision victory. The win for Cotten gave him a 4-3 record on the season after returning from what looked like a season ending injury before the season.
At 149-pounds, Jason Estevez took to the mat and put in one of his best matches of the season as he earned an 8-3 decision victory. Entering the final period and the match all squared at two, Estevez took over the match and earned his first win at 149-pounds of his career. Estevez closes out his first season as a Bull with a record of 12-8 and a dual meet record of 7-5.
The Bulls lost the next three matches and fell behind 14-6 before Joe Ariola took to the mat for the Bulls. In just his third appearance at 184-pounds for the Bulls, Ariola was impressive for his second straight match as he earned a major decision 13-5 victory over Quinton Rosser. Ariola jumped out to a quick 6-3 lead after the first period and after a takedown in the second, he held the 8-4 cushion over his opponent. In the final period, Ariola wore his opponent down and grinded out a 13-5 major decision to give UB four points. Ariola improved to 14-11 overall and 8-6 in dual meets with the win.
The next two matches were tight for the Bulls as James Benjamin put in another great fight at 197-pounds but he lost a close 9-5 decision to Shawn Scott. At 285-pounds, Mike Silvis hung tough but was not able to score on his opponent, falling 2-0.
In the final match of his UB career, Soria couldn't get6 anything going for the Bulls and was pinned. Despite the loss, Soria had an outstanding career for the Bulls as he finished with 81 career victories and over 100 career takedowns. The two-time national qualifier wrapped up his stellar senior campaign with a 21-8 overall record and a 12-6 dual meet mark.
The Bulls closed out their 2014-15 campaign with five wins, a total higher than the previous two seasons combined and the most wins since the 2011-12 season.
RESULTS – Northern Illinois 26 BUFFALO 10
125: Derek Elmore (NIU) won by fall over Max Soria (UB),
133: Jordan Northrup (NIU) won by major decision over Sean Peacock (UB), 13-5
141: Colt Cotten (UB) won by decision over Tyler Argue (NIU), 9-4
149: Jason Estevez (UB) won by decision over Austin Culton (NIU), 8-3
157: Andrew Morse (NIU) won by major decision over Ryan Kromer (UB), 10-0
165: Shaun'Que McMurtry (NIU) won by decision over Rrok Ndokaj (UB), 8-7
174: Trace Engelkes (NIU) won by decision over Wally Maziarz (UB), 6-2
184: Joe Ariola (UB) won by major decision over Quinton Rosser (NIU), 13-5
197: Shawn Scott (NIU) won by decision over James Benjamin (UB), 9-5
285: Arthur Bunce (NIU) won by decision over Mike Silvis (UB), 2-0
