LITTLE ROCK – The Little Rock wrestling team dropped a tough 36-3 loss to Northern Colorado on Sunday, with a sole win from
Josiah Hill as the one of the few bright spots on the day. Northern Colorado, a team that is receiving votes in the NCAA Coaches Poll, collected six bonus point wins, with five of those coming in the first five bouts of the match. The Trojan upper weights slowed the Bears down toward the end, and Hill was able to prevent a shutout.
Josiah Hill was on board first in his match, showing a lot of control on top early in the match. Although his opponent put on some pressure in the second period, the heavyweight's late takedowns in both the second and third period showed his tenacity and ability to put his match away, locking in riding time for good measure. With the 9-3 decision, he moves to 12-7 on the season and should hold
his spot in the NCAA Coaches Ranking with results like that.
"Josiah has been doing a great job going out, setting the tone, and getting the first takedown," said head coach
Neil Erisman. "I loved today that he got his second takedown to seal the deal, and the third takedown was just something you want to see out of your guys. I was excited to see that, and if he continues to choose that attitude, he's gonna get a lot more wins."
Aside from Josiah, the majority of the lineup lacked aggression today. The squad scored half as many takedowns as they did against Oregon State last weekend, a final score that was almost exactly the same as today's dual but had a very different feel within the match due to the effort put out in each bout by the Trojans. The first takedown for Little Rock today was not scored until the fourth match, with only
Brendon Abdon and
Josiah Hill scoring more than one takedown.
"It was extremely disappointing that we wrestled scared for the first time all year," added Coach Erisman of the team's performance. "We wrestling timid and were in our feelings about things. I don't know what we expected, but it shouldn't have been too hard in our mind after the schedule we've wrestled and the competition we've seen. We have to man up. We've got three big weekends left in our season."
While there were some usual starters missing from the Trojan lineup, Coach Erisman made no excuses.
"When your number gets called, you're expected to do the same. Brendon is a great example. He went out and got some takedowns against the #25 guy in the country, then got taken down and dropped his head. That's the mentality we need to shift, because he went out there and showed it's possible before his attitude changed."
The Trojans have just one home dual left on the 2022-23 schedule. Little Rock will celebrate Senior Day next weekend, hosting conference foes Stanford at the Jack Stephens Center at 2:00 p.m. on Saturday, January 28.
View the full schedule here.
RESULTS vs. Northern Colorado (RV)
125: #10 Stevo Poulin (Northern Colorado) MD
Jeremiah Reno, 11-1
133: Jace Koelzer (Northern Colorado) MD
Josh Sarpy, 8-0
141: #1 Andrew Alirez (Northern Colorado) TF
Jaylen Carson, 24-9 (5:41)
149: Chris Sandoval (Northern Colorado) MD
Joseph Bianchi, 12-3
157: Nathan Moore (Northern Colorado) F
Matty Bianchi, 1:43
165: Baylor Fernandes (Northern Colorado) DEC
Tyler Brennan, 2-1
174: #25 Andrew Berreyesa (Northern Colorado) MD
Brendon Abdon, 16-4
184: Branson Britton (Northern Colorado) DEC
Mason Diel, 9-3
197: Xavier Vasquez (Northern Colorado) DEC
Matthew Weinert, 6-2
285: #32
Josiah Hill DEC Xavier Doolin (Northern Colorado), 9-3
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