The Stanford wrestling team lost a tough, back-and-forth 18-16 dual match to San Francisco State on Sunday, the Cardinal’s third straight loss.

Playing in front of a home crowd in Burnham Pavilion, Stanford (7-9) jumped out to an early 10-0 lead after the first three matches. Freshman Dan Scherer started off the scoring with a come-from-behind 5-4 win over the Gators’ Zach Jimenez at 184 pounds to get the Cardinal on the board at 3-0. Fellow freshman Alan Yen followed with the only major decision of the day, a 13-5 win over Karam Basa at 197 pounds. In the heavyweight division, senior Dylan Rush continued Stanford’s hot start with a 6-2 victory over Anthony Gonzalez.

The Cardinal could not maintain its momentum in the following matches, though, as the Gators responded with three straight wins to take the lead. Redshirt sophomore Matt Sencenbaugh lost a close 5-3 decision to SFSU’s Pierre Bondoc at 125 pounds, and redshirt junior Austin Quarles, wrestling at 133 pounds, lost to Brian Tharp. In the only fall of the day, the Gators’ Naveed Bagheri defeated freshman Donovan Halpin at 141 pounds to give SFSU six points and a 12-10 lead.

Stanford rebounded after losing its lead, winning two more matches by decision to open up a 16-12 lead. Wrestling up a weight class, redshirt freshman Jordan Gray defeated SFSU’s Matt Thomas 8-3 at 149 pounds to put the Cardinal up one. At 157 pounds, redshirt freshman Sam Umlauf won his first career match, a 5-0 shutout win over Dylan Phillipy.

With just two matches remaining, the Cardinal clung to a four-point lead. However, the Gators pulled out two victories by decision to take the dual. At 165 pounds, freshman Garrett Schaner lost a narrow 4-3 decision to Isaiah Jimenez, bringing the overall score within a point. In the final match of the day, redshirt sophomore 174-pounder Kyler Hasson lost a 4-0 decision to Gene Choi to give the Gators the two-point victory.

The Cardinal will be back in action on Friday when the team hosts Cal Baptist at 6 p.m. in Burnham Pavilion.