After kicking off its season with a bang with big wins over California Baptist and Cal State, the Cardinal wrestling team (2-1) faced a stiff test against No. 8 Northwestern (1-0) in its home opener at Burnham Pavilion. Although the team hung around with the Wildcats in a back-and-forth meet, Northwestern cleaned up in the 141-, 149- and 157-pound decisions to claim a hard-fought 21-13 victory.
Junior Jim Wilson took a rare loss to open the meet, as he was unable to overcome the fifth-ranked Pierce Harger at 165 pounds and dropped a 8-4 decision. However, sophomores Keaton Subjeck and Garet Krohn continued strong starts to their seasons with decisions over their opponents at 174 and 184 to put the Cardinal on top.
It was Northwestern’s turn to regain the lead after that in the back-and-forth meet, with junior Ryan Davies and sophomore Nathan Butler losing in a technical fall and a decision, respectively, to ranked opponents. Butler’s loss to No. 1 Mike McMullan at heavyweight gave Northwestern a 11-6 lead halfway through the meet.
However, Stanford bounced back immediately behind a momentum-shifting major decision from No. 15 senior Evan Silver at 125 pounds, who dominated Garrison White of Northwestern in his season debut to bring the Cardinal back to an 11-10 deficit.
Sophomore Connor Schram then gave Stanford a lead with a sudden victory decision over No. 19 Dominick Malone with a takedown, which continued his perfect start to the season at 133 pounds.
However, that was the final victory that Stanford would notch on the afternoon, as freshman Isaiah Locsin, fifth-year senior Garrett Schaner and junior Maxwell Hvolbek were all outmatched by their opponents in three consecutive matches to close out the meet, including a major decision by No. 1 Jason Tsirtsis, the defending NCAA champion, over Schaner at 149.
After a promisingly close meet against a national powerhouse in Northwestern, the team will look to get back to its winning ways when it next welcomes North Carolina to the Farm on Saturday in a noon meet that will take place at Fan Fest outside Stanford Stadium before the Senior Day football game against Utah.