Jan. 29, 2006
MADISON, Wis. - Wisconsin recorded three pins on Sunday, enough to defeat the Boilermakers on the mat at the UW Field House 24-16. Purdue and Wisconsin split the dual with five match victories each, but the extra points won by the Badgers handed Purdue its fourth Big Ten loss.
Seniors Chris Fleeger and Doug Withstandley each knocked off higher-ranked wrestlers in the dual, and senior Ben Wissel continued his dominating season with another win by major decision.
Two early pins vaulted Wisconsin out to a 15-3 advantage, but the Boilermakers stormed back, winning four of the next five matches to draw to within three points at 18-16. The dual came down to the 141-pound match, a match that saw UW's Ed Gutnik catch junior Jason Cook in a cradle in the third period for the winning pin, the third fall registered on the afternoon.
Withstandley, ranked ninth at 149, opened the dual with an energetic 9-4 win over fifth-ranked Tyler Turner. Withstandley stood by his intentions of scoring early by registering the first takedown of th match 26 seconds into the first period. A Turner reversal and Withstandley escape gave the Boilermaker a 3-2 lead after three minutes. A second-period reversal by Withstandley set the stage for the winning final stanza, a period that saw another Withstandley takedown and Purdue's opening win.
Purdue fell, literally, at 157 and 165 as Wisconsin built a 12-3 lead. A Badger decision at 174 put the Boilermakers down by 12 heading into the match at 184.
As has become the usual this season, Wissel dominated his opponent with a 12-3 major decision, the second major over Matt Maciag this year. Two takedowns in the opening period, followed by one in the second and two more in the third allowed the third-ranked 184-pounder to post his 28th win of the season.
Purdue inched closer to knotting the dual when junior Nathan Moore scored a first-period takedown and rode that to a 2-1 decision over Dallas Herbst.
A loss at heavyweight put the Boilermakers down by eight, setting up Purdue with the opportunity to win if the final three weights went the way of the Old Gold and Black.
A trifecta of reversals in the second period gave Collin Cudd a 4-2 lead over sophomore Brandon Tucker heading into the final two minutes. Tucker scored an escape with 25 seconds remaining to draw to wthin one point, while Cudd had built a 1:04 riding time advantage. The Boilermaker got in on Cudd as the clocked wound down, scoring the winning takedown with five seconds remaining, allowing the Badger riding time to dip under one minute and give Tucker the 5-4 win.
At 133 pounds, sixth-ranked Fleeger dominated the action against fifth-ranked Tom Clum, winning 8-4. The Boilermaker proved to be back to the form that sent him to All-America status in 2002 and 2003, taking Clum down three times and building a 7-1 lead before the Badger scored a late takedown to narrow the gap.
Trailing 18-16 heading into the final match, the Boilermakers needed a win to knock off the Badgers. However, Gutnik posted the winning pin in the third period to secure the Wisconsin win.
The Boilermakers (8-6, 0-4 Big Ten) return to the mat next weekend to face the Michigan tandem, taking on the Spartans on Friday in East Lansing on Friday evening and the Wolverines on Sunday at home in the IAF.