Ephs have strong performance at the Ursinus Fall Brawl Tournament/Updated Coach's Comments

Collegeville, Pennsylvania- In their first contest of the season the Ephs preformed well. Three Ephs placed and a fourth lost a heartbreaker in the consolation finals.

The format of Ursinus Fall Brawl tournament was double elimination. No team score was kept.

Full Results 

Freshman Ryan Malo won his weight class (184), senior captain Ethan Cohen placed second at 125, sophomore Corey Paulish placed third at 141, and junior Carl Breitenstein captured fourth place.

In a promising start to his Williams wrestling career, transfer freshman Ryan Malo stormed through the 184 pound weight class. Malo was able to pin his first two opponents in times of 4:50 and 4:21. In the finals he fought a bitterly contested match eventually defeating Nate Murren (Ursinus) on points (3-2).

Senior Captain Ethan Cohen breezed into the finals of the 125 pound weight class. He defeated his first two opponents by pin fall in times of 5:44 and 2:54, respectively. In his third match he beat Kyle Christensen (NYU) on points 7-1. In the finals, Cohen met Rob Miller (Thiel) who is the preseason 9^th ranked wrestler 125. Cohen fought gallantly but eventually had to settle for second place.

Sophomore Corey Paulish had a difficult opening draw in the 141 pound weight class. In his first match he fell to the eventual champion Anthony Rizzolo (The College of New Jersey) on points. However, from that point on he was as dominate as any wrestler in the tournament. He won five straight matches all on points. To go the distance in six straight matches shows Paulish's dedication to his off season training regimen, dedication that should pay off the rest of this season.

Junior Carl Breitenstein had a strong performance in the 157 pound weight class. He won his first two matches by pin fall in: 2:45 and a speedy 1:07. His third match was bitterly contested, with Breitenstein coming up on the short end of a 4-3 decision. In the conciliation bracket Breitenstein won his first match by pin fall in 1:39. The third place match was one of the most entertaining matches of the tournament. Breitenstein fought hard and was forced to overtime by Matt Magill (NYU). Unfortunately, Breitenstein had to settle for fourth place after losing in the sudden victory overtime period.

All in all it was a productive first weekend for the Ephs. Many young athletes got their first taste of collegiate wrestling while the returning veterans were able to finally return to the mats after a long off-season.

"Overall co-head coach Raf Vega and I were very pleased with our team's results because we have only been practicing for two weeks and we wrestled at a high level against good competition," noted co-head coach Dan DiCenzo "The College of New Jersey (#14) was at the tournament and everyone on their team is very tough."

Dan DiCenzo's comments on the Ursinus Fall Brawl follow:

"Ethan Cohen had five wrestlers in his weight class that are considered top kids in the country including #9 Rob Miller of Thiel, Tyler Erdman of Elizabethtown, Kyle Kinchen of TCNJ, and Kyle Christensen of NYU. Ethan pinned his first two opponents and then beat Christensen very convincingly 7-1, dominating the match.  He finished second to Rob Miller of Thiel by pin in 2:43.  Ethan wrestled well for his first tournament but knows if he wants to be one of the best kids in the country he needs to win that type of match later in the season."

"At 133 Josh Mattana went 2-2 and Mike Penza went 1-2 both wrestling very well and losing to good kids in a tough weight class."

"At 141 Corey Paulish had a great day. Although he lost his first match to the eventual champion Anthony Rizzolo 7-4, Corey came back to win five straight matches and take 3rd place.  Along the way he beat three very good wrestlers in James Bloom of Ursinus (8-4), Eric Rhoads of Elizabethtown (8-4), and Greg Martino of NYU (7-2). It was a good first tournament for Corey.  He is going up a weight class this year and that always takes a little getting used to.  He looked better and better as the day went on."

"149 was the toughest weight class in the tournament.  There were four returning NCAA qualifiers in the weight class.  Dylan Rittenburg pinned his first two opponents and in his 3rd match was winning by a score of 5-0 when he got caught and pinned.  Dylan then won his next two matches setting up a consi-semifinals match with Tyler Branham of TCNJ an All-American in 2007. Dylan would take a 2-1 lead in the 3rd period but could not get out from the bottom and Branham was able to tie the match at 2-2.  After the 1st set of overtimes the score was still 2-2, and finally in what is called TB2 Branham reversed Dylan and was able to win 6-2 in a 10-minute match that was decided in the second tiebreaker.  As coaches we know Dylan is not satisfied with his performance this weekend, because he feels he was the best wrestler at the weight class.  The strong competition he faced this weekend will really help in the weeks to come."

"At 157 Carl Breitenstein took 4th place.  Carl pinned his first two opponents. The second wrestler was John Dinan of TCNJ a very strong wrestler who Carl was able to pin in 1:07.  In the semifinals Carl lost to Dan Dicolo of TCNJ 4-3 in a great match.  Carl then pinned Chris Springer of Ursinus, another very strong wrestler, in 1:39.  Carl finished his day losing a tough match to Matt Magill of NYU 6-4 in SV1, which is the first overtime in a wrestling match.  Carl had a great day but as was the case for many of our guys you could tell we have only been at it for about two weeks where these other teams have practiced for at least a month."

"At 165 James McCarthy had a great day winning his first two matches and making the semifinals.  In the Semi-final match he lost 4-4 in TB1 to Jon Sternlicht of Muhlenberg College.  McCarthy was in on a few shots in the overtime but could not finish as Sternlicht did a nice job countering his attacks.  James is coming back from an injury this off-season so we wanted to limit him to only three matches on the day.  He looked great this weekend and we are excited about what we think he can do this season.  McCarthy then medical defaulted to finish in 6th place."

"Jon Foster was 2-2 at 165 and Drew Gatewood was 2-2 at 174."

At 184 new comer Ryan Malo made an immediate impact winning a championship in his first tournament wrestling for the Ephs.  Malo pinned his first two opponents in dominating fashion.  In the semifinals he beat Mike Denver of TCNJ by pin in 4:21 after being up 12-0 in the match.  In the finals he beat a tough wrestler in Nate Murren of Ursinus 3-2.  Ryan was dominating all day.  Coach Vega and I were very pleased with his aggressive style and take care of business approach."

"Overall the tournament was a great start to our season.  We knew we would be behind all of the other teams in terms of match experience with this being our first competition and every other team's second.  With that in mind we feel this tournament will really help us prepare for this coming weekend at the Doug Parker Tournament at Springfield College where there will be a team score kept as well as individual results."