No. 12 Wisconsin Knocks Off No. 8 Cornell On The Road

Badgers pin down Big Red in upset victory

Nov. 16, 2007

From Wisconsin Athletics

ITHACA, N.Y. (www.uwbadgers.com)- It came down to the final bout, but the No. 11 Wisconsin wrestling team upset No. 8 Cornell, 21-18 Friday night at the Newman Arena in Ithaca, N.Y. Junior Dallas Herbst secured the Badger victory when he pinned Cornell's Matt Panasevich at 6:44 in the 197 lbs. match.

The night began at heavyweight and Cornell got on the board first. It took an overtime and a tie breaker before the Big Red's Zach Hammond edged Wisconsin junior Kyle Massey, 2-1.

The Badgers responded though, winning the next three matches and taking a 9-3 lead. Senior Collin Cudd tied the score at three with an 11-5 victory over Cornell's Frank Perrelli at 125 lbs. and junior Zach Tanelli helped the Badgers take the lead with a close 7-5 win against Mike Grey at 133 lbs. Sophomore Kyle Ruschell wrestled at 141 lbs. for Wisconsin and had four takedowns in his 12-3 win over Eric McGill.

The bout at 149 lbs. came down to the final seconds for Wisconsin freshman Kendall Vogel and Cornell's Adam Frey. Vogel scored a two-point takedown with five seconds left in the third period and a three-point nearfall as time expired to knot the score at seven, but Frey's 2:17 of riding time gave Cornell the 8-7 win at 149 lbs.

Wisconsin built on its lead with a win at 157 lbs. Only four points were scored in the whole match but senior Craig Henning's two-point reversal in the third period and one point for riding time was what it took to defeat Cornell's Jordan Leen, 3-1.

Cornell then tied and regained the lead with pins at 165 lbs. and 174 lbs., but Wisconsin pulled within three at 18-15 with a win at 184 lbs. Sophomore Trevor Brandvold captured the 7-4 victory over Cornell's Nate Holley.

Down three and with the match on the line, Herbst got out to a quick 4-0 lead in the first period. As the match continued, Herbst would score five more points and allowed just one point for Panasevich before the Badger grappler recorded his third pin of the season and the win for Wisconsin. Herbst now has 33 career pins, which moves him into second all-time on UW's career falls list.

The Badgers return to the mat at the Newman Arena tomorrow for competition at the Body Bar Invite. Wisconsin is one of 10 teams at the invite and competition begins at 8 a.m. (CST).