Despite a tough outing Saturday, the Blue Devils picked up their second win of the season Sunday to cap a weekend of wrestling on the West Coast.
After dropping a 27-15 match against Stanford at Burnham Pavilion Saturday in Stanford, Calif., Duke rallied to a 28-18 win against Cal Poly at Mott Athletics Center in San Luis Obispo, Calif., a day later. The Blue Devils used four bonus point victories against the Mustangs to secure the win.
With forfeits at 125 and 174 pounds, a short-handed Duke (2-5) needed to capitalize on points in the remaining matches to seize a win in Sunday’s dual. The Blue Devils’ ranked wrestlers did just that, dispatching Cal Poly (1-5) by bonus margins in all three of their matchups.
Choosing to start the dual at the 157-pound weight class, Duke fell behind in an early decision loss when Colt Shorts defeated Connor Bass, 5-4. But No. 17 Jake Faust rallied in the next match for the Blue Devils, scoring a 10-2 major decision and an early 4-3 team lead.
By the time the match reached 197 pounds, though, Duke had squandered Faust’s early momentum and trailed the Mustangs, 12-4. But No. 5 Conner Hartmann injected new life into his teammates. The redshirt senior defeated J.T. Goodwin in just 22 seconds with a pin to give the Blue Devils six points and a burst of momentum to rally.
The lineup rolled back through the lower weights with Duke’s forfeit at 125 pounds, and a subsequent Cal Poly forfeit at 133 pounds, which set up a 19-18 lead for the Blue Devils with the Finesilver brothers on deck and in the hole at 141 and 149 pounds, respectively.
Zach Finesilver was tied 4-4 with Colton Schilling after the first period, but a flurry of offense in the final two frames produced a 25-10 technical fall and five points for the Greenwood Village, Colo., native. Not to be outdone, twin brother Mitch Finesilver took a commanding 6-0 lead into the final period, where the No. 19 grappler scored a 15-3 major decision that sealed the victory for Duke.
A day earlier, the script was flipped on the Blue Devils as Stanford (7-2) jumped out to a 17-6 lead by the match’s midway point en route to its 12-point victory.
The dual began at 197 pounds, where Hartmann scored a fall at 4:36 against Michael Sojka to jumpstart Duke, but the Cardinal picked up four straight victories after the Port Orchard, Wash., native’s opening win to create space in the match. With the two falls on the road, Hartmann improved to 16-1 overall in his final season, including a 7-0 ledger in dual competition.
Mitch Finesilver kept pace with Hartmann by remaining undefeated in duals as well. Although Paul Fox battled the 149-pounder to a 5-5 tie heading into the final frame, a strong final period ended in a default victory for the Blue Devil. Finesilver is now 18-5 this season after moving up from 133 pounds, where he was an NCAA qualifier last season.
In the most anticipated match against Stanford, No. 12 Jim Wilson sought revenge against Faust at 165 pounds after losing two bouts to the redshirt sophomore in tournament competition. But for the third time this season, Faust bested Wilson, scoring a 9-4 decision to keep his record against ranked opponents perfect at 3-0—all against the Cardinal grappler.
Despite trailing by only five after Faust’s victory, the Blue Devils dropped a major decision at 174 pounds and another decision at 184 pounds to cement the loss Saturday.
Duke will return to action on the road Friday in its third ACC matchup of the season against Virginia at 7 p.m.
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