Sometimes upsets just weren't meant to be.
The wrestling team, plagued by injuries, fell 29-10 to Maryland Saturday at Cameron Indoor Stadium. The Blue Devils (4-4, 0-2 in the Atlantic Coast Conference) began the match behind the eight ball, as they were without the services of 118-lb. starter Bill West and 150-lb. starter Mike Contarino. Contarino, who sported a 10-8 record, is out for the season after having surgery on his right knee. West, who has a 12-7 record, missed the match for personal reasons.
The injuries were compounded during the course of the match, as 158-lb. sophomore Matt Mapes, one of the team's leading performers with a 9-2 record, was forced to default his match with Arash Alizadeh with 1:04 left in the second period after injuring his neck.
"I thought everybody wrestled pretty hard," Duke coach Bill Harvey said. "We had a forfeit at 118 and that gave them six there, then Mapes gets hurt at 158 and we gave them six more. That's twelve points, and the final score was 29-10. If you could take some of those points and turn them the other way where we get three or six out of it and they get nothing... you've got a real dog fight."
West's absence forced the Blue Devils to forfeit the 118-lb. weight class, so the team was down 6-0 before anyone had even stepped onto the mats. Junior Chris Heckel, wrestling at 126, quickly reduced the deficit with a 14-3 major decision over Maryland's Scott Herfel. The victory improved Heckel's record to 20-4.
Maryland (9-3) quickly swung the tide back in its favor behind the wrestling of its star, senior James Guzzio. Guzzio, whose accolades include an ACC title, a No. 8 national ranking and a 31-0 record, dominated Duke freshman Cameron Stock from start to finish, winning 14-1 to improve Maryland's lead to 10-4.
In response to Maryland's star, Duke brought out its own team leader at 142-lbs., senior Dan Covatta. Covatta used a series of quick takedowns late in the second period to defeat archrival Shane Mack 10-6. Covatta, who upped his record to 28-3, managed to hold on for the win despite suffering a gash to the head at the end of the second period that forced him to finish out the match with his head almost completely wrapped.
"Covatta wrestled really well," Harvey said. "Covatta's kid beat him in the ACC's last year, so it was kind of a match where he had to get with it, and he did a super job. He wrestled the kid pretty smart, and he didn't make many mistakes."
After Covatta's victory, which brought the overall match score to 10-7 in Maryland's favor, things went downhill for the Blue Devils. Junior Jon Seeber, Contarino's replacement at 150, lost a 17-4 major decision, and Mapes was injured mid-match to bring the score to 20-7.
In perhaps the most dramatic match of the afternoon, senior Jacob Hart defeated Maryland's Damon Stephens 4-2 at 167-lbs. Hart, who is now 16-6 on the year, fell behind 1-0 after two periods, but used a takedown with 40 seconds remaining to get the victory.
"I had a good feeling about the match," Hart said. "The kid wasn't wrestling really offensively. I didn't think he could take me down. I was pretty confident until the end of the match, and I knew something would come through in the end."
Hart was the last Duke wrestler to win, as juniors Jesse Raia and Dion Santo and freshman Alex Hunt all lost their matches, bringing the final score to 29-10.
Despite the loss, the Blue Devils were pleased with the improvement they've shown, and are looking forward to the home stretch of the season, including matches against ACC foes North Carolina and N.C. State, and the ACC Tournament, which is on March 8.
"It seems that we're growing more together as a team," Hart said. "Especially in the preseason, the younger guys were going out there and wrestling kind of sloppy. The last couple of matches, we've been keeping the matches closer against some tougher guys. We've really improved on our technique."
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