Look out—Duke is on a roll.
The Blue Devils fought hard under the lights of Cameron Indoor Stadium Saturday to capture a 29-14 victory against a winless Sacred Heart squad, claiming their 10th dual win of the season. Duke reached double-digit wins for the first time since 2008-09 with four matches remaining. The victory also marked the team’s fifth straight, each coming during a grueling one-week span.
“Just to get over the hump here was really good for the team,” head coach Glen Lanham said. “I felt like everybody wrestled hard…. We came out here and we closed those guys out pretty good.”
Duke (10-4) got off to a slow start against Sacred Heart (0-8) in the team dual. After dropping a tight contest at 125 pounds by minor decision to fall behind 3-0, however, the rest of the match belonged about the home squad.
With a striking similarity to the ferocious first-half run by the Blue Devil basketball team earlier in the day, Duke rattled off 23 straight points against the Pioneers to put the match away.
Freshman Mitch Finesilver dominated his matchup at 133 pounds with a 16-0 technical fall—the first of his career. Up next in the 141 pound division, redshirt sophomore Evan Botwin added four more points for the Blue Devils by way of a 13-0 major decision to capture his 16th win of the season.
The Blue Devils’ strength and will to win was apparent at 149 pounds when redshirt junior Marcus Cain scored a hard takedown against Sacred Heart’s Brendan Goldup in the first 30 seconds of his match.
“That was awesome for us, for [Marcus] to get out there and set the tone,” Lanham said. “[The crowd] loves that kind of stuff too. He’s a crowd-pleaser for sure. When he gets a guy, picks him up in the air and puts him down hard, you can hear the crowd. That excites the team.”
Cain did not let up after his first takedown either. After scoring another hard takedown in the third period, he rode his opponent out for the rest of the match to get a major decision, 10-2. The Winston-Salem, N.C., native said he is always looking for a way to end the match, and 14 times this season he has ended it with a win.
“I just want to hurry up and finish the match,” Cain said. “The shorter I’m out there, the better for me.”
With the score 13-3, redshirt senior Immanuel Kerr-Brown put away sophomore Casey Mitchell with another major decision at 157 pounds before redshirt sophomore Brian Dorsey scored a first period fall at the 165 pound slot to improve to 16-7 on the season. With his fifth pin of the year, Dorsey backed the Pioneers into a 23-3 corner.
In a unique venue with the season winding down, several unfamiliar faces came to the mat in the heart of Duke’s lineup. Redshirt sophomore Michael Wright, redshirt junior Dylan Ryan and fifth-year senior Brendan Fowler got the chance to impress the home faithful at 174 pounds, 184 pounds and 197 pounds, respectively.
“It’s good to give those guys a shot,” Lanham said. “They definitely earned it tonight, so we wanted to see what they could do. They wrestled hard like I knew they would. I was happy to get those guys in the lineup.”
Despite the hard-fought grappling by each wrestler, Wright, Ryan and Fowler all fell to opposing Pioneers.
Ryan’s matchup came down to the wire. With the crowd chanting “Rhino” to spur him on, the Brentwood, N.H., native fought furiously to put away Sacred Heart's Elliot Antler. Despite the roars of support he could not stave off a takedown in the closing seconds of the third period, finishing the the match down 3-1.
In place of No. 7 Conner Hartmann at 197, Fowler—a former member of the Duke football team and a two-time NCAA champion lacrosse player—took to the mat with the crowd showing its support for the Blue Devil standout.
With the entire men's lacrosse team—including head coach John Danowski—in attendance, the former faceoff specialist put on a valiant effort, but could not rally from an early four-point deficit, falling 9-4 to Sasha Oliinyk by minor decision.
“We wanted to see what [Fowler] could do,” Lanham said. “I felt like everybody wrestled hard tonight, so I was pleased with it.”
Redshirt junior Brendan Walsh followed Fowler with a pin early in the second period of the heavyweight matchup—his second of the season—to put the final six points in the Blue Devils’ 29-14 victory.
Duke will close out its home schedule back in Card Gym Feb. 11 at 7 p.m. against rival North Carolina. The Blue Devils have not beaten the Tar Heels in more than 40 years and are looking to make senior night memorable this year in Durham.
“It’ll be something to go out and leave this university going out and beating UNC,” Cain said. “They’re a good team, but we’re also a good team. If we wrestle hard we will beat them, and we should. I’m excited for it.”
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