Picture-Perfect Start Spells Win At St. John's
The Cobbers won the first four individual bouts - two by pin fall - at St. John's and rolled to a 39-3 win over the Johnnies.
COLLEGEVILLE, Minn. (2/13/15)—No.6-ranked Concordia couldn't have asked for a better start to its dual match at St. John's. The Cobbers opened the dual by recording back-to-back pin falls and rolled to a 39-3 win over the Johnnies. Concordia won nine of the 10 individual bouts in earning their 12th dual-meet win of the season.
When the dust had settled Concordia won four bouts by pin fall and claimed the other five by decision as they upped their season record to 12-5. The Cobbers have now beaten St. John's in eight of the last 10 meetings between the two teams.
The dual match started at 165 and No.4-ranked Jake Krogstad put momentum on the side of the Cobbers as he claimed the team's first pin fall with the win at the 4:59 mark. It is Krogstad's 17th win of the year. He has now won seven straight matches.
No.8-ranked Sebastian Gardner completed the daily double by pinning his opponent at 174 in under three minutes. Gardner's win at 2:48 is his 20th of the year and he becomes the fourth CC wrestler to reach the 20-win milestone. Gardner is 14-2 in his last 16 matches and ups his overall record to 20-6.
Dane Ringquist and Danny Pike pushed the Cobber lead to 18-0 after wins by decision at 184 and 197. Ringquist earned a 4-1 decision at 187 and snapped a two-match losing streak to come away with his seventh of the year. Pike grabbed an 8-5 at 197 to give Concordia four straight wins to open the dual.
The Cobber four-match winning streak came to an end at 285 but then Concordia finished off the match by rattling off five straight wins.
Richard Soto came through with the biggest team-uplifting win of the match. Soto was able to drop weight during the week so the Cobbers wouldn't have to forfeit at 125 and then ground out a 2-1 win to give CC a 21-3 lead. It was Soto's first individual bout in a dual match this season.
Will McCarthy used the energy from Soto's win to gain a pin fall at 133. He recorded the pin at 2:04 to move his overall season record to 14-13. He has recorded wins in three straight dual matches.
The most-anticipated bout of the night came at 141 where No.4-ranked Jacoby Bergeron battled No.7-ranked Ben Henle from St. John's. Bergeron entered the match having won 18 straight matches while Henle hadn't lost to a Division III opponent all season long. It would be Bergeron that continued his impressive streak. Neither wrestler scored in the opening period. Bergeron then chose the down position to open the second and was able to gain an escape to come up with the first point of the match. Once again neither wrestler scored from the standing position and Bergeron was on top to start the third. He refused to let Henle get the escape in the final period and closed out the match with the extra point for riding time.
Bergeron has now won 19 straight matches and is 30-6 on the season. He is one of only a handful of wrestlers to record a 30-win season at Concordia and is now nine wins away from breaking the school record for most wins in a single season.
Jake Kostik and Ben Cousins added the exclamation point to the win. Kostik posted the Cobbers' fourth pin fall of the night when he earned the pin at 3:47 of his match at 149. The win is Kostik's third in his last five bouts and he now has nine wins on the year. Cousins closed out the dual match with a solid 3-1 win at 157. It was Cousins' 16th win of the year which is a career high for the junior.
Concordia will have one more dual match before turning its attention to the postseason. The Cobbers will host Southwest MN State on Thursday, Feb. 19 at 7 p.m. CC will then participate in the NCAA West regional on Saturday, Feb. 28 at Augsburg College.
#6 Concordia-Moorhead 39 at St. John�s 3
Date: February 13, 2015
Location: Collegeville, Minn.
Arena: Sexton Arena
Start Time: 7:00 p.m.
Individual Match Results:
165 - No.4 Jake Krogstad (CC) pin fall Teddy Erickson (SJU); 4:59 (Concordia 6-0)
174 - No.8 Sebastian Gardner (CC) pin fall Nick Hoff (SJU); 2:48 (Concordia 12-0)
184 - Dane Ringquist (CC) dec. Nick Pegelow (SJU); 4-1 (Concordia 15-0)
197 - Danny Pike (CC) dec. Robert Tait (SJU); 8-5 (Concordia 18-0)
285 - Colin Fisher (SJU) dec. Tyler Hoffman (CC); 3-2 (Concordia 18-3)
125 - Richy Soto (CC) dec. Ben Kollaja (SJU); 2-1 (Concordia 21-3)
133 - Will McCarthy (CC) pin fall Tevin Zavadil (SJU); 2:04 (Concordia 27-3)
141 - No.4 Jacoby Bergeron (CC) dec. No.7 Ben Henle (SJU); 2-0 (Concordia 30-3)
149 - Jake Kostik (CC) pin fall Branden Schorr (SJU); 3:47 (Concordia 36-3)
157 - Ben Cousins (CC) dec. Chase Monger (SJU); 3-1 (Concordia 39-3)