Maryland wrestling falls to No. 14 Rutgers in final Big Ten regular season dual, 27-12

Three conference wins in the 2023-24 season was just a bit too much to ask for the Terps.

Maryland (4-7, 2-6 Big Ten) came up short in its final Big Ten matchup of the regular season against Rutgers (11-5, 4-4 Big Ten), falling 27-12 on the road. Despite double-digit scoring victories from Ethen Miller and Jaxon Smith, as well as a major upset victory for Seth Nevills, the Terps could not prevent the Scarlet Knights from snapping a four-meet losing streak. 

Tommy Capul couldn’t get out of the second period of the 125-pound fight, falling victim to the catch-and-release method from No. 19 Dean Peterson. The bout went 10-1 in favor of Peterson at the end of the first, giving the Scarlet Knights an early five-point lead.

No. 19 Braxton Brown hung with No. 9 Dylan Shawver for the first two periods of the 133-pound bout, but a final-frame breakaway gave the Rutgers wrestler the 9-5 victory. Brown appeared to have a takedown in the final seconds of the second period, and coach Alex Clemsen challenged, but officials ruled that Brown did not have control.

No. 28 Kal Miller found himself on the losing end of another low scoring affair against No. 21 Mitch Moore. Moore got an escape and a riding time point, but it was all he needed for the 2-0 victory. Miller has now neither given up nor secured a takedown in two of his last three bouts, and the Scarlet Knights’ lead grew to 11 as a result.

No. 12 Ethen Miller finally gave Maryland its first individual win of the dual with a 13-3 major decision victory over No. 25 Michael Cetta at the 149-pound weight class. The Terps’ wrestler looked to flip Cetta on his back the entire match, doing enough to secure the positive result.

In a contentious match between two unranked wrestlers, Michael North gave up a major decision to Al DeSantis in the 157-pound fight. North took the down position in the final period trailing 4-1, and started giving up back points while looking to get the reversal — giving DeSantis the momentum he needed to pick up an extra takedown and hold off North’s strikes.

Rutgers’ Anthony White broke out of a long slump with a victory over AJ Rodrigues, but not before nearly blowing his advantage. White led 5-0 in the third period and cut Rodrigues loose — catching White not paying attention to securing a quick takedown. But Rodrigues couldn’t secure a second takedown, giving White the win to grow the Scarlet Knights’ lead to 18-4.

No. 14 Jackson Turley only managed one point in the 174-pound bout, but it was all he needed to extend Rutgers’ lead 21-4 in a rematch of last year’s meeting with Dom Solis. Solis was able to convert a low-scoring match into a win last Sunday by pushing the bout to extra time, but was unable to secure a point of his own this time to get a similar result.

Chase Mielnik lost by pin in a dual meet for the second time this season, this time falling victim to No. 19 Brian Soldano. Mielnik fended off two Soldano attacks to keep the first period scoreless, but then Soldano took over. Soldano flipped Mielnik onto his back to hold control, securing the win to put six more points on the board for the Scarlet Knights.

The No. 4 Smith once again dominated in the 197-pound fight, this time securing a technical fall against Hadyn Packer. Smith switched to a catch-and-release method after a 3-0 first period to take control, as Smith needed just one takedown over 18 seconds in the third period to secure the 22-5 win.

For the second time in as many bouts, No. 10 heavyweight Yaraslau Slavikouski found himself on the wrong side of a major upset as he fell to the No. 26 Nevills. With a 1-0 lead heading into the final frame, Slavikouski allowed Nevills to escape from down position and then gave up a takedown at the edge of the ring — unable to make up the difference as Nevills logged his biggest upset victory of the season.

But Nevills was one of just three Terps to win their bout, resulting in the collective loss. Maryland has one more dual meet this season, taking place next Friday in College park against Drexel.