Northwestern
Illinois
Wrestling Defeated by No. 14 Illinois, 27-6
1/25/2002 12:00:00 AM | Wrestling
Jan. 25, 2002
Evanton, Ill. - Maybe scoring first is not the key to victory for the Northwestern wrestling squad. In their last three outings a team has come from behind in the final matches to hand NU a loss.
This time it was Illinois who came back from an early 3-0 deficit to post a 27-6 win Friday night at Welsh-Ryan Arena. The loss drops NU back down to .500 (7-7, 0-2) for the first time since January 5th.
Brendan Curran (Chicago, Ill./Mt. Carmel) got the Wildcats started with a 4-3 decision over Tyrone Byrd at 197 pounds. Curran also had won the opening match last Sunday in the 'Cats loss to Northern Illinois. The Chicago native is 10-4 in dual competitions this season.
In the evening's second match, sophomore Mike Little (El Reno, Okla./El Reno) was given the daunting task of wrestling the reigning NCAA heavyweight champion John Lockhart. Little was able to stay close to Lockhart for a good portion of the match, but eventually fell, 8-3, notching the team score at 3-3.
The Illini then posted a major decision win at 125 and a 4-2 decision at 133 to overtake the lead, 10-3.
Junior John Giacche (Flemington, N.J./Blair Academy) put the Cats back on the wining track with his seventh straight victory at 141 pounds, defeating Eric Novak, 7-3. Giacche is now 22-5 on the season and 2-0 in the Big Ten. He will face his toughest test of the year on Sunday when he squares off against fifth-ranked Aaron Holker from Iowa.
Giacche's win would be NU's last, as Illinois rattled off five consecutive wins to wrap up the dual. The victory ups the Illini's record to 8-1 overall and gives them their first Big Ten victory in as many tries.
The 'Cats will meet the third-ranked Hawkeyes at 1 p.m. in Iowa City on Sunday and then return home to host Penn State next Friday at 7 p.m.
Results NU ILL 197: Brendan Curran (NU) dec. Tyrone Byrd (ILL), 4-3 3 0 Hwt: #4 John Lockhart (ILL) dec. Mike Little (NU), 8-3 3 3 125: # 18 Twan Pham (ILL) maj. dec. Rob Potashnick (NU), 13-4 3 7 133: #18 Chad Hay (ILL) dec. Tommy Vargas (NU), 4-2 3 10 141: John Giacche (NU) dec. Eric Novak (ILL), 7-3 6 10 149: #19 Ryan Berger (ILL) dec. Josh Ballard (NU), 11-0 6 14 157: #18 Griff Powell (ILL) maj. dec. Mike Kimberlin (NU), 9-1 6 18 165: #3 Matt Lackey (ILL) dec. Ryan Kane (NU), 10-3 6 21 174: Brian Glynn (ILL) dec. Jason Erwinski (NU), 6-4 6 24 184: Jason Potter (ILL) dec. Andrew Curran (NU), 6-3 6 27
