Northwestern
Northern Illinois
Wildcats Upset No. 23 Northern Illinois
12/3/2004 12:00:00 AM | Wrestling
NU vs. NIU Results in PDF Format
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Dec. 3, 2004
EVANSTON, Ill. - Northwestern upset No. 23 Northern Illinois in its first dual match of the season Friday by a score of 21-13. The Wildcats start the season on the right foot with the huge win, improving to 1-0.
Redshirt freshman Ryan Lang (North Royalton, Ohio/St. Edward's) set the tone for the `Cats early by dominating Huskie Josh Wooton in the first match of the afternoon. Lang earned a major decision with a 15-3 drubbing of Wooton in the 141 lb. weight class.
"Lang came out and really gave us a spark with the way he wrestled," Head Coach Tim Cysewski said. "Our whole team fed off his aggressiveness. I'm very proud of the way our whole team wrestled."
Senior Mike Kimberlin (Bradley, Ill./Bishop Martin McNamara) gave the `Cats their next win at 157 lbs. with a close 3-2 decision over Alex Nelson, stretching NU's overall lead to 7-3. At 165 lbs., sophomore Nick Hayes (Council Bluffs, Iowa/Lewis Central) led his opponent for most of the match, but a last second take down by Johnny Galloway gave the Huskies a close 3-2 victory, closing the gap to 7-6.
But NU responded with three-straight victories. Redshirt freshman Jake Herbert (Wexford, Pa./North Allegheny) earned a major decision over Danny Burk with a 12-4 win at 174 lbs. Freshman Mike Tamillow (Oak Park, Ill./Fenwick) followed with a 6-4 victory in the first dual match of his career.
Junior Matt Delguyd (Mayfield Heights, Ohio/Mayfield) extended NU's lead to 17-6 with a 6-3 win at 197 lbs.
"There were a lot of close matches today," Delguyd said, "I think we definitely showed what this team is capable of. This is a reflection of all our hard work in the room."
NIU's Joseph Sapp gave the Huskies some hope with his 5-3 win against freshman Dustin Fox (Galion, Ohio Galion High School) in the heavyweight division. The win closed the gap to 17-9, but redshirt junior John Velez (Kings Mills, Ohio/Kings) slammed the door shut in the next match with a major decision at 125 lbs. Velez dominated Chad Vandiver 10-2.
The `Cats closed the day with a 21-13 overall victory.
Players Mentioned
