The Daily Collegian
Martellotti and Wade lead PSU in Open
By Mike Still
COLLEGIAN STAFF WRITER
Of the 10 championship match
es held at the Nittany Lion Open in
Rec Hall on Sunday, eight featured
Penn State
wrestlers.
Though only WRESTLING
half of those
Nittany
won their championship matches,
the presence of Cael Sanderson’s
squad late in the tournament sent
a statement to the over 400
wrestlers from numerous schools
at the Open the No. 5 Lions are
force to be reckoned with.
“We can wrestle with anybody,”
redshirt freshman David Taylor
said. “There’s no doubt about it
and people are starting to figure
that out now. “
leers split weekend home series with Delaware
By Anthony Barton
COLLEGIAN STAFF WRITER
For the Penn State leers,
Friday night’s celebration after
shutting out No. 3 Delaware was
short lived.
The No. 11
leers (12-5, 3-3-0 ICERS
ESCHL) could
not find the same
spark, getting
blown
Saturday, 7-2, by _ „
the Blue Hens Delaware
(16-1-1, 5-1-1) at
the Penn State Ice
Pavilion.
‘ You have to Penn state
give them credit,” ~ enn
head coach Scott
Balboni said. “They have a good
squad and came out harder than
us [Saturday]. We just couldn’t get
out of our own way [Saturday].”
The leers started strong
Saturday, with a goal midway
through the first period by junior
captain Marek Polidor.
After that, it was all Delaware.
The Blue Hens responded with six
straight goals, something senior
assistant captain Tim O’Brien
said deflated the team.
“We just didn’t come out to play
[Saturday],” O’Brien said.
“Obviously you can see [Friday]
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Taylor, who defeated unat
tached Jesse Dong of Virginia
Tech in the 157-pound final, was
one of four Lions to take first-place
in their respective weight class.
True freshmen Frank
Martellotti and Andrew Alton won
the 125- and 141-pound finals, and
junior Cameron Wade finished
first in the heavyweights.
Now undefeated on the year at
10-0, Martellotti defeated Joseph
Langel of Rutgers, 9-0 in his final
match.
Having stepped into the starting
spot at 125 in the absence of
injured senior Brad Pataky, the
freshman has been pleasantly sur
prising his teammates all season.
“He’s unbelievable,” redshirt
freshman James Vollrath said of
Martellotti. “We thought he was
just gonna fill in, but he’s been
“We just didn’t come out to play [Saturday].
Obviously you can see [Friday] night when we
come out to play.”
night when we come to play we
can beat anybody. Hopefully we
learned a lesson and it’s not too
late to turn the ship around.”
The key to the Blue Hens’
surge came early in the second
period. With the score 2-1,
Delaware scored three goals in a
mere 35 seconds.
“It was a major mental lapse on
our part, plus a bunch of bounces
went their way,” assistant captain
Paul Daley said. “I don’t think I’ve
ever seen anything like that.”
The three-goal surge knocked
out freshman goalie Matt
Madrazo, who was the first star
from Friday’s game. He was
replaced by senior goalie Teddy
Hume, who saved 14 of 16 shots
the rest of the way.
Balboni announced Madrazo
had taken hold of the starting goal
tending job after he produced a
shutout performance in the series’
first game. Even after giving up
five goals Saturday, the coach said
that still holds true.
SPORTS
awesome. He’s more than just a
fill-in for us.”
Sunday’s performance was the
best he’s wrestled in a really long
time, Martellotti said.
A Pittsburgh native, Martellotti
had plenty of family in attendance
Sunday, which drove him to com
pete at his highest level.
“There’s nothing better than
winning in front of your family,”
Martellotti said.
“Having all these fans here is
great, but winning in front of your
family is kind of what you wrestle
for.”
At the other end of the weight
spectrum, Wade cruised through
the heavyweight bracket, finishing
unattached Odie Delaney of the
Citadel by way of technical fall in
the first period.
Wade who came into the
Tim O'Brien
senior forward
“I don’t think [Madrazo] played
bad at all [Saturday]," Balboni
said. “Pulling him was just trying
to provide us with some kind of
spark.”
A positive from the weekend
was the return of multiple players
from injury, most notably sopho
more George Saad.
The forward showed why assis
tant coach Josh Hand called him
the team’s best player, tallying a
goal and an assist in each game
this weekend. He now has seven
goals and four assists in seven
games played this season.
Moving forward, the leers have
one game left before the winter
break, a home tilt Friday against
Niagara.
“We just have to put this one
behind us,” Daley said. "If we
learn from our mistakes and work
hard in practice, I think we ll finish
up the semester strong against
Niagara next weekend.”
To e-mail reporter: acbsls2@psu.edu
pennState
Career 9
Services
CAREER PLANNING FOR LIFE
Open with a 3-2 record won
three of his matches by technical
fall, picked up a pin in the quarter
finals and gave up just two points
the whole day.
“I was just feeling on top of my
game, and mentally and physically
healthy,” Wade said. “I just felt
really good, everything was click
ing.”
Spending more time watching
his younger wrestlers, Sanderson
said he didn’t even get to see Wade
wrestle much on Sundav.
But the coach was confident the
whole day that his heavyweight
would be able to handle wrestling
on his own without much attention
from the coaches.
“He scored a lot of points, and
that’s what he want him to do
because he’s capable of that,"
Sanderson said. "He's good and
Kelsey Morns.'Collegian
leers’ coach Scott Balboni (right) addresses the team Saturday.
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that’s what he needs to do. He
needs to go out in this tournament
and dominate. And he did.”
Though they didn’t earn a victo
ry as a team on Sunday, the Lions
earned valuable experience
wrestling for a full day against
some of the country’s top talent
With just one more dual meet a
date with Lock Haven on Dec. 12
at home, before opening its Big
Ten schedule on Dec. 19 against
Ohio State, Penn State knows now
is the time to work out the kinks
and be ready when the season
really matters.
“We just have to push forward,”
Wade said. “We’ll put this one
behind us, take what we did good
and bad from this and keep mov
ing on.”
To e-mail reporter: massB6o@psu.edu
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