Senior night ends with loss to Purdue, but Hoosiers win two previous matches

The Hoosiers wrestled their last home meet of the season Sunday as they took on rival Purdue University.

Despite the Hoosiers’ efforts, they suffered a close loss of 16-19 against the Boilermakers.

However, IU was successful this past Friday as it won both of its meets. The team earned a 30-8 victory against South Dakota State and a 31-13 victory against Southern Illinois University Edwardsville.

This past weekend, IU Coach Duane Goldman earned his 250th career win. Goldman is also the winningest coach in IU wrestling history.

Before the meet against Purdue on Sunday, seniors Matt Powless, Matt Ortega and Joe Fagiano were all recognized for their wrestling careers with IU.

“I’m really sad that this was my last time I’m going to wrestle here at IU,” Ortega said.

Among Ortega’s accomplishments are 69 career wins, 25 pins and 19 major decisions. Ortega has started 70 of 74 dual matches, and he is currently ranked No. 27 nationally.

Powless also became a little emotional when he was being recognized with his best friend.

“I was tearing up a little bit when I was standing with my dad,” Powless said. “It’s just weird that not only my five years of wrestling has almost come to a conclusion, but 17 years of wrestling is also ending. It’s a really odd feeling.”

Powless’ accomplishments include being a 2011 All-American — earning eighth place, being three-time Academic All-American and currently being ranked No. 3 nationally. Powless has earned 116 wins, 32 major decisions, 15 pins and six tech falls.

The meet started at 125 pounds with redshirt freshman Zach Zimmer losing to Camden Eppert.

The meet continued with a close match at 133 pounds as redshirt freshman Joe Duca faced off against No. 9 Cashé Quiroga. After back and forth scoring, Duca could not maintain the lead, and Quiroga proved victorious with a close score of 11-9 for the
Boilermakers.

The close action continued as Ortega wrestled against Brandon Nelsen. After a hard battle, Ortega was able to maintain the lead he earned early on, winning the match and placing the first points on the board for the Hoosiers.

“I’m glad that I won, but I feel like I could have pinned the guy in the first period or extended my lead a little more in the third period just to get some more team points,” Ortega said.

No. 18 redshirt freshman Taylor Walsh opened up the 149-pound weight class with a strong near fall in the first seconds of the period against No. 13 Ivan Lopouchanski. After back-and-forth scoring along with injury time, Walsh could not keep the lead and suffered a 10-4 loss.

Sophomore Ryan Leblanc had a strong performance for the Hoosiers at the 174-pound weight class, earning an 11-3 major decision.

The meet ended abruptly during the 285-pound weight class with sophomore Adam Chalfant wrestling against No. 20 Roger Vukobratovich.

With 1:09 left in the first period, Vukobratovich went down with a dislocated knee cap.
Chalfant won by injury default, placing six points on the board for the Hoosiers.

In the end, the Hoosiers could not pull through with a win, though Powless said the wrestlers tried their best.

“I thought everyone on the team battled really hard,” Powless said. “I think all up and down the line, everyone wrestled the best they could. And you can’t be disappointed with that.”