It's difficult to face a team that is in the top ten in the nation, especially when you're missing your best wrestler.
After honoring the team's seniors in conjunction with UB Senior Day, Buffalo (8-7-1, 1-3 Mid-American Conference) faced off against No. 6 Central Michigan (15-2, 3-0 MAC). The day began much like it ended and the Bulls fell 35-3 at home Sunday afternoon.
The dual match started with senior Dan Bishop's final match at Alumni Arena. The opener was a close match with many takedowns and illegal maneuvers throughout, but in the end, Bishop lost 6-3 to Matt Steintrager despite his late surge in the third period.
Unfortunately, the day did not get any better for the Bulls. Central Michigan went on to win seven more consecutive matches, including two technical falls.
'Well, anytime we lose we feel horrible,' said head coach Jim Beichner. 'If you train hard and you get beat hard, it's hard to lose no matter what the score is.'
The Bulls sole win came in the eighth match after losing in a 16-0 technical fall. In the 184-pound bout, redshirt freshman Josh Peters sealed a 4-1 victory against Central Michigan's Dillon Kern with a takedown in the third period.
Junior Jimmy Hamel came close to following this up at the 194-pound bout, however, an escape by Central Michigan's Eric Simaz in the final minutes resulted in a 5-4 Bulls lost.
By taking eight out of the 10 matches, Central Michigan demonstrated why they are nationally ranked.
'Year after year they are a top five, six or seven team in the country,' Beichner said. 'And if their full lineup is in as it was today, they are [definitely] one of the top five in the country, and they looked like it.'
Beichner believes that the highlight of the match was the team's hardnosed wrestling. One such display came from senior Andrew Stella's battle against Central Michigan's Steve Brown, who is ranked 14th in the nation.
Stella scored the first two points with a takedown, however, two takedowns and two escapes later gave Brown a 6-3 win. Stella's aggressiveness did show that the Bulls were not out of the contest yet.
'I thought our guys wrestled very disciplined,' Beichner said. 'In some weight classes we were just a little outmanned and in other weight classes we battled extremely hard and fought hard. There were a lot of good efforts there, just not enough to beat that team.'
Unfortunately, there were also some questionable maneuvers in some of the matches. This was particularly apparent in Bishop's opening match.
'[Bishop] I thought was getting cheap shotted,' Beichner said. '[Steintrager] was doing some things that I thought were potentially illegal or dangerous. [Bishop] didn't take it and he fought back. We lost a hard fought close match.'
Biechner stated that sophomore Kevin Smith and Hamel both displayed effort in their matches despite not winning. He also felt that Stella had a legitimate shot at beating his opponent had he really given 100 percent throughout the match.
The coach explained that his team would make adjustments in order to face an opponent such as Central Michigan in the MAC Championships. Beichner also believes that the return of currently injured sophomore Desi Green will help them a lot.
'[Green] wasn't in the lineup,' Beichner said. 'He'll be in the MAC Championships. When he gets back, we'll be even better in the [149-pound] weight class.'
Until then, the wrestling team has to contend with the bitter taste of defeat handed to them by one of the top teams in the nation.
'The team feels lousy right now,' Beichner said. 'You can't feel good when you lose. I don't care who you are or what the situation is [but] if you feel good when you lose, there's something wrong.'
The wrestling team travels west to face MAC-rival Northern Illinois next weekend at 2 p.m.
E-mail: sports@ubspectrum.com
Photo: Breadchastick / Wikimedia Commons
