California Baptist University
Mercyhurst
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No Mercy for Mercyhurst
11/25/2015 10:39:00 PM | Wrestling
RESULTS
RIVERSIDE, Calif. — Moments in history are defined by those that rise to the occasion. Wednesday night, the No. 12 ranked school in NCAA Division II California Baptist University upset fourth-ranked Mercyhurst with a score of 23-18.
This is the first time in program history that CBU wrestling has beaten a team ranked within the top five.
"Our guys wrestled really well," Head Coach Lennie Zalesky said. "Every match was a fight and it was really exciting."
CBU won six of the ten matches in the dual. It came down to the final match at heavyweight with the score at 20-18 in favor of CBU. Whoever won the match would also win the dual meet. Joe Fagiano, or "Uncle Joe" as called by many around campus, wrestled off against the No. 3rd rank heavyweight Andy Welton to decide the dual winner.
Determined in every step and every hand fight, Fagiano capitalized on his quickness and strength to take down Welton two times and ride him for an extra point making the final score 7-4 to give CBU its thrilling win.
"I came to win a match and win it for the team," Fagiano said. "It's good to know where I'm at with the rest of the country, so it's good, it's a good feeling."
"Joe's a really good hand fighter and it's hard for other heavyweights to deal with that," Zalesky said. "He played it calm and collective, it was a great match."
The match that defined CBU's hard-fought effort the most came from Bradley Christensen, who wrestled at the 184-pound weight class against Angelo Bortoluzzi, who started the preseason rankings at No. 5 in the 165 weight class. Christensen upset the Mercyhurst wrestler, beating him 6-1, showing true grit in his performance.
"I went out there with the mentality that I have nothing to lose, all the pressure's on him and I went out there to have fun," Christensen said. "It was a battle but I kept working hard and fighting through."
The other four wins came from 133-pound wrestler, Anthony Racobaldo, who won 10-4. The freshman from New Jersey has lit up the mat and is truly a prodigy in the making. Peter Cunningham pinned his opponent in the first period with one minute, four seconds remaining. Cunningham put on a display of offensive, aggressive wrestling, scoring two takedowns and nearfall points before the pin.
Brady Bersano, who moved up to the 157 weight class for this match, had a strong technical performance winning 16-0 against his opponent. Bersano's 16-0 win was good for a technical fall, giving CBU five team points.
The last win came from 197-pounder Paul Head, who showed superior strength and stamina to beat his challenger 6-2. Head has started this season brilliantly and will look to build off his recent performances.
The Lancers head next to the infamous Cliff Keen Tournament in Las Vegas, Nev. which will take place Friday Dec. 4 and Saturday Dec. 5.
Players Mentioned
