Penn State Wrestling: Nittany Lions down Drexel 41-3 in opening dual meet of the season
Penn State Wrestling opened the 2024-2025 regular season with a lopsided 41-3 win over Drexel in Rec Hall.
The Nittany Lions’ dual meet against the Dragons marked the second wrestling event inside the walls of Rec Hall in the past 18 hours. As last night fans were treated to all kinds of action in the annual NWCA All-Star Classic.
Penn State failed to disappoint on Saturday night, and it was the same case Sunday afternoon.
The Nittany Lions saw plenty of new faces in the lineup, but that didn’t matter. Cael Sanderson and his squad cruised to the 41-3 win in front of a packed Rec Hall crowd.
Now onto the action!
Like myself, there were plenty of Penn State Wrestling fans who were excited to see Luke Lilledahl make his debut performance donning the blue and white singlet. Would he excite the home crowd with his lightning-quick shots? Or would he wow the fans with an acrobatic move never seen before? Or would he simply manhandle his opponent and get a quick fall?
Well, unfortunately, it was none of the above as Drexel forfeited the opening match at 125.
Womp, womp.
Even though this was disappointing, the fact Penn State fans got to see a lot of guys wrestle that don’t normally get a chance, was certainly awesome. Furthermore, it gave them some much-needed experience in front of a good crowd.
Next up at 133, Braeden Davis kicked the action off by holding onto a nail-biting 7-5 decision. Did he look great? Yeah, not entirely. But hey, a win is a win and Penn State led the dual 9-0.
Then, making his Nittany Lion debut at 141, Cael Nasdeo and his opponent traded several takedowns throughout the match. Nasdeo looked good on his feet, however his defense let him down in the final period.
The score was tied 8-8 going into the third and it Soriano who was able to do just enough to get Drexel on the board. The 11-8 decision cut into Penn State’s lead 9-3.
Connor Pierce and Alex Facundo got the Nittany Lions back in the win column with back-to-back decisions. Both matches were incredibly tight, but in the end they were able to hold on.
Going into the break, Penn State led Drexel 15-3.
The Nittany Lions then sent out their first ranked grappler on the afternoon. No. 1 Mitchell Mesenbrink kicked off his season in style as he pretty much does what he always does. And that’s come at you with unfettered energy and relentless attacks.
Mesenbrink‘s 21-4 technical fall gave Penn State their first bonus points on the day.
Well to be technical, it was their first earned bonus points thanks to the forfeit at 125.
And even though word out of the Penn State Wrestling room was that none of the guys competing in the previous evening’s NWCA would compete today. Levi Haines was the man for the Nittany Lions in the next match at 174. And luckily for him, he didn’t exactly have to work a full-shift.
Haines made quick work of his opponent with a dominant 16-0 technical fall and Penn State pushed their lead to 25-3 on the day.
Carter Starocci was also working double-duty as he got the nod for the Nittany Lions at 184.
And just like with Mitchell and Levi, he too took care of business in commanding fashion. Starocci’s 19-3 win gave Penn State their third straight technical fall and it extended their lead to 30-3.
With only two matches remaining in the afternoon, Penn State’s “Pain Train” was still full steam ahead.
Lucas Cochran picked up the Nittany Lions’ fourth straight technical fall 18-1 and Greg Kerkvliet turned out the lights with an opening period fall at the 1:40 mark.
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Notes/Next Up
Penn State is now 1-0 on the season and they extend their dual meet unbeaten streak to 57.
Cael Sanderson ups his career Nittany Lion record to 204-16-2.
Next up for the Nittany Lions is the 2024 Black Knight Invite next Sunday (11/24/24) hosted by Army. Wrestling action gets started at 10:00am EST.
Match Results
Drexel 3 No. 1 Penn State 41
125 Luke Lilledahl (PSU) win by forfeit, DREX 0 PSU 6
133 No. 7 Braeden Davis (PSU) dec. over Kyle Waterman (DREX) 7-5, DREX 0 PSU 9
141 Jordan Soriano (DREX) dec. over Cael Nasdeo (PSU) 11-8, DREX 3 PSU 9
149 Connor Pierce (PSU) dec. over Dom Findora (DREX) 5-4, DREX 3 PSU 12
157 Alex Facundo (PSU) dec. over Luke Nitchter (DREX) 8-6, DREX 3 PSU 15
165 No. 1 Mitchell Mesenbrink (PSU) tech. fall over Cody Walsh (DREX) 21-4, DREX 3 PSU 20
174 No. 2 Levi Haines (PSU) tech. fall over Jack Janda (DREX) 16-0, DREX 3 PSU 25
184 No. 1 Carter Starocci (PSU) tech. fall over Giuseppe Hoose (DREX) 19-3, DREX 3 PSU 30
197 Lucas Cochran (PSU) tech. fall over Ethan Wilson (DREX) 18-1, DREX 3 PSU 35
285 No. 1 Greg Kerkvliet (PSU) fall over Tanner Updegraff (DREX) 1:40, DREX 3 PSU 41
MORE: What We Learned From Penn State’s Showing at NWCA All-Stars
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Education: Penn State University
Location: State College, PA
Even though he had no prior journalism experience, Chris has now covered Penn State Wrestling and Penn State Football for the past three years, including as the Penn State Wrestling Beat Writer for VictoryBellRings.com, part of the FanSided network.
And it's clear he also likes constant torture as he's been a PSU Basketball fan for way too long.
Several years back, Chris made the seamless transition from PGA Professional to computer programmer and thoroughly enjoys following and writing about all things related to Penn State sports during his spare time.
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