It was an important Friday night for John Poznanski, as the Rutgers wrestler took away an important victory against an in-state rival.
No. 13 Rutgers rolled to a 24-9 win over Princeton, improving their record to 4-1.
Poznanski (No. 8/No. 13) took down No. 10 Luke Stout in what was a 24-9 win for Rutgers over Princeton. It was the second win over a ranked opponent this season for Poznanski.
Two weeks ago, he defeated No. 16/No. 18 Andy Smith (Virginia Tech).
An early takedown put Poznanski behind early, but the Rutgers star rebounded.
“Right off the bat I was a little slow. He got the takedown there,” Poznanaksi told reporters after the match.
“But I knew if I kept my pressure on him, kept pulling on his head and kept moving forward. I feel really good.”
For head coach Scott Goodale, the result from Friday night was impressive and needed. Ahead of a grueling Big Ten schedule, Rutgers needed this type of result – and the style points that came with it.
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“I knew if (Poznanski) got to a single wrist, he was gonna ride him out and when you ride a guy out for a minute and twenty even though we didn’t get riding time, it takes a toll on the rest of the match and you only have 40 seconds to score on him so that was a huge huge ride,” Goodale said in his press conference following the win.
“Little things like that win big matches and I think it’s very important. I think that guy Stout is a hell of a competitor. I think that whole team (Princeton) competes hard. I have nothing but respect for that program. There’s a lot of respect for that program. But those guys wrestle really, really hard.”