By Alex Rychwalski
The Maryland Terrapins were looking to notch their first win in three tries to begin conference play against the No. 20 Wisconsin Badgers, but they were outmatched, losing 32-6 in the final matchup of their road trip.
The lone bright spot for the Terps came in the final match of the day. Trailing 32-0 entering the final heavyweight bout, Maryland’s No. 12 Youssif Hemida was fighting for pride for the Terps who were trying to avoid the shutout.
Hemida scored an early takedown and a four-point near fall in the first minute of the first period to take an 8-0 lead, and he never looked back. Hemida then scored a fall just seconds later, sealing the only victory for the Terps and improving his record to 9-0 on the season.
The first bout of the night featured a freshman battle at 125 between Maryland’s Brandon Cray and Wisconsin’s Ethan Rotondo, and it set the tone for the rest of the match.
Trailing 4-0 and being dominated in riding time in the third period, Rotondo scored a four-point near fall to seal the comeback 7-4, igniting the pro-Badger crowd and Badger bench.
The letdown for the Terps appeared to carry over into the next several matches, as the next eight contests featured an early takedown by the Badgers and a deficit for the Terps.
The match at 141 looked to be a great battle on paper, featuring No. 11 Ryan Diehl for Maryland and No. 18 Eli Stickley for the Badgers, but it proved to be one-sided. Diehl appeared to injure his shoulder after falling on it early in the first period, and he was never able to recover. Stickley rolled to a commanding 14-1 victory, giving the Badgers a 10-0 lead early on.
The only match before the final heavyweight bout that was in doubt came in the 149-pound matchup between Maryland’s Peter Tedesco and Wisconsin’s Patrick Spray. Tedesco, wrestling above his normal weight class of 141-pounds, suffered a takedown almost immediately, but came back to take a 4-3 lead.
Spray eventually came back and, despite a late push by Tedesco, was able to hold on to extend the Badgers’ lead to 13-0.
After falling to 3-3 (0-3 Big Ten), the Terps return home Sunday for a matchup with No. 7 Iowa at 1 p.m.
