By Ryan Connors
On a day where head coach Kerry McCoy was honored by the University of Maryland for his induction into the National Wrestling Hall of Fame, the Terps were thoroughly beaten by No. 4 Penn State, 38-3.
Shyheim Brown was the lone Terrapin wrestler to win his individual match, beating Penn State’s Michael Waters 1-0.
“It’s always good to get your hand raised. The important thing is to not get complacent,” Brown said. “I set a lot of goals for myself this year, and one of them was to get at least two takedowns a match, and I’m definitely sticking to that. I felt pretty good pulling out a tough win. I had to battle and hand-fight.”
Michael Beck, Geoffrey Alexander, Ben Dorsay, Lou Mascola, Tyler Manion, T.J. Guidice, Tony Gardner, Rob Fitzgerald, and Ryan Kail all lost their matches to Penn State wrestlers, some battles closer than others.
McCoy, a two-time national champion and three-time All-American during his time wrestling at Penn State, was apprehensive about being honored before the match.
“I don’t really like to be in the spotlight I guess,” McCoy said. “They still have a lot of love and affection for me, so to be out there and to have them be a part of it was pretty special.”
McCoy acknowledged that his team didn’t perform well Thursday, but says they are not wrestling up to their potential.
“Our guys had a chance to go out and put on a show for ‘em. When you’re on the biggest stage against one of the best teams in the country you just go out there and let it flow,” McCoy said. “That’s the way we train, but we didn’t compete that way and we haven’t competed that way yet in the conference.”
The Terps dropped their third straight Big Ten match, and their fourth straight overall, all against ranked opponents.
“We’re better than we’ve been performing, no question. It’s disappointing because we work so hard and then when we get out there we aren’t really showcasing it. We have to perform better if we want to be successful,” McCoy said.
Despite the loss, McCoy looked ahead to the remainder of the Terps season.
“The good thing is I keep saying to our guys is that we’ve got time to make the changes but we’ve got to make those changes. We’ve got to go out there and focus on the areas we need to focus on, and if they do that we’re gonna be real successful,” he said.
2,779 people showed up for the Terps’ first Big Ten home match.
“We had a great atmosphere, a great crowd, our support staff did a great job of getting the place ready and set the tone of what Big Ten wrestling should be,” McCoy said.
The Terps hope to bounce back on Dec. 21 when they travel to Madison Square Garden for the Grapple at the Garden where they will take on Hofstra and Duke.
