New London, CT --- The quartet of Brian Amato (Newington, CT), Tyler Tilbe (Woodbury, CT), Mike Perruccio (Pelham, NH) and Alex Freilich (Worcester, MA) all registered multiple victories as the WPI wrestling team split a tri-match on Sunday at Coast Guard. The Engineers cruised past Bridgewater State 44-6 in the opener before dropping a 17-16 heartbreaker to the host Bears in the finale.
WPI is now 11-9 on the season and have won 10 of 15 dual matches over the past month.
Like their match-up two weeks ago at the NEWA duals, WPI captured the first nine bouts against Bridgewater State and were never seriously challenged. Amato began the day with a 15-0 tech fall at 125 pounds before Brian Jennings (Danbury, CT) was credited with a forfeit at 133. Tilbe followed with a 17-2 tech fall of his own at 141 and Perruccio notched a first period pin at 149.
Zachary Rahl (Pittsgrove, NJ) and Torin Zonfrelli (Carver, MA) kept the spurt going with a 8-0 major decision win and a 1-0 victory at 157 and 165 respectively before Justin Marsh (Upper Black Eddy, PA) and Freilich collected pins at 174 and 184. Teddy Kostopoulos (Milford, CT) ended the impressive run with a 6-1 triumph at 197.
The Coast Guard match was tightly-contested with eight of the 10 bouts decided by a decision. The Crimson and Gray jumped out to a 10-3 edge powered by a Amato 19-6 major decision at 125, a 4-2 victory by Tilbe in a battle of regionally-ranked opponents at 141 and a 6-2 win from Perruccio at 149.
The two teams swapped victories over the next four matches with WPI getting points via decision from Austin Brais (Plainville, MA) at 165 and Freilich at 184 before Coast Guard rallied for razor-thin wins at 197 (4-3) and heavyweight (3-1 in sudden victory) to take home the victory.
Despite the one-point loss, WPI still holds a 28-27-3 advantage in the series between the two longtime rivals.
WPI turns its attention to its final home meet of the season Wednesday against Springfield. The action begins at 7pm in the Sports and Recreation Center.
