Our latest Summer Rewind takes us back to an unforgettable Senior Night inside Harrington Auditorium, where WPI wrestling delivered a dramatic 22-17 comeback win over Western New England. Fueled by early momentum and a clutch trio of wins to close the dual, the Engineers sent their seniors out in style in the final home meet of the season.

WORCESTER -- Tanner Thatcher (Blairstown, NJ) and Charlie Pavis (Bethleham, PA) won the first two bouts and Ethan Edmondson (Milford, CT), Nicolas LeSieur (Walnut Creek, CA) and Joseph Bernard (Stratham, NH) captured the final three matches to help the WPI wrestling team close out the dual meet season with a thrilling 22-17 triumph over Western New England Saturday evening underneath the spotlight in Harrington Auditorium. 
 
The Engineers, which before the match honored Thatcher, Ryan Hsu (Norwood, MA), Edmondson, LeSieur, Zachary Rioux (Nashua, NH) and Ethan Wilson (Braintree, MA) as part of Senior Night, conclude the dual meet season with a 12-9 record while Western New England dips to 13-5 on the season.

Thatcher and Pavis put WPI ahead 8-0 with major decisions at 125 and 133 pounds.   Thatcher posted a 17-4 win, and in the process, broke a tie with Hall of Famer and former head coach Steve Hall for eighth place all-time in dual meet wins with 59.  The senior's 18th dual meet victory of the season moves him into a tie for 10th all-time in a season while his 244 career team point gives him solo possession of 10th all-time.   Pavis used a six-point third period to a register a 13-0 shutout.
 
The Golden Bears captured the next five bouts to turn an 8-0 deficit into a 17-8 advantage.  Ayden Cheng (King of Prussia, PA) got WNEU into the win column with a 4-2 triumph at 141 pounds before James Linder (Oakdale, CT) survived a video review at the end of the match to win 9-7 at 149.  Colin Carlin (Glenville, NY) collected Western New England's first bonus point win of the night with an 8-0 major decision at 157 before David Lisk (Manasquan, NJ) posted a 6-2 victory at 165.  The visitors seemingly took control of the match next at 174 pounds as Cam Hines (Killingworth, CT) notched a 15-6 major decision in a match-up of regionally-ranked grapplers at 174.
 
Trailing 17-8 with just three matches remaining, the Engineers got back into the contest when Edmondson shook off an early takedown to claim a 8-4 victory at 184 pounds.  LeSieur, ranked eighth regionally at 197, also found himself trailing to the seventh-ranked opponent but a quick counter in the second period turned into a match-tying fall at 4:41 knotting the score at 17-17.  At that point, head coach Matt Oney made the call to bump Bernard to heavyweight and the sophomore responded with a dominating 18-3 walk-off tech fall at 6:23 to send the Harrington faithful home happy.
 
Both teams now turn their attention to the postseason.  Western New England will host the NEWA Futures Tournament on Sunday, February 23rd while the following weeks both squads will head to Middletown, Connecticut for the NCAA Division III Northeast Regional hosted by Wesleyan on Saturday, March 1st and Sunday, March 2nd.
 
Results