But just as it looked like the match was headed into overtime, Civan managed to pin Roy at 6:44, expanding the Lions’ lead.

Freshman Josh Popple brought Harvard within nine after defeating Stephen West, 5-2, but senior Bryan Panzano, who was wrestling a weight class up at 184 pounds, was pinned at 2:22, sealing the victory for Columbia.

“It was Bryan Panzano’s last match, and he went out there and fought hard and gave us everything he had,” Keith said. “It’s great for his final dual meet as a senior to end that way, and it just meant a lot to us as a team.”

Returning to the mat to compete for the first time in weeks after suffering an injury, freshman James Fox took on Nick Mills at 197 pounds.

“During practice, I really had to tell myself that I was prepared for this match because it’s tough not wrestling for four weeks,” Fox said. “All I did was ride the bike and run on the treadmill, so I felt like I might be a little out of sync...because I haven’t been on the mat in a while.”

But Fox wasted no time getting into the swing of things, as he earned the decision over Mills, 4-2.

“I feel like I did a pretty good job,” Fox said. “I did all right.”

The final match of the day saw freshman David Ng get pinned by the Lions’ co-captain Kevin Lester 24 seconds into play.

“Individually, guys going into that match needed that match to prepare for the conference championships coming up because that’s the biggest part of our season,” Fox said. “It’s just basically about us winning small battles in our matches to build up for the most important part of our season coming up. I think we had some really good matches against good kids. And I think that really helped with the momentum going into conference time.”

—Staff writer Taryn I. Kurcz can be reached at tkrucz13@college.harvard.edu.