The Harvard wrestling team got off to a slow start on Friday, dropping seven of its first eight matches on the road against Columbia. The Crimson (4-7, 3-7 EIWA) rallied to win its last two matches but ultimately suffered a 33-10 defeat at the hands of the Lions (7-6, 4-5 EIWA) at the University Gym in New York.

Injuries again played a key role for Harvard, who entered the match without its starters at both 165 lbs. and 174 lbs. As if that were not tough enough to overcome, co-captain Cameron Croy sustained a concussion at 184 lbs., forcing him to injury default out of the match. The Crimson surrendered six points in each of those matches, results that ended any possibility of a Harvard comeback.

Crimson sophomore Brennan Smith, filling in at 165 lbs., was pinned by senior Josh Houldsworth with 39 seconds remaining in the second period while Columbia junior Shane Hughes pinned senior Ian Roy just one minute into his match at 174 lbs.

Harvard coach Jay Weiss acknowledged the injuries but refused to use them as excuses.

“Obviously, we had a couple of guys out,” Weiss said. “But I still thought we were going to do a better job in the middle of the lineup. We came off one of our best matches last Saturday against Brown, and we just didn’t follow it up.”

The Crimson was seeking to put together back-to-back dual meet wins for the first time this season after soundly defeating Brown on the road, 30-10.

Junior co-captain James Fox, who won his match against junior Max Idelson at 197 lbs., echoed his coach’s disappointment after the loss.

“Columbia is a solid team,” Fox said. “But we definitely underperformed, from top to bottom.”

The overall tone for the match was set from the outset, as senior Penn Gottfried opened the contest with a 16-0 tech fall over junior Max Mejia at 125 lbs. After that, Harvard lost two tight matches. Sophomore Jeffrey Ott led Lions sophomore Angelo Amenta at 133 lbs. before dropping a 6-2 decision, while Crimson sophomore Nicholas Stager went down to the wire against junior Ryan Ponte but could not prevail in a 3-2 decision at 149 lbs. Harvard proceeded to lose its next four matches, a stretch that included the three matches impacted by injury.

Weiss felt that problems arose for his wrestlers in pressure situations.

“They’re working hard, but there are certain things that we want to key into,” Weiss said.  “Some of the guys are quick to deviate from what we’ve gone over.”

Despite Harvard’s struggles as a team against Columbia, Fox and sophomore Todd Preston continued their run of strong performances in dual meets this season. Both picked up wins for Harvard on Friday, improving their records to 9-2 and 9-1, respectively, in dual meets.

Fox earned a major decision over Idelson by a score of 11-3, while Preston battled through a tight match against senior Matt Bystol to record a 2-1 overtime win at 141 lbs.

The win was the seventh in a row for Fox, while Preston’s win made it five straight for the sophomore.

With one dual meet left, Fox praised his teammates’ attitude and performance this season.

“[Preston] has been wrestling really solidly,” Fox said. “He just hand fights really hard and has been relentless.”

Junior David Ng recorded the only other win for the Crimson, notching at 5-3 decision over freshman Michael Fetchet at heavyweight.

As the team heads toward the postseason, both Fox and Weiss have a strong idea about what they need to focus on. Fox highlighted endurance, mental toughness, and intensity as important for the team’s success heading down the stretch, while Weiss stressed the need for all 10 wrestlers to peak at the right time in order to perform at their best during the postseason tournaments.