Two days after going down early, coming back quickly, and ultimately falling short against Maryland, the Harvard wrestling team entered a pair of Sunday dual meets in Washington, D.C. with a chance for redemption.

“We were very motivated after the loss to Maryland,” senior Ryan Osleeb said. “The dual was a close, hard-fought bout against a good team, so we came out…with that extra motivation to perform well.”

Redemption came, but it only lasted three hours. After beginning the day with a convincing rout of the Virginia Military Institute, the Crimson suffered another close loss, this time against American University. 

AMERICAN UNIVERSITY 22, HARVARD 19

Wrestling on the Eagles’ home mat in Washington, D.C., Harvard relived the same painful narrative that described Friday’s 21-18 loss to Maryland.

Drop four of the first five bouts. Mount a momentum-swinging comeback. Lose by three points anyway.

“Obviously we are pretty upset with the losses,” co-captain James Fox said. “But in no way are we discouraged or disappointed because we actually performed pretty well. We did a good job, especially in the second half of the lineup, of battling back after being down early.”

Junior Michael Mocco encapsulated the Crimson’s down-up-down storyline. After erasing a 3-1 deficit, Mocco tied the 184 lb. bout at 5-5. However, his American opponent regained the lead with a third-period point to take the match, 6-5, and push the overall score to 22-11.

Mocco’s match came in the middle of a streak of Harvard-won bouts, beginning with the 165 lb. weight class. Sophomore Tyler Grimaldi claimed that one, 11-3. Soon after, freshman Josef Johnson won at 174 lb. thanks to a trio of first-period takedowns.

No. 11 Fox responded to Mocco’s loss by putting on a dominant 18-5 performance that featured a 10-point lead heading into the third period. Senior David Ng followed suit with a bonus-point win.

The going was not always so easy. In the 149 lb. weight class, the Eagles’ Tom Page shut out junior Nick Stager, 7-0. Immediately after, freshman Tyler Tarsi dropped his bout on an early fall, which stretched the Crimson’s deficit to 16 points. The visitors also gave away six points by forfeiting the 125 lb. match.    

Co-captain Todd Preston recorded the lone win of these early bouts. After Osleeb fell 9-0 to the Eagles’ Josh Terao at 133 lbs., No. 16 Preston earned the team’s first points with his 10-3 victory in the 141 lb. category.  

“We are going to have a great week of training,” Osleeb said. “In our mat practice, [we’ll] go over and fix the mistakes we made this previous weekend.”

HARVARD 31, VIRGINIA MILITARY INSTITUTE 12

When the first Harvard wrestler stepped onto the mat at Bender Arena, the Crimson was already behind by six points due to a forfeit in the 125 lb. weight class.