PHILADELPHIA – The University of Pennsylvania wrestling team recorded bonus point wins from two freshmen to enter halftime tied with visiting Army West Point, but the Black Knights rattled off five consecutive wins after the break to score a 28-10 win in The Palestra.
 
No. 14 Anthony Artalona picked his up second bonus point win of the weekend, recording a 13-3 major decision over Noah Hanau at 149 pounds to send the Quakers into halftime level with the Black Knights, 10-10. Artalona had four takedowns in the match and added two back points in the first period to record his 15th win of his freshman season.
 
Classmate Carmen Ferrante picked up his 16th win of the season, improving to 6-0 in dual meets, with an injury default win over Trey Chalifoux at 125 pounds. Ferrante was dominating the match at the time of the default, holding a 6-0 lead midway through the second period before Chalifoux had to call a second injury timeout due to a hamstring issue picked up during Ferrante's second takedown attempt.
 
The duo of Ferrante and Artalona are now 31-8 this season, and are 11-1 in dual meets with 46 team points scored.
 
Their wins kept the Quakers within range through five matches, Army West Point scoring its 10 first-half points on the strength of decisions from Ben Sullivan (285) and Lane Peters (133) and a major decision at 141 from Corey Shie.
 
Sullivan escaped in the second period against Ben Goldin, and then rode the entire third period for a 2-0 win at heavyweight. At 133, Lane Peters built a 3-0 lead after two periods with an escape and takedown, and that was enough to negate a third period takedown by Doug Zapf in a 4-2 win. Corey Shie followed with a 16-7 major decision at 141 over A.J. Vindici. Shie scored three takedown in the first period and added a fourth midway through the second to lead, 8-3. Vindici would reverse before the end of the middle frame, though, and scored a takedown in the third to close within two. Looking for a tilt to win, Vindici was reversed by Shie who added on four nearfall to pull away for the major.
 
The Black Knights sealed the win with five consecutive bout victories out of halftime, but the Quakers almost stunned the highest-ranked Black Knight in the finale. Freshman Greg Bensley scored first against No. 4 Rocco Caywood at 197, connecting at the start of the second period. Caywood countered with a takedown into four nearfall right before the end of the period to take what appeared to be a commanding 7-2 lead. Caywood would add an escape and takedown early in the third, building a 10-2 lead. Bensley did not wilt, escaping in short order before shooting a single leg into a cradle for a takedown and two nearfall – almost securing the fall before Caywood scampered to is belly to preserve a 10-7 win.
 
The difficult win for Caywood followed a 7-0 decision win by Lucas Weiland at 157 over Jake Lizak, a 12-6 win for Cael McCormick over Neil Antrassian, an 11-1 major decision at 174 for Ben Harvey over Jake Hendricks and a 15-0 tech fall for Noah Stewart over Ryan Farber. Army West Point had three returning NCAA qualifiers in that group of winners.
 
The Quakers are off next weekend before returning to The Palestra for a pair of Ivy League dual meets against Brown (1 p.m.) and Harvard (6 p.m.) on February 2.
 
Army West Point defeats Penn, 28-10
285: Ben Sullivan (AWP) DEC Ben Goldin (Penn), 2-0; Army leads, 3-0
125: Carmen Ferrante (Penn) INJ. DEFAULT Trey Chalifoux (AWP), 4:28; Penn leads, 6-3
133: Lane Peters (AWP) DEC Doug Zapf (Penn), 4-2; Match tied, 6-6
141: Corey Shie (AWP) MD A.J. Vindici (Penn), 16-7; Army leads, 10-6
149: No. 14 Anthony Artalona (Penn) MD Noah Hanau (AWP); 13-3; Match tied, 10-10
157: Lucas Weiland (AWP) DEC Jake Lizak (Penn), 7-0; Army leads, 13-10
165: Cael McCormick (AWP) DEC Neil Antrassian (Penn), 12-6; Army leads, 16-10
174: Ben Harvey (AWP) MD Jake Hendricks (Penn), 11-1; Army leads, 20-10
184: Noah Stewart (AWP) TF Ryan Farber (Penn), 15-0 (4:43); Army leads, 25-10
197: No. 4 Rocco Caywood (AWP) DEC Greg Bensley (Penn), 10-7; Army leads, 28-10
Attendance: 215