Ashland University's No. 13 wrestling team toppled national powerhouse, No. 5 Notre Dame College, on Sunday (Jan. 26), 18-15.
The win comes as the Eagles' first against the Falcons since the 2006-07, season when they beat Notre Dame, 32-10.
The dual began at 165 pounds. The Eagles pounced early, as redshirt senior Christian Price won an 8-4 decision against Alonzo Turner to give AU an early 3-0 lead.
The Eagles extended their lead when redshirt senior No. 5 Bret Romanzak wrestled his usual suffocating style, besting Emilio Turner, 4-1 at 174 pounds.
With a 6-0 lead in the dual, junior No. 10 Aidan Pasiuk was tasked with No. 6 Tony Vezzetti in a marquee matchup at 184. Pasiuk came through for Ashland with an 8-6 win to extend the Eagles' lead to 9-0.
Notre Dame began to mount a comeback, as it took matches at 197 and 285 to draw to within three points, with the overall score sitting at 9-6 in favor of AU.
Redshirt junior Christian Wellman won what ended up being the most important match of the day at 125. Wellman pinned Johnny Craker in the first round to give Ashland a 15-6 advantage.
Junior No. 5 Carson Speelman won an 8-2 decision against Jesses Jaime at 149 pounds to give Ashland an 18-12 advantage heading into the final match.
The Eagles were able to lead from start to finish in their biggest win of the season as they continue to build toward the regional tournament.
Next up for Ashland are the Roughnecks of Findlay on Saturday (Feb. 1) at 7 p.m. on the road.
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