Arizona State upends No. 14 Iowa State 23-18 behind strong performances from DaSilveira and Mathers.
It hasn’t even been a full week since ASU’s fourth-place finish at the Virginia duals, but that finish had little meaning in this hard-fought dual against Virginia Duals champion Iowa State.
The Cyclones were heavy favorites coming into this one, but according to head coach Zeke Jones, none of that mattered.
“Our team has a lot of grit and self-control,” Jones said. “I define grit, regardless of what happens, you still have to stay focused to get your hands raised and win the duel."
A huge turning point in the match was the 197-pound bout between redshirt senior Josh DaSilveira and redshirt freshman Marcus Harrington. With 24 seconds left in the first round, Harrington aggressively lunged at DaSilveria, but he was ready for it.
“I like to throw, sometimes I’m too risky and I’ve lost because of it before, but when he kept going for the body lock I thought he would step out, but he didn’t,” DaSilveira said.
The Sun Devils fell behind 18-17 with only two matches remaining. That's when sophomore Robbie Mathers made his presence known.
Mathers body-slammed his opponent, John Meeks, down hard to earn a takedown right at the end of the first period. That takedown ignited a series of ASU chants from a rocking Wells Fargo Arena. Mathers ended up winning his match 8-3.
“It’s always exciting to get a big take down like that in a match,” Mathers said. “I knew we were going to win that match.”
With the duel on the line, and the Sun Devils up 20-18, it was only fitting that 149-pound senior Matt Kraus would close the game.
“I told Matt that this meet’s going to go down to you, there’s no body I’d rather have to take the game winning shot than you," Jones said. "I can see a sense of confidence (in him). He’s showing time and time again that he can stand at the podium at the end."
It wasn’t easy for Kraus at the end. He was facing freshman Gabe Moreno, and the two were locked-in until there were only 45 seconds to go in the match. It seemed like Moreno was going to get the takedown on Kraus, but Kraus made a Houdini-like move to flip the position and get behind Moreno for a two-point takedown and ice the duel.
“It felt good. It’s nice going out there and win,” Kraus said. “It felt pretty good.”
After that nail-biting win, next up is Utah Valley in Orem, Utah.
The win definitely sparked the Sun Devils, but Jones is going to try and keep his team as leveled as he can.
“It gives the team a lot of confidence, we’ll enjoy it tonight, because we have to earn it next week,” Jones said.
Reach the reporter at benjamin.a.flores@asu.edu or follow @benflores21 on Twitter.
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