Caruso Battling Back at NCAA Division III Northeast Regional

MIDDLETOWN, Conn. -- Despite dropping his first match of the day, Bridgewater State University senior heavyweight Ricky Caruso (Waltham, Mass.) is still in contention for a third-place finish after day one of the NCAA Division III Wrestling Northeast Regional hosted by Wesleyan University. 

Seeded second in the heavyweight bracket, Caruso was upset in the first round, 5-2, by unseeded Irakli Kakauridze of Springfield College.  Caruso, however, bounced back to post a 6-1 victory over Ben Wertz of Williams College followed by a 2-1 triumph over Anthony Joyce of Norwich University to advance to Sunday.

Caruso will take on eighth-seeded George Madosky of Johnson & Wales University in the consolation quarterfinals on Sunday morning.

Junior 125-pounder Brett Reed (Mansfield, Mass.) was the only other BSU grappler to win a match at the tournament as he pinned Dominic DeGraba of Oneonta State in the consolation round.  Reed finished 1-2 at the tournament. 

Bridgewater State is in 17th place (4 pts.) in the team standings after day one of the tournament.  Ithaca College leads all teams with 75.5 points.