Sacred Heart optimistic about a successful season this winter

Sacred Heart opens the dual meet season on Thursday in Fairfield when they host EIWA rival Hofstra at the Pitt Center. (Daniel Boyle photo courtesy Sacred Heart Athletics)

The Sacred Heart men’s wrestling team may have dropped their tough one-point decision to Duke in their season-opening match earlier this month, 19-18, but the Pioneers are optimistic about their chances for success.

Sacred Heart returns three EIWA placewinners, have one of the largest Division I roster in the country (60) and have numerous opportunities to compete this winter.

Now in his ninth season, head coach John Clark likes his schedule.

“This year’s schedule helps give us a chance to win a lot of matches,” Clark said. “We start by attending the Big Red Invite at Cornell. It allows us to send more guys, which gives them more matches.”

Sacred Heart was 8-6 in the 2019-20 but hasn’t come close to a winning season since. They were 3-12 in 2023-24 and went 1-17 a year ago.

“We have the biggest roster in the country in Division I wrestling,” Clark said. “The university has decided to opt-in with revenue share, so this roster number will dwindle over time. The positive is we will receive some more scholarship money to help with recruiting. The depth is a good thing in my opinion.”

The Pioneers have three medalists from last year’s EIWA championships back on the mat. Hunter Perez was seventh at 184, Braxton Fries-Appello (133) was eighth and Felix Lettini (157) also finished eighth.

“We have three returning EIWA placers returning. I am expecting them to be leaders this year,” Clark said. “Dakota Asuncion (149) was a 4th seed at EIWAs and failed to place. I think he will improve on that as well.”

Norwalk’s Brendan Gilchrist, 6-9 a year ago, is expected to start at 285 for Sacred Heart. He was on the mat in Saturday’s 19-18 loss to Duke.

Sacred Heart is aiming to get wrestlers back to the NCAA championships for the first time since 2021.

The Pioneers had 30 wrestlers compete at The Journeymen Classic on Sunday in Bethlehem Pa., Big Red Invitational, and Cliff Keen Invitational in Las Vegas and should see plenty of ranked and challenging opponents.

The dual meet portion of the schedule begins on Thursday when the Pioneers host EIWA (Eastern Intercollegiate Wrestling Association) rival Hofstra (0-2, 0-0 EIWA Independence) beginning at 7 p.m. Sacred Heart hosts Davidson College (0-0) on Saturday, Nov. 15 at 7 p.m. after wrestling Brown in Providence at 11 a.m.

Streaming: Sacred Heart vs. Hofstra, 7 p.m.

Division titles in EIWA: The EIWA has realigned their two dual meet divisions to balance the number of teams in the Liberty and Independence divisions.

Sacred Heart is in the Independent Division with Binghamton, Drexel, Franklin and Marshall, Hofstra and Long Island University.

Morgan State moves to the Liberty Division and will compete with American, Army West Point, Bucknell, Lehigh and Navy.

The new dual meet divisional structure allows for streamlined dual meet scheduling where members are required to wrestle dual meets with other EIWA teams in their division.

With just six mandated EIWA divisional matches, this allows teams to schedule out of conference matches against teams from the Big 10, ACC, Big 12 and other conferences.

Lopes wins Hammer Award: Lehigh sophomore Matty Lopes (Danbury), competing competing unattached at 133 pounds, won the Hammer Award for winning the top black bracket at the Journeymen Collegiate Classic at nearby Freedom High School in Bethlehem over the weekend.

Lopes won a title for the second consecutive week, going 3-0 to capture the 133 Black bracket. He posted a 1-0 decision over Columbia’s Evin Gursoy and then beat Mason Leiphart of Franklin & Marshall 7-2. In the final, Lopes rode a first period takedown to a 3-2 decision over Evan Mougalian of Penn.