The UW-La Crosse wrestling fought a clear-cut 43-3 victory against UW-Eau Claire Friday night, located in Mitchell Hall for the Eagles’ home opener.

UW-L, which is currently ranked as the 9th team on the National Wrestling Coaches Association (NWCA), improves to 2-0 overall season record as well as 2-0 in the Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (WIAC).  This victory also ended up forcing UW-EC to fall to a 0-3 season record, while standing at 0-2 in the conference.  The winning match now marks UW-L’s 29th straight dual triumph against UW-EC.

To begin the match, Taylor Elliot was awarded a forfeit, standing at 125-pounds, given to UW-L.  This was soon after followed up by Nelson Baker, who won by fall with the clock standing at 2:59.  The victory propelled UW-L into a 12-0 lead.  Soon after, Cody See picked up a win via forfeit, standing at 141-pounds.

UW-L’s Kasey Einerson, standing at 149-pounds, won by a fall against UW-EC’s Ty Griffin with the clock standing at 1:04.  The Eagles’ own Derek Weinmann followed up this victory was well by winning with a decision of 8-2 over Eau Claire’s Robert Rocole, standing at 157-pounds.  These wins helped to increase UW-L’s score to an even greater lead of 27-0.

Andrew Dayland, another wrestler for UW-L, won his match by a fall at 165-pounds against the Blugolds.  This match helped turn the lead to an even greater score of 33-0 in UW-L’s favor.

The Eagles managed to pull off the next three victories, with the first being herald in by Richard Calson.  Carlson’s victory was a 7-0 decision over The Blugolds’ Matt Rieckhoff at 184-pounds.  The second victory was won by Eric Twohey with a 12-4 major decision against Josh Cormican at 197-pounds.  Finally, Cody Endres sealed the BluGolds’ fate with a win via a 3-2 decision over UW-EC’s Justin Karkula at 285-pounds.

This match helped to propel the team’s morale as the marched forward on Saturday at the Augsburg College (Minn.) Auggie-Adidas Open.  Though no direct team scores were made, 22 wrestlers from UW-L competed, returning with four individual winning titles.  Twohey took the Gold Division title at 197-pounds, while Silver division titles were all won by Dayland, Ryan Bonikowske and Sean Ward with the 165-pound, 184-pound and 197-pound titles respectively.

The Eagles will once again return to action Dec. 6, hosting the Candlewood Suite Duals in Mitchell Hall Fieldhouse.  These matches will consist against teams from Southwest Minnesota State University starting at 9 a.m., followed by Wartburg College (Iowa) at 10:45 a.m. and finally, Loras College (Iowa) at 12:30 p.m.