The Virginia wrestling team begins its 2006-2007 season Saturday at home with a quad-match against Delaware State, George Mason and Liberty. The matches will take place in Memorial Gymnasium, with the Cavaliers squaring off against Delaware State at 9 a.m., George Mason at 11 a.m. and Liberty at 1 p.m.
All three head coaches are in their first or second full season with their program, and these matches will set the tone for an important season for all three teams.
With a relatively young team, new Virginia coach Steve Garland is very upfront about his expectations for the team.
"I'm looking for the guys to wrestle hard and constantly be looking for offensive opportunities," Garland said.
The Cavaliers have two nationally ranked players in junior Rocco Caponi and sophomore Eric Albright. Virginia also brings nine other juniors and seniors to the mat, compared with 15 freshmen and sophomores. Caponi hopes that some of the new wrestlers can garner experience from this competition.
"We'll get some of these first-years their first collegiate matchup under their belt and continue to improve," Garland said.
Second-year George Mason coach Mark Weader brings his full regular starting lineup from last year's injury-plagued 8-7 campaign. One key player returning from that squad is sophomore Tyler Tisdell, who is entering the season nationally ranked. The Patriots have been predicted to finish fourth in their conference, the Colonial Athletic Association, this year. The last time these two teams met was in February 2004 in Fairfax, a competition that resulted in a 29-14 Cavalier victory.
In its first year as a varsity program, Liberty wrestling brings a very young team to Memorial Gym, although this recruiting class is ranked 23rd in the nation by InterMat. After an 11-year hiatus, the wrestling program is building for the future upon a group of freshmen and sophomores. Liberty is 3-2 in matches this year in a quad-match hosted by Virginia Tech and a tri-match hosted by N.C. State.
This will be the first match of the season for Delaware State coach Earl Walker. Walker was appointed head coach midway through the 2005-2006 season. Walker hopes to improve upon last season's results with the help of a strong recruiting class, ranked 28th by InterMat over traditional powers such as Purdue and Wisconsin. Delaware State lost their lone NCAA Tournament qualifier from last season, Myron Drayton, to graduation.
Last year, Virginia finished 4-1 in the ACC and 11-5 overall, good enough to tie for first place with Maryland. The Cavaliers finished third in the ACC Tournament, and Eric Albright was named ACC Freshman of the Year. Virginia's recruiting class for this season was ranked 22nd by InterMat, but the team's focus now is on becoming better wrestlers and not a season full of matches.
Practice began in earnest Monday, although the wrestlers train individually throughout the offseason. "Wrestling is a big muscle-memory sport," Caponi said. "We need to get the rust off and learn to stop thinking while we are wrestling."
The Cavaliers's attitude for this Saturday will be one of testing the waters.
"Our biggest thing to work on is just believing in ourselves," Albright said. "When we start believing, [then] things will happen." Albright said.
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