Drexel wrestling took a loss Friday night vs. top-ranked Penn State, but it was ‘incredible’ anyway

After winning its fourth consecutive national championship at what then was the Wells Fargo Center last March, No. 1 Penn State returned to Philadelphia to face Drexel in a dual meet Friday night at a sold-out Daskalakis Athletic Center.

While the Nittany Lions claimed a 43-3 win over the Dragons, both teams gained something else from the meet. It was an opportunity for Drexel to draw a crowd of 2,000-plus to the DAC. And it allowed Penn State to make an appearance in Philadelphia, where the Nittany Lions have a large alumni base. It also was an opportunity to play an in-state rival early in the schedule, which Penn State coach Cael Sanderson tries to do as frequently as he can.

“We don’t have a lot of open spots in our schedule with our conference, but you try to wrestle with as many schools in Pennsylvania as you can,” Sanderson said.

Jordan Soriano had the Dragons’ lone win in the 141-pound match. The senior claimed an 8-5 decision over Penn State’s Cael Nasdeo. The loss drops Drexel to 2-1 in duals this season, while Penn State improves to 2-0.

Friday night’s match marked the return end of a home-and-home series between Drexel and Penn State. The top-ranked Nittany Lions hosted the Dragons in State College, Pa., last season. The Dragons lost that dual, 41-3, with their lone match win belonging to Soriano.

Friday’s dual meet was the first time Penn State has reappeared in Philadelphia since it won its 13th overall national title in March.

“I think it’s fun,” Sanderson said. “It’s a different experience. A lot of the national tournaments are in the city, and it’s a little different kind of feel as far as getting around … I think it was good for us. We’ve got a lot of alumni from the area.”

Penn State has fewer local connections on its roster, though. Of the 10 wrestlers who took to the mat on Friday for the Nittany Lions, none were from within 50 miles of Philadelphia. 11 of the athletes on Penn State’s roster are from the state, and a few hail from the collar counties, like Doylestown’s Tyler Kasak or Harleysville’s Sam Beckett.

Sanderson said he does not usually recruit athletes within Philadelphia’s city limits, but that the Lehigh Valley and South Jersey typically are fertile recruiting grounds.

“Usually, the wrestling isn’t huge in the city areas as much,” Sanderson said. “Wherever the best wrestlers are, that’s where we’re recruiting from. But when you can get kids from Pennsylvania, that’s obviously No. 1, just because we’re Penn State.”

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The opportunity to play an in-state rival in Philadelphia is one of the reasons the Nittany Lions made the trip to University City, but it also helps that Sanderson and Drexel coach Matt Azevedo are former teammates who overlapped for two seasons at Iowa State.

Sanderson, who was undefeated in four seasons at Iowa State was on the 2000-01 and 2001-02 teams with Azevedo, who was a three-time NCAA qualifier two seasons at Arizona State and two with the Cyclones. Azevedo also was teammates with Sanderson’s older brother Cody, who is an associate head coach for the Nittany Lions.

Azevedo said that even though he’s the older of the two head coaches, he looks up to Sanderson and what he’s accomplished in 16 seasons at Penn State.

“Cael has always set a great example as a teammate and as a competitor,” Azevedo said. “We all marveled at what he could do, and now as a coach, he’s doing incredible things. Honestly, I watch from a distance, you know, try and learn and try to pick up things. They do an amazing job, and I’m happy for them.”

Sanderson shared a mutual respect for his former college teammate, saying he’s cheering Azevedo’s squad on when they are not matching up head-to-head.

“They’re in really good shape, and they’re tough,” Sanderson said. “They fought the whole time. They were challenging us in every position, so that’s kind of what we were expecting. We’d like to see them doing well moving forward. They were tough.”

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Drexel announced Wednesday that its meet vs. Penn State was sold out. There appeared to be a few empty seats Friday night, but the crowd neared the DAC’s 2,509-seat capacity. It was a relatively split crowd, too; Penn State fans appeared to have a slight majority. The Nittany Lions are among the biggest draws in college wrestling, thanks to a run of success that includes 12 national titles since Sanderson took over in 2010.

Azevedo said the opportunity to host Penn State was an opportunity to shine a spotlight on his own program. The Dragons are coming off their best Eastern Intercollegiate Wrestling Association finish in Azevedo’s tenure at the school, finishing the season 11-10 and second in the conference. Drexel sent three wrestlers to the NCAA championship as individual qualifiers last season.

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“When we can host a dual meet here at Drexel, and sell it out as a mid-major wrestling program, I think it says a lot,” Azevedo “It says a lot about our fan base, that our fans are excited to come out and watch us wrestle. Right, there’s a lot of Penn State fans here, but there were just as many Drexel fans.”

Azevedo said while he knew putting Penn State on the schedule likely wouldn’t result in a nonconference dual win for the Dragons, he could not refuse an opportunity to host the Nittany Lions.

“I feel fortunate to be able to create an environment like this for our guys to compete in,” Azevedo said. “It gets a lot of attention and eyeballs on our program. For me, it’s like, I can’t pass that up. You know it’s going to be tough, but this was an incredible event.”