HOBOKEN, N.J. (January 25, 2020)  – Senior Dylan Van Sickell posted a key victory over nationally-ranked Da'Mani Burns at 157 to lead No. 24 Stevens Institute of Technology to a come-from-behind victory over No. 6 Johnson & Wales University to close out the Stevens Quad Saturday at Canavan Arena.

The 9-2 decision victory was the second for the day for the Little Silver, New Jersey native, as the Ducks rallied from a 15-6 deficit with victories in each of the final four matches, to earn a sweep of their two duals. Earlier in the day, the Ducks posted victories in nine of the 10 weight classes to down Manchester University 47-6, to earn the program's largest margin of victory since Stevens topped Gettysburg College 46-3 in a Centennial Conference dual on Jan. 21, 2017. The Ducks' 21-15 victory over the sixth-ranked Wildcats marked the highest ranked opponent defeated by Stevens since a 20-15 win over then-No. 5 Ithaca on Nov. 14, 2015 at the John Reese Duals. 

"This afternoon's success was a direct result of wrestling hard and not compromising position," said head coach Joe Favia. "When we compete our way, with that level of intensity, we yield the appropriate results."

"I am excited for this team to continue down this path," Favia continued. "They are getting stronger as the weeks progress and that's all we are looking for. We will take the night to enjoy this performance, but tomorrow, we start to work towards our next opponent."

Senior Troy Stanich, junior Brett Kaliner, graduate student Thomas Poklikuha and sophomore Michael Dooley joined Van Sickell in collecting a pair of victories for the Ducks, who saw their dual record improve to 4-5. The Ducks' dual with the Wildcats marked the first dual between the teams since Feb. 16, 2013, while Stevens faced Manchester for the first time. The Spartans dropped all three duals on the day to fall to 4-11, while Johnson & Wales topped both Manchester and No. 9 NYU, before falling to the Ducks, to close out the day 16-6. 

Senior Carl Vasti opened scoring against Johnson & Wales, topping Seon Bowker via a 9-2 decision at 174. The Marlboro, New Jersey native pulled away in the final period to earn his second victory of the season to give Stevens an early 3-0 lead after the first bout. 

The teams alternated victories at 184 and 197, with Dooley again drawing the teams even after a 5-2 victory over No. 4/5 Giovanni Santiago, handing the Johnson & Wales' 197-pounder just his third loss of the season.

The Wildcats scored six points via a forfeit victory by NR/No. 8 Michael DiNardo at heavyweight to take control of the score and spirited decision victories at 125 and 133 gave the visiting team a 15-6 advantage with the heavy portion of Stevens' lineup lurking in the wings.

Stanich began the comeback with a 6-1 decision victory over No. 9/4 Jordan Robinson. Stanich, the second-ranked wrestler at 141 amassed over three minutes of riding time in the victory.

Kaliner followed with a technical fall over Cole DiRico. The victory was Kaliner's 20th of the year and 97th of his career. Each of the West Chester, Pennsylvania native's 20 wins have come with bonus points. Kaliner was leading 28-9 at the time of the third-period stoppage. 

With his team trailing by a single point, Van Sickell put together a strong performance against Burns to reclaim the lead for the Ducks. Although Van Sickell would prove to be the victor, it was Burns that jumped on the scoreboard first, scoring with a takedown in the opening seconds of the match, only for Van Sickell to escape five seconds later. The early takedown would be the only points Van Sickell conceded during the match.

After avoiding Burns' shoot attempt, Van Sickell quickly turned Burns over to score a takedown of his own to jump in front 3-2. He added two additional points with a nearfall and finished the opening period holding off Burns' escape attempts to earn a 5-2 margin on the scoreboard after and a nearly two-minute riding time advantage.

Van Sickell, the 10th-ranked wrestlerin the country at 157, began the second period from underneath and escaped Burns to earn another point. After the escape, Van Sickell took down Burns with a single leg and maintained control over his opponent over the remaining time in the frame to take an 8-2 lead into the final period with over two-and-a-half minutes of riding time in the bank. 

In the final period, Van Sickell began on top and quickly thwarted Burns' attempt for an escape. The senior held control of Burns nearly in the center of the mat for almost the entire frame, finishing with 4:35 of riding time to easily earn the additional point in to provide the final margin of victory. The win was the 18th of the year for Van Sickell.

Poklikuha completed the full comeback with a 13-4 major decision over Christian Murphy to secure the victory for Stevens.

Against Manchester, sophomore Akhil Vega opened scoring with a forfeit victory at 125. No. 8/7 Kyle Slendorn scored the first of consecutive pins with a first-period stoppage of Skyler Gomez.

Stanich posted his first victory of the day with a second-period pin of Jordan Napier and Kaliner posted the first of his two tech falls with a 24-6 victory over JaVon Phillips. 

Van Sickell earned his seventh pin of the year with a first-period fall over Joel Arney and Poklihua followed with a major decision over Tyler Leonard to give the Ducks a commanding 33-0 lead.

Sophomore Nico Ziccardi pinned Shane Stits in 73 seconds for the fourth pin in seven bouts and junior Bruce Parola kept the momentum going with a 2-0 shutout of Devontay Moore at 184. Dooley secured his fourth tech fall of the year with a third-period stoppage of Jasper Donaldson and Manchester's Nico Torres earned a forfeit at 285 to provide the dual's final margin.

Dual Results:
Final Score: No. 6 Johnson & Wales: 40, Manchester: 6
285: NR/#8 Michael DiNardo (J) pinned Nico Torres (M), 0:39; Johnson & Wales leading 6-0
125: Justin Lopez (J) won by forfeit; Johnson & Wales leading 12-0
133: Hayden Brown (J) won by major decision over Skyler Gomez (M), 15-7; Johnson & Wales leading 16-0
141: #9/#4 Jordan Robinson (J) won by decision over Jordan Napier (M), 5-3; Johnson & Wales leading 19-0
149: JaVon Phillips (M) pinned #7/#8 Da'Mani Burns (J), 1:17; Johnson & Wales leading 19-6
157: Darius Joyce (J) won by decision over Joel Arney (M), 7-5 (SV:1 (0:36)); Johnson & Wales leading 22-6
165: Christian Murphy (J) won by decision over Jeremiah Ford (M), 8-5; Johnson & Wales leading 25-9
174: Seon Bowker (J) pinned Shane Stits (S), 0:17; Johnson & Wales leading 31-6
184: Nicholas Munsch (J) pinned Devontay Moore (M), 0:54; Johnson & Wales leading 37-6
197: Tommy Wrzesien (J) won by decision over Jasper Donaldson (M), 11-9; Johnson & Wales leading 40-6 (Final bout)

Final Score: No. 24 Stevens: 47, Manchester: 6
125: Akhil Vega (S) won by forfeit; Stevens leading 6-0
133: #8/#7 Kyle Slendorn (S) pinned Skyler Gomez (M), 1:58; Stevens leading 12-0
141: #2/#1 Troy Stanich (S) pinned Jordan Napier (M), 4:11; Stevens leading 18-0
149: #1/#1 Brett Kaliner (S) won by technical fall over JaVon Phillips (M), 24-6 (6:20); Stevens leading 23-0
157: #10/NR Dylan Van Sickell (S) pinned Joel Arney (M), 2:06; Stevens leading 29-0
165: #8/NR Thomas Poklikuha (S) won by major decision over Tyler Leonard (M), 16-4; Stevens leading 33-0
174: Nico Ziccardi (S) pinned Shane Stits (M), 1:13; Stevens leading 39-0
184: Bruce Parola (S) won by decision over Devontay Moore (M), 2-0; Stevens leading 42-0
197: Michael Dooley (S) won by technical fall over Jasper Donaldson (M), 20-4 (6:36); Stevens leading 47-0
285: Nico Torres (M) won by forfeit; Stevens leading 47-6 (Final bout)

Final Score: No. 6 Johnson & Wales: 30, No. 9 NYU: 11
141: #9/#4 Jordan Robinson (J) won by decision over Quinn Dailey (N), 7-3; Johnson & Wales leading 3-0
149: #7/#8 Da'Mani Burns (J) won by decision #10/NR Evan Drill (N), 6-3; Johnson & Wales leading 6-0
157: Kyle Althenn (J) pinned Donald Albach (N), 3:35; Johnson & Wales leading 12-0
165: Cole Karam (N) won by decision over Christian Murphy (J), 12-7; Johnson & Wales leading 12-3
174: Izaake Zuckerman (N) won by major decision over Seon Bowker (J), 9-1; Johnson & Wales leading 12-7
184: Nicholas Munsch (J) won by decision over Luke Brantly (N), 8-1; Johnson & Wales leading 15-7
197: Jack La Corte (N) won by major decision over Tommy Wrzesien (J), 16-3; Johnson & Wales leading 15-11
285: NR/#8 Michael DiNardo (J) won by decision over William Ortman (N), 5-0; Johnson & Wales leading 18-11
125: Justin Lopez (J) won by forfeit; Johnson & Wales leading 24-11
2
133: Hayden Brown (J) pinned Dylan Kull (N), 0:38; Johnson & Wales leading 30-11 (Final bout)

Final Score: No. 24 Stevens: 21, No. 6 Johnson & Wales: 15
174: Carl Vasti (S) won by decision over Seon Bowker (J), 9-2; Stevens leading 3-0
184: Nicholas Munsch (J) won by decision over Bruce Parola (S), 6-5; Match is tied 3-3
197: Michael Dooley (S) won by decision over #4/5 Giovanni Santiago (J), 5-2; Stevens leading 6-3
285: NR/#8 Michael DiNardo (J) won by forfeit; Johnson & Wales leading 9-6
125: Christopher Caban (J) won by decision over Akhil Vega (S), 8-5; Johnson & Wales leading 12-6
133: Hayden Brown (J) won by decision over #8/#7 Kyle Slendorn (S), 4-2; Johnson & Wales leading 15-6
141: #2/#1 Troy Stanich (S) won by decision over #9/#4 Jordan Robinson (J), 6-1; Johnson & Wales leading 15-9
149: #1/#1 Brett Kaliner won by technical fall over Cole DiRico (J), 28-9 (6:00); Johnson & Wales leading 15-14
157: #10/NR Dylan Van Sickell (S) won by decision over #7/#8 (at 149) Da'Mani Burns (J), 9-2; Stevens leading 17-15
165: #8/NR Thomas Poklikuha (S) won by major decision over Christian Murphy (J), 13-4; Stevens leads 21-15 (Final bout)

Final Score: No. 9 NYU: 45, Manchester: 4
125: Tyler Crew (N) won by forfeit; NYU leading 6-0
133: Trent Furman (N) pinned Skyler Gomez (M), 4:36; NYU leading 12-0
141: Jordan Napier (M) won by major decision over Quinn Dailey (N), 21-9; NYU leading 12-4
149: #10/NR Evan Drill (N) won by major decision over JaVon Phillips (M), 15-3; NYU leading 16-4
157: Donald Albach (N) won by forfeit; NYU leading 22-4
165: Cade Steck-Loughney (N) pinned Jeremiah Ford (M), 4:07; NYU leading 28-4
174: Izaake Zuckerman (N) won by major decision over Tyler Leonhard (M), 12-0; NYU leading 32-4
184: Luke Brantly (N) won by decision over Devontay Moore (M), 3-2; NYU leading 35-4
197: Jack La Corte (N) won by major decision over Victor Lee (M), 16-2; NYU leading 39-4
285: William Ortman (N) pinned Nico Torres (M), 2:22; NYU leading 45-4 (Final bout)

Exhibition:
174: Justin Leonard (N) pinned Anthony Lanza (S), 2:16
157: Kyle Althenn (J) pinned Carsten DiGiantomasso (S); 5:30
165: Kade Steck-Loughney (N) pinned Tyler Leonard (M), 0:38
149: Cole RiRico (J) won by decision over Joe Schneider (S), 4-2 (SV:1 (0:34))
141: Pasquale Vizzoni (S) won by technical fall over Craig Sampson (J), 17-2 (0:00)
133: Hunter Gutierrez (S) pinned Stevan Najeed (M), 0:57
157: Gabe McDaniel won by decision over Carsten DiGiantomasso (S), 7-2
149: Cole DiRico (J) pinned Liam Walker (S), 1:07

Up Next: No. 24 Wrestling continues its run of matches in Canavan Arena with back-to-back duals with York (Pa.) and No. 9 NYU on Jan. 31 and Feb. 1. Links for live stats and video are available on StevensDucks.com.

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