PROVIDENCE, R.I. — The New Jersey City University Gothic Knights men's wrestling team has made history today, Saturday, Dec. 11.

Head Coach Harry Turner and his squad have captured the first dual match victory in program history over Worcester Polytechnic Institute during the JWU Quad, hosted by #10-ranked Johnson & Wales University. The squad defeated the Engineers by a score of 34-10. The Green and Gold set a program record with eight different grapplers recording victories during the historic win. Prior to their win over WPI, in the first match of the day, the men also fell to the hosting Wildcats by a score of 38-6.

The Knights were led by sophomore Shane Lallkissoon (Manville, N.J./Manville). The 174-pound grappler recorded a 17-5 major decision victory in the match against the Engineers, wrestling above his normal 174-pound weight class and clinching the victory for the Gothic Knights. 

In the victory for Jersey City, the squad came out hot with five consecutive victories to start the match. Freshman Andre Ruiz (Little Ferry, N.J./Ridgefield Park) started the match with a victory forfeit in the 133 weight class — the match started at 133 pounds and snaked all the way around so that 125 pounds was the final match. Following the forfeit, junior Enrique Cuevas (New Brunswick, N.J./New Brunswick) got in the action and came up with an impressive 9-2 decision to win at 141 pounds. Freshman Seth Rotondella (Keansburg, N.J./Saint John Vianney) also got earned his first-career victory as a collegian winning by 10-2 major decision at 149 pounds.

After Rotondella captured the historic victory for himself, he was followed by sophomore Jake Sisk (Piscataway, N.J./Piscataway) returning to the mat with his first victory of the 2021-22 season. Sisk came up with a 10-2 major decision of his own at 157 pounds. To end the five-match winning streak, junior captain Matthew Armamento (Kenilworth, N.J./Roselle Park) continued his hot start to the season with another victory, this time coming at his natural 165 pounds.

Following a defeat in the 174 pound matchup, the squad kept the pressure on WPI with the match-sealing victory at 184 pounds by Lallkissoon. The Gothic Knights were not done yet, as senior captain Kyle Hillermeier (Howell, N.J./Freehold Township) finished his day with a win by fall in the first round at 197 pounds before sophomore George Rivera (Teaneck, N.J./Teaneck) closed out the match with an exciting 12-10 sudden victory at 125 pounds.

In the defeat against #10 JWU, the men were able to capture two victories in the battle. Rivera started his day — also in the final match of the contest against the Wildcats, which started at 133 and snaked around to 125 — captured a victory for the squad at 125 pounds via a 3-2 by decision. Armamento also recorded a victory with a 4-3 decision 165 pounds.

"It was great to see these guys band together, from a top to bottom effort from everyone on the lineup card to secure our first victory," said Coach Turner. "We keep stacking this team against the best the East Coast has to offer and they keep coming back for more."

The squad will return to the mat for the Rennie Rodarmel Allstate Duals, hosted by Lycoming College on Monday, Dec. 20, starting at 12:00 p.m. NJCU will be taking on SIUNY Cortland, King's College (Pa.), Lycoming and Penn College.