JERSEY CITY, N.J. — After three seasons under inaugural head coach Harry Turner, the New Jersey City University men's wrestling program has officially released its 2023-24 schedule, which will be guided by first-year head coach and second-year staff member Jason Estevez. He and his Gothic Knights are set to compete at least 22 times between opens, duals and invitationals, this upcoming season, including three regular-season home matches.

2022-23 Season in Review:
With injuries playing a factor, the Gothic Knights did not see as much success as they had hoped for last season, however NJCU did still land a pair of top-seven finishers at the 2023 NCAA Division III MidEast Regional Championships, both of whom are returning to the Green and Gold in 2023-24. Rising sophomore Jazz Bull (New Brunswick, N.J./New Brunswick) was a dominant force at 165 pounds all season long, going 10-4 at that weight, while also going 2-1 at 174. He placed seventh at regionals and had a team-high-tying four wins by fall in his rookie year. Returning for his fourth season this year with the Gothic Knights is captain Jeff Johnson (Middlesex, N.J./Middlesex), NJCU's only NCAA Division III Men's Wrestling Championship qualifier in program history (2021-22). He led the squad with an 18-2 mark at 149 pounds, had four pins and team highs in technical falls (3) and major decisions (4). He was strong at regionals, but had to bow out early due to injury and placed sixth overall.

Looking Forward to 2023-24:
NJCU men's wrestling is scheduled to kick off the season at the 56th annual East Stroudsburg University Open (Nov. 5). Following that, home competition at the John J. Moore Athletics and Fitness Center (JMAC) begins against Muhlenberg College (Nov. 10) for the second meeting between the two programs. After going 4-1 last year, the Gothic Knights return to the campus of Scranton University for the 2023 Electric City Duals (Nov. 12) that weekend. Home dual grappling continues when Ursinus College (Nov. 17) comes to the JMAC for the third meeting between NJCU and the Bears.

December kicks off with the New York University Duals (Dec. 2) against Western New England University, Roger Williams University and Rhode Island College.— it will be the second all-time meeting for the Green and Gold against all three programs. Another duals tournament follows on the campus of the United States Merchant Marine Academy for the Metro Duals (Dec. 9) against the hosting Mariners, Hunter College and NYU — it's the first all-time meeting with USMMA, third all-time against NYU and NJCU is 2-0 against Hunter. A tri on the campus of King's College (Pa.) follows against the hosting Monarchs and Keystone College (Dec. 17) — NJCU has beaten each program in their lone meetings all-time. 2023 comes to a close with the Wilkes University Open (Dec. 22).

The first-ever Hudson County tilt between NJCU and the Stevens Institute of Technology kicks off 2023 (Jan. 5) in Hoboken before the Gothic Knights head down to McDaniel College (Jan. 6) the next day — it will be the second all-time meeting against the Green Terror. Waynesburg University comes to the JMAC the following weekend (Jan. 13) for the third home dual of the season — NJCU walloped the Yellow Jackets 49-5 last season. The third all-time meeting against New Jersey Athletic Conference (NJAC) rival The College of New Jersey (Jan. 19) is up next down in Ewing, N.J. Then, an exhibition against Sussex County Community College (Jan. 27) takes place at the JMAC before the regular-season comes to a close on the campus of Lycoming College with the Rennie Rodermel Allstate Invitational (Feb. 4).

The 2024 NCAA Division III MidEast Regionals (March 1-2) are being hosted by the Rochester Institute of Technology in upstate New York. Should any Gothic Knights earn a top-three finish in their respective weight classes at regionals, they will qualify for the 2024 NCAA Division III Championships (March 15-16), which will be hosted on the campus of the University of Wisconsin-La Crosse.

Hear from Head Coach Jason Estevez:
"We're working with a determined and young squad," said Estevez. "We have quite a few starters returning and have added some solid recruits to our depth. I am excited to see the work that they put in this offseason pay off. Our schedule is challenging, but our focus is clear — we are here to compete at the highest level, send wrestlers to the NCAA Championships and compete for a national title."
 

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Fans can attend all NJCU men's wrestling home matches at the JMAC. All Gothic Knights home regular-season matches will also be streamed live on GothicVision, which can be found at www.NJCUGothicKnights.com/GothicVision or via the GothicVision app, available in both the iOS app store and on Android, as well as Roku.

To view the full 2023-24 NJCU men's wrestling schedule, along with start times, location, live stats and broadcast information, please click here (or via the link at the top).