Coming off two dual wins against Cal State-Bakersfield and Kent State, Iowa wrestled Princeton in its opener at Carver-Hawkeye.

Spencer Lee got the night started off right for the Hawkeyes. Lee, ranked first at 125, took on No. 14 Patrick Glory and recorded the first 14 points of the match. He ended the first period way ahead, 14-2. In the first 54 seconds of the second period, Lee increased his lead to 16 and ended up winning with an 18-2 technical fall.

At 133, No. 11 Austin DeSanto matched up with Jonathan Gomez. At the end of the first period, DeSanto led, 5-1, with 2 takedowns and a point when Gomez was whistled for stalling. With 1:33 left in the second period, DeSanto pinned Gomez, increasing the team score to 11-0.

No. 14 Max Murin followed suit at 141, taking on Marshall Keller and recording 2 takedowns in the first period. Keller tallied 1 point for an escape. At 4:23, Murin stuck Keller. So DeSanto and Murin both registered pins in their first matches at Carver-Hawkeye.

The featured match of the night was Princeton’s top-ranked Matthew Kolodzik squaring off against No. 12 Hawkeye Pat Lugo. The two wrestled all seven minutes, and Kolodzik prevailed, 7-4. Kolodzik tallied the first team points for Princeton, and the Hawkeyes led, 16-3.

No. 13 Kaleb Young and Quincy Monday were next on the mat at 157. Monday put the first points on the board with a takedown and was leading 4-3 at the end of the first period. Young tied it up in the second period and took control in the third, beating Monday, 7-4.

No. 4 Alex Marinelli was the third Hawkeye to record a pin in the second period. Marinelli battled Dale Tiongson and only allowed 3 escape points. Marinelli pinned him with 1:02 left in the second period.

In Hawkeye Myles Wilson’s match at 174, Princeton’s Travis Stefanik dominated the match, beating Wilson, 15-3. Wilson’s 3 points came from escapes. The team score after the contest was 25-7.

Iowa’s No. 12 Cash Wilcke then took on Kevin Parker and scored 3 takedowns and an escape. At the end of the third period, he was given a riding point, beating Parker, 8-3.

At 197, Iowa’s Connor Corbin ran into No. 7 Patrick Brucki, who tallied 4 takedowns, an escape, and a riding point and finished the match with a 10-3 victory.

At 285, Hawkeye Aaron Costello faced Obinna Ajah and was award a point in the first period when Ajah was called for stalling. In the second period, Costello tallied 3 more points with an escape and a takedown to pull away, 6-0.

Although Iowa defeated Princeton, 31-10, head coach Tom Brands believes there’s still room for improvement.

“We’ve got to keep getting better,” he said. “That’s up and down the lineup. We have some things behind the scenes that we need to get better. We’ve got to get better with injuries and technically. What you saw out there was 60-70 percent of our lineup. That’s good because that means we have depth.”

The Hawkeyes will next take on Purdue on Nov. 24 in Carver-Hawkeye at noon.