LAKELAND, Fla.—The next match for the Fire wrestling team will be at the site of the program's first competition.
Southeastern will take on The Citadel in a dual on Friday night, marking the third time the Fire have faced a Division I team in a dual match and the first since 2016.
"The focus is always getting as prepared as we can for the national tournament and if that means we are wrestling the top teams in the nation every week then so be it," said coach
Brandon Jorge. "Guys need to be battle tested and ready to go for conference and nationals so we always try to put together as tough of a schedule as we can."
In 2015, the Fire took part in The Citadel Open with true freshman
Ethan Owen winning the 133-pound bracket. This time, SEU will go head-to-head with the Bulldogs which went 4-6 last season and are off to a 1-0 start with a blanking of St. Thomas back on November 14
th in the first NCAA Division I dual this year.
Ryan LeBlanc is in his first season as the head coach at The Citadel after serving as an assistant at SoCon rival Appalachian State and was a three-time NCAA qualifier at Indiana University.
Leading the lineup for The Citadel is 149-pounder Selwyn Porter, who earned a trip to NCAA Nationals last season and was third at the 2020 SoCon Championships. Dazjon Casto earned a podium spot at the SoCon Championship last year and is in the lineup at 165. Michael McAleavey at 285 was also a third-place finisher at the conference championship last season.
In the match against St. Thomas, The Citadel had six wins by fall and three technical falls. When Southeastern faced the Bobcats, it had five wins by fall and two technical falls.
The Fire are coming off a 1-2 showing at the Reinhardt Duals on Sunday, coming up four points short of No. 3 Reinhardt and two points shy of No. 4 Lindsey Wilson while shuffling the middle part of the lineup.
"We competed really well, we scored a lot of points which was our focus," said Jorge. "We were really close; it's tough to beat Top 5 teams when you're giving up a forfeit but we were right there and showed we can compete with anyone in the nation."
The match will begin at 5 p.m. and can be seen on
ESPN+.
"The expectation is not to go in and keep it close against a Division I team, the expectation is to go in and win all 10 matches," said Jorge. "This isn't our Super Bowl by any means, this is just another dual where we are expected to go out, score points, and have fun."
