PRINCETON, N.J. – The Ursinus College women's wrestling team opened their 2023-24 season with two wrestlers placing at the Princeton Open on Saturday afternoon.
 

First-year Emma Matera placed fifth at 170lbs, while sophomore Jocelyn Lass earned a sixth-place finish at 123lbs to Ursinus in the 20-team field.
 
 
Matera opened with a loss in the round of 16 via a 10-0 superiority decision to Lock Haven's Azariah Moore but bounced back in the consolations winning three of her final four matches. After defeating teammate Gianna Perez, Matera advanced to the consolation's semifinals with a pinfall over London WWC's Faith Tellford at the 1:41-mark. Matera loss in the consolation semifinals via a 10-2 decision, but earned a victory in her fifth-place match with a 12-10 decision over Presbyterian's Ta'niya Roberts to finish with a 3-2 record in her collegiate debut.
 
 
Lass also shined in her season debut finishing with a 2-3 record and collecting a sixth-place finish at 123lbs. She opened the tournament with back-to-back victories by pinfall to advance to the semi-finals. During her opening match, she was leading 8-2 before pinning Abigall Allcandro of Doughgirls Wrestling. In the quarterfinals, Lass led 6-4 when she collected the victory by fall over Lock Haven's Carly Gross at the 4:04-mark. In the semifinals, she fell to West Point Wrestling Club's Vayle-Rae Baker by 10-0 superiority decision. In the consolations, Lass fell in the semifinals to Presbyterian's Alyssa Mahan via an 8-2 decision to make the fifth-place match. In the fifth-place match, Lass fell via a 13-2 decision to Iowa's Ava Rose to finish in sixth place.
 
 
At 130lbs, first-year Stacy Bloomfield dropped her opening match via a 10-0 superiority decision to Iowa's Call Leng but bounced back in the consolations with her first collegiate victory over Blair Academy's Victoria Carbonaro via a superiority decision.
 
 
Classmate Madyson Hickman (136lbs) also picked up her first collegiate victory with a pinfall over Harvard's Divya Navani just 27 seconds into her second match.
 

"We're really proud of how the girls competed today," Director of Wrestling Joe Jamison said. "Last year we walked away from the Princeton Open with individual wins, and this year we had two women on the podium. This is one of the toughest tournaments in the country and to start our season this way shows great progress for the program. There's still a lot of work to be done and we're looking forward to getting back to work on Tuesday, but everyone wrestled their hearts out today."
 

The Bears will return to action on Sunday, November 12^th as they host Cedar Crest for their 2023 home opener at 11 a.m.