Friday, November 15, 2019 – 8 p.m. (ET)/7 p.m. (CT)
Rider Broncs (0-0) vs. #6 Minnesota Golden Gophers (1-0)
Location: Minneapolis, MN – Williams Arena
Live Video – BTN+
Live Twitter Updates – Twitter.com/RiderWrestling

Sunday, November 17, 2019 – 1 p.m. (ET)/12 p.m. (CT)
Rider Broncs (0-0) vs. Northern Illinois Huskies (0-0)
Location: DeKalb, IL – Victor E. Court
Live Video – None
Live Twitter Updates – Twitter.com/RiderWrestling

What You Need To Know
- The Rider University wrestling team will compete in its first duals of the season when it travels to nationally-ranked No. 6 Minnesota and new conference foe Northern Illinois in a pair of non-conference matches.
- The Broncs and Gophers were set to compete against each other last February. However, a snowstorm prevented Rider's travel to the Midwest and the match had to be cancelled. The two teams met on Feb. 16, 2018, in Alumni Gym, with the Gophers taking a 32-12 victory.
- The 2017-18 meeting was the second in the two programs' histories. Minnesota also won a dual in the 1996-97 season and leads the all-time series, 2-0.
- Minnesota had eight NCAA qualifiers a year ago and return four, including All-Americans Mitch McKee (141), Gable Steveson (285) and Devin Skatzka (174), along with Carson Brolsma (165). However, Brolsma has moved up to 157 this season and Steveson will redshirt.
- Minnesota's Patrick McKee (#18, 125), Mitch McKee (#4, 141), Brayton Lee (#9, 149), Devin Skatza (#6, 174) and Hunter Ritter (#12, 184) are currently ranked in the Top 20 by Intermat.
- Rider, along with its six other former Eastern Wrestling League (EWL) teams are set to join the Mid-American Conference (MAC), creating a 15-team league that's the second-largest in NCAA Division I wrestling. The Broncs will face tough new competition from the likes of perennially top-ranked Missouri, Buffalo, Central Michigan, Old Dominion, Ohio and Northern Illinois.
- Rider will face Northern Illinois as part of the Huskie Duals. The two teams are not scheduled to compete against each other in league competition. However, Rider will get its first look at Victor E. Court, where the 2020 MAC Championships will be contested.
- Rider and Northern Illinois will meet for just the second time in the two program's histories, following a 28-9 Rider win at the University of Illinois on Nov. 9, 2014. The Huskies were picked sixth in the Preseason MAC Coaches' Poll and return a pair of National Qualifiers in Bryce West (125) and Brit Wilson (184).
- Wilson and Caden McWhirter (165) were ranked third by the league's coaches at their weight classes in the preseason. West was ranked fourth, while Kenny Moore (5^th, 174) also represented the Huskies in the preseason rankings.  
- Wilson is ranked a high as No. 10 nationally by Amateur Wrestling News.
- Rider returns four national qualifiers this season in Dean Sherry, who made his second-straight NCAA Championship appearance at 174 last year, along with Anthony Cefolo, Jesse Dellavecchia and Ethan Laird.
- Sherry and Laird both won EWL titles last year, while Cefolo and Dellavecchia finished as runners-up.
- The Broncs were picked fourth in the MAC Preseason Coaches Poll, while five Broncs were ranked in the top six in their weight classes, led by Ethan Laird in the top spot at 197. Dean Sherry was picked second at 174, Jesse Dellavecchia and Anthony Cefolo took third at 157 and 125, respectively, while Chris Wright took sixth at 133.  
- Rider placed eight wrestlers on the podium at the Princeton Open, led by Jesse Dellavecchia, who won the title at 157.  
- Six Rider wrestlers are currently ranked nationally, led by Dellavecchia (157), whose highest ranking is No. 4 (WrestleStat). Cefolo (125) and Laird (197) are both ranked No. 14 by Intermat, while WrestleStat ranks both Wright (133) and Sherry (174) No. 27 and George Walton (184) No. 33.      
- Rider has had a national qualifier at 165 in each of the last 11 years. Dellavecchia joined Chad Walsh (2015-18), Ramon Santiago (2013-14), James Brundage (2012), Jim Resnick (2011), Rob Morrison (2010) and Jason Lapham (2009) last season, while Georgio Poullas and Joe Casey project as Rider's starters at 165 this season. 
- A Rider wrestler has achieved All-American status on 17 occasions, including 15 different wrestlers. Current assistant coaches Chad Walsh and Ryan Wolfe were the last Broncs to earn All-American in 2017.