What We Learned From Penn State Wrestling's 50-0 Win Over Princeton

The Nittany Lions completed their sixth straight unbeaten regular season by shutting out the Tigers.

The Penn State Nittany Lions wrestling team celebrates with the Big Ten trophy after defeating the Ohio State Buckeyes at the Bryce Jordan Center. | Dan Rainville / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

The top-ranked Penn State wrestling team concluded another remarkable regular season Friday, shutting out Princeton 50-0 in its dual-meet finale at Rec Hall. That was expected. However, Nittany Lions coach Cael Sanderson confirmed more significant news after the match.

Here's what we learned from Penn State's 86th consecutive victory and what it means for the future.

RELATED: Bout-by-bout recap of Penn State's win over Princeton

A Nittany Lion is retiring

Grateful for each day’s opportunity🦁 pic.twitter.com/EtNeDN1NXV

— Aaron Nagao (@aaron_nagao) September 28, 2025

During the Penn State-Princeton radio broadcast, announcer Jeff Byers said that junior Aaron Nagao is retiring from the sport. Sanderson confirmed Nagao's decision during his press conference after the match.

"He's been very special to our program," Sanderson told reporters in State College. "Just a wonderful kid, just a classy, happy, grateful [person]. Obviously he's a tremendous competitor, just unfortunately got the injury bug there the last couple years."

Nagao transferred to Penn State in 2023 after two seasons at Minnesota, where he placed fifth as a sophomore. But Nagao dealt with injuries for three years at Penn State and was forced to end this season after wrestling six bouts, his last an injury default at the Southern Scuffle in early January.

Sanderson said earlier this year that Nagao had aggravated a shoulder injury, which forced him to cut short a promising season. Nagao was ranked in the top 10 nationally before making the decision to end his season and ultimately his career.

"It's just an uphill battle," Sanderson said of Nagao's injury situation in January, before Penn State wrestled Iowa. "Shoulders are really challenging in our sport. If anyone could do it, it was Aaron, so we wanted to give him the best support and opportunity we could give him."

Nagao wrestled through injuries and an illness during his first season at Penn State in 2023-24, going 17-7 and reaching the blood round of the NCAA Championships. He underwent surgery before the 2024-25 season and took a medical redshirt. Sanderson was hopeful that Nagao would be healthy for this entire season.

"He's a kid who's going to be really successful in his life," Sanderson said Friday. "We'll certainly miss him and super grateful he came to Penn State."

Penn State completes historic season

Penn State senior Levi Haines, center, holds the trophy as the Nittany Lions celebrate their sixth consecutive Big Ten regular-season wrestling title. | Dan Rainville / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

The Nittany Lions ended the 2025-26 regular season as they began it: with a shutout. In between, Penn State compiled one of the best regular seasons in program history.

Penn State finished 15-0 with eight shutouts. It went 8-0 in the Big Ten with four shutouts, including two in one weekend vs. Indiana and Maryland. No opponent scored more than 12 team points against Penn State, which outscored its opponents by a combined total of 630-39.

Seven Penn State wrestlers went unbeaten during the regular season, including six who are ranked No. 1 at their weight classes. The Nittany Lions went a combined 139-11 in dual matches for a winning percentage of 92.7 percent. They scored a combined 82 technical falls and 51 pins.

The shutout was the eighth of Penn State's season (or more than half the schedule) and 33rd of Sanderson's 17-year tenure with the program. Over the last six years, the Nittany Lions are 81-0. They will take an NCAA-record 86-match win streak into next season.

"I think we just find a way to score more points than everybody else," said senior Levi Haines, who won by fall in his last appearance at Rec Hall.

That's a new one

LUKE LILLEDAHL WINS BY DQ!! 👀 👀#PSUwr pic.twitter.com/9SiLM4LvvD

— Penn State WRESTLING (@pennstateWREST) February 21, 2026

The opening bout of the Penn State-Princeton match initially had some juice, with top-ranked Luke Lilledahl facing 12th-ranked Marc-Anthony McGowan. It ended up being the oddest bout of the night.

Lilledahl scored six points without ever being able to take a shot, primarily because McGowan was called for stalling five times. The last came with 6 seconds left in the third period as Lilledahl kept pressing his offense, and McGowan took the disqualification.

"I don’t remember seeing anything quite like that before," Sanderson said.

McGowan backed away from Lilledahl (17-0) for the entire bout. He took two stall warnings in each of the first two periods and also was called for another penalty. Sanderson said that Lilledahl wrestled through the stalling calls and kept moving forward.

"You're not supposed to earn a stalling call; it's supposed to be a penalty for being passive and backing up and avoiding action, but it's not really called like that," Sanderson said. "... If somebody is stalling, call stalling. Don't change the match, but enforce the rules."

A fond farewell for Levi Haines

Penn State senior Levi Haines is introduced before a Big Ten dual meet against Nebraska. | Dan Rainville / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

Haines, the only senior in Penn State's lineup, drew an ovation for his final appearance at Rec Hall. He responded with a second-period fall to finish his regular season at 18-0.

Haines certainly isn't done wrestling at Penn State, since the Nittany Lions will host the Big Ten Wrestling Championships in March at the Bryce Jordan Center. But he delivered a fitting farewell to Rec Hall, where he wrestled so much of his 52-1 dual-match record.

"I think the place I’ve grown the most is just being myself in the bigger moments," Haines said. "When I was a little bit younger, sometimes I let the hostile environment get to me a little bit. And just being here, surrounded by the right people, helped me open my eyes and be comfortable being myself in those big moments and just going and getting what I want."

Noteworthy Nittany Lions

Penn State's Cole Mirasola, left, wrestles Nebraska's AJ Ferrari in the heavyweight bout during a Big Ten dual meet. | Dan Rainville / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

Cole Mirasola (285) capped the night with a determined technical fall, scoring seven takedowns despite giving up 26 pounds to Princeton's Sebastian Garibaldi.

Penn State's top-ranked foursome from 165-197 produced three pins and a technical fall. Mitchell Mesenbrink (165), Haines. Rocco Welsh (184) and Josh Barr (197) finished the regular season a combined 70-0.

Penn State finished with a 39-2 advantage in takedowns against Princeton. For the season, Penn State scored 486 takedowns while allowing just 42.

Penn State sold out Rec Hall for the 80th consecutive match. The announced attendance was 6,356.

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