University of Pittsburgh Athletics
Wrestling Loses Dual to No. 16 Penn State, 26-19
1/9/2005 12:00:00 AM | Wrestling
Wrestling Loses Dual to No. 16 Penn State, 26-19
1/9/2005
UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa.?The No. 25 Pittsburgh wrestling team battled its second nationally ranked squad in as many days and came up on the losing end of a 26-19 decision to No. 16 Penn State at Rec Hall on Sunday afternoon.
The Panthers (1-3) won five of 10 bouts but the Nittany Lions (4-2), who had defeated No. 12 West Virginia by a score of 34-12 earlier in the day, won two bouts by forfeit to account for much of the seven-point difference.
The match began with a win for Adam Smith of Penn State, ranked among the top in his weight class over Pittsburgh freshman Zach Bowman (Canonsburg, Pa./Canon-McMillan) with a pin at the 1:51 mark and a 6-0 Nittany Lion lead. The Panthers' 133-pounder, sophomore Drew Headlee (Waynesburg, Pa./Waynesburg), was injured in Saturday's dual against Lehigh and wasn't able to go on Sunday, giving Bryan Heller of PSU a forfeit win and a 12-0 advantage.
No. 5-ranked Ronald Tarquinio (McDonald, Pa./West Allegheny) responded after losing to No. 3 Cory Cooperman of Lehigh with a 4-3 decision over nationally ranked DeWitt Driscoll of the Nittany Lions, who defeated Cooperman on Friday. Tarquinio improved to 14-3 for the season to cut the Penn State lead to 12-3.
State College native Matt Kocher (State College, Pa./State College) made a triumphant return to the area with an 11-3 major decision victory over Jack Decker of the Nittany Lions to add four more points to the Panthers' team score. For the second consecutive dual, the Panthers forfeited at 157 pounds to give Penn State an 18-7 cushion.
The Panthers stormed back with wins in the next two bouts to close the gap to two points. Junior Justin Nestor (Transfer, Pa./Reynolds) scored a 5-1 decision over senior Jarrad Turner of PSU to cut it to 18-10 and senior Zachariah Doll (Quakertown, Pa./The Hill School) followed that up with a victory over James Yonushonis at 174 pounds. Doll got six points for the Panthers with a fall at 4:43 in the second frame to continue Pitt's momentum.
Penn State had two nationally ranked grapplers at 184 and 197 pounds and were able to seal the meet with major decisions in both. Eric Bradley topped Eric Cassidy (Pittsburgh, Pa./North Allegheny) by a 13-4 count and Joel Edwards was a 12-4 winner over Panther freshman Lou Thomas (Parkersburg, W.Va./Parkersburg).
In the final bout of the afternoon, Pittsburgh freshman Zach Sheaffer (Carlisle, Pa./Cumberland Valley) picked up his second big victory in as many days by downing Josh Walker of the Nittany Lions by a 5-3 count, scoring a third-period takedown to account for the final team score of 26-19.
Pittsburgh is back in action at home against Ohio State at the Petersen Events Center on Friday, January 14 at 7:30 p.m.
