Wrestling Drops 23-15 Decision to No. 22 West Virginia
2/5/2005
The Panthers won four bouts on the evening, including a fall by Ronald Tarquinio.
PITTSBURGH “The Pittsburgh wrestling team dropped a 23-15 decision to No. 22 West Virginia at Fitzgerald Field House, winning four of 10 bouts, including a pin in the 141-pound bout.
In the evening’s first bout, West Virginia’s Shawn Cordell was able to score a first-period takedown over freshman Geoff Moy (Santa Monica, Calif./Santa Monica) and added three near-fall points for a 5-0 advantage after the first frame. A reversal near the end of the second period pushed Cordell to a 7-0 lead and six more near-fall points made it a 13-0 bout. Cordell added a point for riding time to finish with a 14-0 major decision. It was Moy’s first dual on the collegiate level at 125 pounds.
It didn’t take long for sophomore Drew Headlee (Waynesburg, Pa./Waynesburg), ranked 16th at 133 pounds, to come back from missing the last eight dual meets with a shoulder injury. He scored a takedown in the first minute against 20th-ranked Seth Lisa of the Mountaineers. Lisa tied the score at 2-2 with an escape point in the first and from the down position in period two. Headlee regained the lead with an escape in the third period but Lisa got a takedown with 1:30 to go for a 4-3 advantage and held on for a victory despite what looked like at the very least an escape by Headlee with five seconds to go and possibly a reversal.
At 141 pounds, junior Ronald Tarquinio (McDonald, Pa./West Allegheny) was able to score a first-period takedown against Vince Gioiella of West Virginia and added an escape early in the second from the down position for a 3-0 lead. Another takedown with 1:18 to go in the second pushed Tarquinio’s lead to 5-0 and finished the match with a pin at 4:52 to cut the Mountaineers’ lead to 7-6.
Wrestling up at 149 pounds for the first time was junior Mike Ciotti (Latrobe, Pa./Greater Latrobe) against Mike Torriero of West Virginia. Ciotti wrestled most of his first two-plus seasons for the Panthers at 133 pounds. Torriero scored four takedowns in the first frame but Ciotti battled hard before dropping a 13-8 decision.
In a possible preview of the EWL finals, seventh-ranked Matt Lebe of West Virginia took on sophomore Matt Kocher (State College, Pa./State College) of the Panthers. Lebe scored a takedown in the first period but two escape points tied the bout through the first two frames. Lebe took a 3-2 lead with an escape point 28 seconds into the final period and held on for a 3-2 victory.
At 165 pounds, junior Justin Nestor (Transfer, Pa./Reynolds) cut the West Virginia lead to 13-9 with a 9-3 decision victory over Zac Fryling of the Mountaineers to improve to 17-6 for the season. Nestor scored five points in the last 10 seconds of the match to secure the win.
Pittsburgh got three more points in the 174-pound bout with a 7-1 decision by Zachariah Doll (Quakertown, Pa./The Hill School) over Ryan Wilman of the Mountaineers, including a takedown and three near-fall points at one point in the second frame and the Panthers were down just one point with three bouts to go.
The nation’s No. 1 wrestler at 184 pounds, Greg Jones of West Virginia, controlled his bout against Pittsburgh sophomore Michael Heist (Orefield, Pa./Parkland) and got a pin at the 4:34 mark to push the Mountaineers’ lead back to 19-12. Jared Villers clinched the match for West Virginia with a 11-0 major decision over Pittsburgh freshman Lou Thomas (Parkersburg, W.Va./Parkersburg) at 197 pounds, scoring six near-fall points in the second frame.
In the final bout of the evening, freshman Zach Sheaffer (Carlisle, Pa./Cumberland Valley) was able to earn his 20th victory of the season with a 5-1 decision over West Virginia’s Matt Holsopple to account for the final score of 23-15.
Pittsburgh dropped to 6-6 on the season and 2-1 in the Eastern Wrestling League, while the Mountaineers improved to 3-5 and a perfect 3-0 mark in EWL duals. The Panthers will visit Clarion on Tuesday, February 8 at 7:30 p.m.
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