Several members of the Hofstra University wrestling team made their season debuts at the Journeymen Collegiate Classic on Sunday, Nov. 10. Nikolas Miller won the 197 pounds “E” bracket while Kyle Mosher and Ross McFarland placed second, at 157 pounds and 184 pounds, respectively, all in their first competitions this season. In the 157-pound “G” bracket Frank Volpe placed second in his second tournament this season, as did Ryan Arbeit in the 133-pound “E” bracket.
Miller opened his day with a 12-7 win over Vincent Lee of Duke University where a late takedown in the third period helped secure his victory. Against Denzel Perez of the University of Pennsylvania, Miller dominated, winning 16-1 by technical fall in the second period. Finally, Miller bested Quinn Funk of Binghamton University 10-4 with back-to-back takedowns in the third period.
Mosher, a graduate transfer from Columbia University, beat two Ivy League opponents in close matches. Mosher beat Harvard University’s Nolan Leiss 15-13 and UPenn’s Paul Ognissanti 4-3. Mosher ultimately fell to the University of Pittsburgh’s Dylan Evans 17-6 to take second place.
McFarland started his day with a dominant major decision 15-1 victory over Justin Mayes of Cornell University and a 5-1 win over Luke Rada of Harvard. In the championship bout, McFarland was tied 6-6 against Cornell’s Colt Barley before Barley scored off of his attack at the end of the match.
Arbeit had mixed results, earning a 17-2 win by technical fall over Anthony Samuels of Sacred Heart University and a 2-0 win over Troy Guerra of the University at Buffalo. Arbeit was shut down in the championship match, falling 17-5 to Christopher Betancourt, who wrestled unattached for Long Island University.
Volpe wrestled the most minutes of anyone on the team with two overtime matches. In the championship bout, he fell to Binghamton’s Jordan Brown 2-2 in tiebreak periods. Volpe fell 4-1 in sudden victory to Jamie Rivera of the U.S. Military Academy at West Point earlier in the day after besting Eric Doran of the Virginia Military Institute 14-3.
Noah Tapia and Chase Liardi made their season debuts, with Tapia earning a third-place finish in the 149-pound “C” bracket and Liardi going 0-3 in the 133-pound “A” bracket. Liardi and Justin Hoyle, who competed in the 141-pound “B” bracket, both took ranked opponents to their limits. Liardi fell 8-6 to Brett Ungar of Cornell, while Hoyle lost in a sudden 10-8 victory against Danny Pucino of the University of Illinois.
Alex Turley and Greyson Harris also earned third-place finishes in the 149-pound “F” and 174-pound “D” brackets, respectively.
Multiple wrestlers earned at least one win on the day including Dylan Acevedo-Switzer in the 125-pound “F” bracket, Jurius Clark in the 157-pound “B” bracket and Danny Church in the 285-pound “E” bracket.
Hofstra returns home on Saturday, Nov. 16, for their first dual meet of the season in a tri dual against Duke, the Citadel Military College of South Carolina and Sacred Heart. The Pride will host at the David S. Mack Sports and Exhibition Complex with the first duel starting at 11:30 a.m.
Photo courtesy of Amelia Bashy
