Greyson Harris and Ross McFarland both won their matches despite Hofstra University’s loss, 38-6, to No. 6 Ohio State University on Sunday, Nov. 24.
The Pride improved from last season’s 0-51 loss to the Buckeyes but remain 0-8 all-time.
Ohio State won the first six matches, taking a 28-0 lead off the backs of multiple ranked wrestlers.
Harris earned the first points at 174 pounds against Ohio State’s T.J. Schierl to put the Pride on the board with a beautiful knee pick. Schierl earned an escape with Harris fighting for another takedown at the end of the period before escaping once again to make the score 6-2.
Harris earned an escape after starting the second period on bottom. Schierl fought for a takedown of his own and Harris escaped once again, making it 8-5 entering the third. Schierl got a quick escape from bottom but was shut down by Harris once again who earned another takedown. One final escape from Schierl made the final score 11-7 in favor of Harris.
No. 29 McFarland continued his perfect 4-0 dual record with a win at 184 pounds. His opponent, Gavin Bell, earned the first takedown off McFarland’s initial shot. McFarland escaped and attacked quickly once again but failed to score a takedown of his own before the end of the first period.
In the second, McFarland escaped off bottom, finding success off his attacks for a takedown to put himself up 5-3. In the third period, McFarland held Bell down for the whole two minutes, earning one point because of Bell’s stalling and one riding time point, making the final score 7-3.
While the Pride lost eight matches, they improved from their last dual with the Buckeyes. Last season, Hofstra failed to score any offensive points while this season three wrestlers earned takedowns.
At 149 pounds, Noah Tapia had a great front headlock go-behind on No. 11 Dylan D’Emilio at the end of the third period to avoid losing by technical fall.
Ohio posted an extremely deep lineup that did not hold back against the Pride. The Buckeyes earned two wins by fall courtesy of No. 10 Brendan McCrone over Dylan Acevedo-Switzer at 125 pounds and No. 2 Jess Mendez over Justin Hoyle and 141 pounds.
The home team also garnered two wins by technical fall from No. 11 Luke Geog over Nikolas Miller at 197 pounds and No. 8 Nick Feldman over Danny Church at 285 pounds.
Finally, Ohio State won four matches by major decisions: No. 11 D’Emilio over Tapia, No. 17 Nic Bouzakis over Chase Liardi at 133 pounds, No. 9 Paddy Gallagher over Jurius Clark at 157 pounds and No. 11 Sammy Sasso over Kyle Mosher at 165 pounds.
Hofstra moves to 2-2 on the season while the Buckeyes move to a perfect 3-0. The Pride take a short break before returning to action on Dec. 6 at the Cliff Keen Las Vegas Invitational for one of the toughest tournaments of the season. First match is set for 12 p.m. EST/9 a.m. PST.
Photo courtesy of Ethan Albin
