By Tyler McCord, Staff Writer
On Nov. 21, 2010 the Hofstra Pride wrestling team traveled to Columbia, MO as one of the four participants in the Missouri Duals along with no. 17 Oregon State, no. 11 Missouri and NAIA no. 8 Lindenwood. Hofstra left Missouri with one win accompanied with a loss and a tie.
Senior Lou Ruggirello, ranked sixth at 133 lbs. and junior P.J. Gillespie, ranked fifth at 165 lbs. went 3-0 on the day while Ruggirello pinned his three opponents. Along with Ruggirello and Gillespie, fourteenth ranked senior, Ryan Patrovich at 174 lbs. went undefeated recording two wins for the Pride.
“All season P.J. has been wrestling very well” stated Hofstra head coach Tom Shifflet. “Ryan, who had a season ending injury last year, wrestled very well and beat a tough kid from Missouri. It’s progress and that’s what we look to do every match.”
In its first match of the day in the Hearnes Center, the Pride faced Pac-10 power, no. 17 Oregon State. Steve Bonnano, at 125 lbs. sparked Hofstra with a 7-4 win over sixteenth ranked Jason Lara. Following the win was Ruggirello’s 0:37-second fall over eleventh ranked Kelly Kubec.
“Steve got them going and Lou followed up,” said Shifflet of Bonnano and Ruggirello.
The Beavers responded with two consecutive wins, but the Pride answered with three wins of its own from Zach Clemente (149 lbs), Gillespie and Patrovich. Sitting on a 19-6 lead, Hofstra lost the next three matches by decision (6-1), fall (1:28) and major decision (10-1) to allow Oregon State to tie at 19-19.
“184 [lbs.] was one of the biggest factors,” said Shifflet. Junior Ben Clymer, who was plagued by an injury to his foot in his match against OSU’s Brice Arand, did not perform to his usual capabilities, suffering the 6-1 loss and it hurt the Pride. “That was the match” stated Shifflet. “And it hurt us.”
After the late meltdown on the mat against Oregon State, Hofstra returned to face a tough Missouri team. “Some of our guys didn’t wrestle as well as we thought” explained Shifflet. “On paper, there were matchups that we thought we should have won.”
The Tigers’ lineup has seven out of ten wrestlers ranked in the top 25 of their weight class, while Hofstra has five. Unlike the first match, Bonnano was unable to spark Hofstra with his 2-1 loss against eleventh ranked Alan Waters. Nineteenth ranked redshirt sophomore Justin Accordino at 149 lbs. picked up a 9-5 decision over Kyle Bradley. Hofstra earned two decisions at 165 lbs. and 174 lbs. with victories from Gillespie and Patrovich. Hofstra again led [15-10] going into 184 lbs. but couldn’t seem to hang on and come out with a win over the host, Missouri. The Tigers’ got three decisions in the final three weight classes to edge Hofstra 19-15.
After the two late-match giveaways, Hofstra routed Lindenwood 35-12 to pick up its only win of the day. Hofstra recorded a win at every weight class except 174 pounds and 184 pounds where Lindenwood received two forfeits.
The Pride will be preparing for the Cliff Keen-Las Vegas Invitational this upcoming weekend. “We will see some of the best teams in the nation” said Shifflet. “So we are going to have to take it one match at a time and stick to our strategy.” The first day of wrestling starts at 12:00 p.m. on Friday, Dec. 3 followed by a second day on Saturday.