By Tyler McCord, Staff Writer
12/29/10 – Southern Scuffle
Four days after Christmas the Hofstra wrestling team was back on the mats at The Southern Scuffle in Greensboro, NC. Hofstra was set to face No. 1 Cornell and No. 2 Penn State amongst others. Senior top-seed Lou Ruggirello (133 lbs) wrestled his way to the finals, where he faced No. 2 seed Rollie Peterkin of the University of Pennsylvania, but dropped a 6-0 decision to finish second. Junior P.J. Gillespie (165 lbs) went 2-2 and placed fourth in the tournament. Redshirt sophomore Justin Accordino (149 lbs) tore his ACL in his second match and Hofstra head coach Tom Shifflet confirmed he will miss the rest of the season. The Pride did not have a champion in any weight class but finished ninth out of 34 teams. “Overall, there was some good”, said Shifflet. “We did win some good matches, but it was not our best showing.”
1/08/11 – UNC
Hofstra hosted the University of North Carolina in its first dual meet in nearly a month. The Pride was without Accordino and injured junior Vince Varela (141 lbs) and senior Ryan Patrovich (174 lbs). “We had to play around with the lineup to try and get the win”, said Shifflet.
Down three starters, the Pride found itself trailing 16-17 with one match left.
Sophomore Matt Spataro (149 lbs) narrowly edged Daniel Helena 2-0 in Spataro’s first varsity dual. “He [Spataro] went out and wrestled a good match and got the win”, said Shifflet. “It played a major role in us winning the dual meet.” With the decision, Hofstra beat UNC 19-17. Ruggirello recorded his sixth pin of the season to move his record to 15-3 for the season.
1/15/11 – CAA Duals
Hofstra travelled to George Mason University for the CAA Duals to face off against Binghamton, Boston University, Old Dominion and host George Mason. Hofstra opened the day up with a rough start against Binghamton, losing 23-15.
Shifflet was forced to alter his lineup again, forfeiting the 174 lb match due to Patrovich’s injury. “I felt we could beat them [Binghamton] straight up with even forfeiting at 174 [lbs match]”, said Shifflet.
Shifflet chose not to move Tyler Banks from his regular weight class of 157 lbs to fill the empty spot. “If Ryan [Patrovich] is in the lineup we win at 174. Take six from them and give us three and we win the dual.”
Hofstra went on to dominate its other three opponents, beating Boston 28-10, Old Dominion 24-9 and George Mason 34-3. Ruggirello, Varela, Gillespie, and sophomore Paul Snyder (285 lbs) went 4-0 on the day while redshirt sophomore Zach Clemente (157 lbs) went 3-0. After the duals the Pride improved its record to 7-3-1.
1/22/11-1/23/11 – NY State Collegiate Championships
Nineteen teams showed up for the New York State Collegiate Championships hosted by Binghamton and Hofstra finished fifth despite not having five starters in the lineup. “I don’t pay attention too much to the team score, although I don’t like finishing fifth” said Shifflet. “I approached the tournament as an opportunity to rest some of our guys.” One of the regular starters in the lineup, sophomore Steve Bonnano (125 lbs), captured first place with an 8-3 decision over Columbia’s Penn Gottried. Junior Ben Clymer (184 lbs) looked to avenge an earlier loss to Binghamton’s Nate Scheidel, but came up short. Scheidel won by a decision of 6-3. Snyder wrestled his way into the finals, but fell one win short of being crowned the champion and finished second.
1/30/11 – University of Pennsylvania
Hofstra started its first match against No. 18 Pennsylvania at 133 pounds. This gave Ruggirello an opportunity to avenge his 6-0 loss to Peterkin of UPenn at The Southern Scuffle. Ruggirello won by decision, 3-1. “I think Lou did a nice job”, said Shifflet. “I believe he’s an NCAA title contender.”
In the middle of the lineup, Gillespie defeated No. 18 Gabe Burak 4-2. After missing 30 days because of a knee injury, Patrovich was back in the lineup and picked up a win, beating Canaan Bethea 3-2. Snyder then sealed the victory for Hofstra with a 5-4 decision. Hofstra defeated Pennsylvania 18-15.
1/30/11 – Drexel
Hofstra did not have to leave Philadelphia to take on its next opponent, the Drexel Dragons. Ruggirello opened up the match with his eighth pin of the year. Varella followed his teammate with a fall of his own, staking the Pride to a 6-0 lead. The main event of the night was at 165 lbs between two Long Island products, Gillespie and Drexel’s Joe Booth. In overtime, Booth managed to record the win by a score of 5-3. Hofstra defeated Drexel 23-15 despite Gillespie’s loss, pushing its record to 9-3-1 and 4-1 in conference.
