By Kevin Carroll – ASSISTANT SPORTS EDITOR

Friday evening’s Hofstra Wrestle-Offs exhibition marked the beginning of the 2015-16 season for the Hofstra wrestling team. The intrasquad scrimmage, featuring members of the team squaring-off against one another, didn’t count towards the team’s record, but rather served as a way for the wrestlers to prepare themselves for the upcoming season and for Hofstra head coach Dennis Papadatos to get a feel for the team’s strengths and weaknesses.

I wasn’t too happy with our overall activity level but I was happy with our savvy, [and] with how guys controlled themselves in certain situations,” said Papadatos after the exhibition.

Papadatos is entering his second year at the helm of the Pride and will look to guide his team to their first winning season since the 2011-12 campaign. Last year’s squad went 5-11, losing some tough matches against some incredibly high-quality competitors, including Cornell University (6th ranked at the time they faced Hofstra) and conference foe Lehigh University (ranked 15th).

But there were multiple bright spots in last year’s otherwise disappointing season for the Pride. In March’s Eastern Intercollegiate Wrestling Association (EIWA) championships, Jamel Hudson took fifth place at the 141 weight class, and Cody Ruggirello and Michael Hughes each took seventh place at the 149 and 285 classes, respectively. Hudson and Ruggirello advanced to the NCAA tournament and both were able to win at least one match before being eliminated.

While the Pride does lose Ruggirello, Hudson and Hughes both return, as do a majority of last year’s key performers, including Jermaine John and Frank Affronti. In all, the Pride only lost two wrestlers from last year’s roster, which gives the Pride a sizable experience edge over some of their opponents.

The Pride will have to lean on this experience as they attempt to navigate another daunting schedule. Four of Hofstra’s upcoming opponents are ranked in the NCAA’s preseason Top 25 and two more of their opponents received Top 25 votes. In particular, Lehigh is ranked seventh in the poll and Michigan University, who the Pride will clash with in this month’s Journeymen/Asics Northeast Duals, is ranked third with one first-place vote.

This type of grueling schedule has become commonplace for the Pride and is a great way to prepare Hofstra for the EIWA championships next March.

Another big challenge facing this team will be replacing Ruggirello, a standout wrestler for three years at Hofstra and a two-time NCAA qualifier, at the 149 weight class. In Friday’s exhibition, redshirt freshman Aaron Hartman made a big statement with a 17-0 decision over Alex Mirante.

I would say I’ve got 80 percent of it … but I believe you give everyone a chance and let them prove themselves,” said Papadatos in regards to his starting lineup for next Sunday’s season opener at Binghamton.

This season will be an unbelievably crucial test for the Pride, attempting to climb back into wrestling prominence after a string of losing seasons. For a team returning almost all of its starting wrestlers from last season, going .500 or better doesn’t seem like that much of a stretch.

But there’s no reason to think that this team isn’t hungry for more than just a winning record. Hudson represented Hofstra on collegiate wrestling’s biggest stage last season and he’ll be a favorite to make the return trip to the NCAA’s this year. Guys like Hughes and Affronti are coming off solid seasons and the whole team will look to build off of last year’s season.

Indeed, a lot of the successes from last season came for individual performances rather than the team as a whole.

Hofstra finished a lowly 13th out of 16 teams at last year’s EIWA championships and the Pride may struggle to hang with conference powerhouses like Lehigh and Cornell, teams that year after year never seem to struggle or falter.

Hofstra has definitely seen its share of struggle the past few seasons but the Pride is primed to bust out of its recent slump this season, despite the obstacles that stand in its way.

When March rolls around and the EIWA’s finest flock to Princeton, New Jersey, to do battle, don’t be surprised to see Jamel Hudson and the rest of the Pride wrestling team making some serious noise.