By Dave Diamond
In a battle of two heavyweights in college wrestling, No. 17 Cornell University trudged into the Hofstra Arena and left with a 20-12 victory against the No. 11 Pride. The loss ended the Pride’s six-match home winning streak, dating back to the start of the 2003-04 season. “I personally think they’re a top five team,” said head coach Tom Ryan. “We knew they matched up well with us.”
Indeed they did, which called for some very exciting matches in the dual. Two-time All-American Chris Skretkowicz of the Pride squaring off against Cornell’s Jerry Rinaldi in the 197-pound match to start things off. Skretkowicz performed as expected, shutting out Rinaldi, 5-0, capped by a two-point takedown in the second period and a beautiful two-point reversal in the third. The win gave the Pride a 3-0 lead.
The heavyweights were next, a class featuring the first of many injury-bitten members of the University’s Wrestling team. The Pride’s Gian Villante, suffering from an elbow injury, held his own through the first two periods then began to falter. After gaining a point for a reversal 31 seconds into the third period to take a 2-0 lead, Cornell heavyweight Matt Bogumil scored a two-point reversal with 1:32 remaining to tie the match.
Then, with 10 seconds remaining, the referee hit Villante with a stall, giving a point to Bogumil and giving the Big Red victory.
“I think it was more so his lungs rather than his elbow,” Ryan said of the stall, citing Villante’s lack of stamina. His injury is causing an inconsistent training program. Though Ryan understood Villante’s stalling, he did have an issue over the call. “I think it was an untimely point to make a call with 10 seconds left on the clock,” he said, “because [Villante] can’t do anything about it.”
The loss did send the Pride spiraling in the next two matches, losing both the 125 and 133-pound matches in difficult fashion. After the Pride’s Dave Tomasette lost his match in the final seconds, 133-pound Charles Griffin had no chance against Cornell’s Travis Lee. A former three-time All-American and national champion, Lee crushed Griffin, 18-7, giving Cornell a 10-3 dual lead.
In dire need of a win, the Pride’s Ricky LaForge won a hard-fought match that was the highlight of the dual. LaForge, also battling injury, broke a scoreless tie with Jordan Leen in the final minute with a one-point escape followed by a two-point take down. The win displayed LaForge’s resiliency, as he grimaced in pain throughout the final period and while his hand was raised as the winner.
After the Pride’s Jon Masa, 2003 All-American, was out-wrestled by Cornell’s Dustin Manotti, the number one ranked 149-pound wrestler in the country, the Pride’s James Strouse and Mike Patrovich gave the team life.
The 157-pound Strouse shutout John Cholish, and Patrovich scored a big 11-5 win in the 165-pound match cutting Cornell’s dual lead to just two points at 14-12.
The two wins were a fine set up for the match that ultimately decided the dual winner, pitting the evenly matched No. 9 Joe Mazzurco of Cornell against the Pride’s No. 11 Paul Siemon.
The 174-pound match did remain close throughout, but Mazzurco’s two takedowns made the difference in a 6-2 win, giving Cornell (7-4) a 17-12 lead en route to its 20-12 dual victory.
“There were four key match-ups in the dual,” Ryan said. “The heavyweight, 125, 149, and 174,” he added, “and they (Cornell) won every one.”
The home loss was certainly not the way the Pride (9-4) wanted to go into its next dual against the number one ranked, defending national champion Oklahoma State Cowboys (14-0). “We’re a team that’s beat up right now, we’re a lot better than we wrestled,” Ryan said. However, excuses aren’t likely from a coach that has rebuilt the Pride into one of the top programs in the country over his 10 years. “We’ll get there,” Ryan said of his team’s efficiency after being hit with injury. “As long as we don’t have any further injuries we’ll be back to where we were eight weeks ago.”