On Saturday afternoon at Hofstra University, the Pride wrestling team lost a tough match to the University at Buffalo by a score of 32-3.
Not much went right for the Pride as it lost nine of the ten matches. Many of the wrestlers looked fatigued and were not able to finish offensive shots, which allowed Buffalo to counter and score off Hofstra’s shots.

“We shot so many times with our heads down. So, we are combating a losing situation by putting ourselves in another losing situation. And guys got frustrated and they panicked,” said Hofstra head coach Dennis Papadatos.

This loss to Buffalo was the Pride’s fourth in a row. Hofstra now holds a meager record of 5-7.

“The problem is that the losing streak started with teams that we can beat,” said Coach Papadatos. “The losing streak started before it was supposed to so guys are struggling with belief.”

Ryan Burkert was the only Pride wrestler who came away with a victory on Saturday, defeating Buffalo’s Ryan Peters 5-2 at 149 pounds.

Burkert had the first takedown of the match early in the first period and never gave up the lead. He had a cradle locked up towards the end of the first period, but was unable to get any points from it.

After some confusion about a locked-hands call in the second period, Burkert was able to ride Peters out to close out the second and for the entire third period to secure his victory.

“Trust me, we’re better than this,” said Coach Papadatos. “Some of them are starting to believe maybe they belong where they’re at as opposed to another echelon up and they have to just start believing. All we can do is keep moving forward and get up and get back to work on Monday.”

Hofstra will travel to Lancaster, Pennsylvania to face off against the Franklin & Marshall Diplomats next Saturday Feb. 4 at 2 p.m. Later that night at 7 p.m., they take on the Drexel Dragons in Philadelphia. Both matches are against EIWA opponents which means they are important matches for this struggling Pride team.