The Hofstra wrestling team fell short in their Eastern Intercollegiate Wrestling Association (EIWA) match-up against Binghamton University, 27-8, on Thursday, Jan. 26, in Vestal, NY. Justin Hoyle and Trey Rogers earned the Pride its only two wins of the dual.
Hoyle has captured multiple big wins in dual meets this season and continued his dominance by defeating Nate Lucier, with 6 points from takedowns alone and over 2 minutes of riding time to win 10-1, earning his team 4 points.
The next win for the Pride came at 197 pounds, where no.27 Trey Rogers took on Dimitri Gamkrelidze. Rogers, who is undefeated in dual meets, made easy work of the Bearcat, earning his third tech fall of the season 24-8 at 6:51 into the match to earn 5 points for Hofstra.
Viewers and those who follow Binghamton will note that Gamkrelidze wrestled up several weight classes to fill in for Lou DePrez, and reportedly weighed in under 150 pounds. Nevertheless, Rogers put on an impressive performance, scoring easily again and again.
Highly anticipated matches included no. 21 Jacob Ferreira facing no. 19 Jacob Nolan at 184 pounds, and Zachary Knighton-Ward against no. 18 Cory Day at 285 pounds. Ferreira and Nolan lived up to the anticipation in a highly competitive bout. Ferreira earned an escape in the second period before Nolan got an unconventional reversal in the third, quickly followed by another escape by Ferreira to tie up the match and go into overtime. After a flurry of movement, Nolan earned a takedown, winning the match 4-2. Ferreira protested the call and had a point removed from Hofstra’s score due to un-sportsman-like conduct.
In the heavyweight match, both Knighton-Ward and Day earned reversals in the second period to tie up the match before Day got the escape in the third and then took down Knighton-Ward, who failed in a last-second attempt to score. The match ended 5-2 in favor of Day.
Many of the matches were close, with several being decided by just one or two points. In the 125-pound match, Jacob Moon lost 3-1 against Micah Roses. Chase Liardi faced Ivan Garcia in the 133-pound weight class but lost 5-3, while Joe McGinty was just one point away from beating Conner Decker at 157-pounds. Finally, Ross McFarland was edged out by Sam DePrez, 5-3.
Other matchups were not so even as Michael Leandrou fell to Michael Zarif 10-2 at 149 pounds, and Matt Rogers lost to Brevin Cassella in a 17-1 tech fall at 6:40 in the 165-pound weight class.
The Pride is now 2-3 overall in dual meets and 1-3 in EIWA duals. The matches wrestled in this dual have seeding implications for the upcoming conference championships in March, but just how much of an effect is still unknown. Hofstra’s next competition is against The Naval Academy on Jan 28th.
Photo courtesy of Binghamton Athletics/Jonathan Cohen
