The Hofstra wrestling team dropped its seventh straight dual meet with a 35-6 loss to the U.S. Naval Academy at the David S. Mack Physical Education Center on Sunday, Jan. 16. Zachary Knighton-Ward and Ricky Stamm picked up the only wins for the Pride. “Out of the 10 matches, seven of them were one point, one position matches and they won five of them,” said Hofstra head coach Dennis Papadatos. “They won five of the seven and we won two of the seven and that’s the difference.”
The meet began at the 174-pound weight class where freshman Ericson Velasquez got his second straight start in place of the injured Ross McFarland against Navy’s Cael Crebs, who was making his collegiate dual meet debut. Crebs built up a 7-1 lead through two periods before getting Velasquez onto his back with just over a minute left in the third to begin the meet with a pin and give Navy a 6-0 lead.
Next, in the 184-pound matchup, Charles Small failed to record a takedown for the second-straight day. Unfortunately for the Pride, he couldn’t pull out a victory this time as David Key took a 3-2 decision over the 27th-ranked wrestler in the country and Midshipmen extended their lead to 9-0.
Trey Rogers couldn’t get much going against the 26th-ranked wrestler in the country at 197 pounds in Jake Koser, taking an 8-2 loss
Knighton-Ward got Hofstra on the board in the heavyweight matchup against Grady Griess. After scoring two takedowns in the first period, 19th-ranked heavyweight in the country held off Griess the rest of the way to secure a 4-2 victory. Knighton-Ward is now 4-0 against Eastern Intercollegiate Wrestling Association opponents.
The final match before the intermission was a battle of freshman between Hofstra’s Jacob Moon and Navy’s Dayton DelViscio. Moon scored first with a takedown in the first minute of the match. After a restart 27 seconds later, DelViscio stood up and Moon slammed him back to the mat. Unfortunately for Moon, he suffered an apparent left-leg injury on that move, forcing him to concede the match. Navy went into the break up 18-3.
Coming out of intermission, Matt Templeton made his season debut for the Pride. Despite getting pinned by the 23rd-ranked wrestler in the 133-pound weight class, Josh Koderhandt, it’s been a long time coming for Templeton to return to the mat. “It’s hard,” Papadatos said. “He’s been out of it so long, he just really got back to practicing. He was out with a concussion for a while, then his weight was out of control because he wasn’t allowed to do anything so he’s getting his feet grounded again. I was proud of him, I was proud of his effort.”
Justin Hoyle took on Tyler Hunt next in the 141-pound matchup. Hoyle took leads of 2-1 and 4-2 but Hunt battled back and, aided by a riding time bonus point, sent the match to sudden-victory overtime. Hunt completed the comeback with a takedown just over 30 seconds in and stole a 6-4 win and extended the Navy lead to 27-3.
The 149-pound matchup between the Pride’s Michael Leandrou and Midshipman Jonathan Miranda had a choppy start. Leandrou appeared to be dripping blood and had to visit with the Hofstra medical trainer three times before the start of the second period. Miranda got a quick escape in the second and added a takedown en route to a 3-1 win.
The 20th-ranked wrestler in the 157-pound division, Andrew Cerniglia, made quick work of freshman Joe McGinty and earned a 17-0 tech-fall victory to balloon the Navy lead to 35-3.
The 165-pound division concluded the meet and Ricky Stamm gave the Pride a positive ending. He controlled much of his match against Val Park, including getting Park very close to a pin, on his way to an 8-4 win. The victory was Stamm’s 60th of his career. Despite the win, the Pride lost the dual by 29 points. “The momentum changed when Ricky was winning big going into the third and then we started riding him,” Papadatos said. “[Park] stopped believing he was going to win. That’s the difference that our guys, they fought hard, the effort was good from top to bottom, I just don’t know how many people expected and thought they were going to win.”
The loss drops Hofstra to 2-9 in dual meets and 1-3 in EIWA meets. The Pride’s next chance to break its losing streak is Saturday, Jan. 22, when it hosts Binghamton University at the David S. Mack Sports and Exhibition Complex at 3:30 p.m.
Photo courtesy of Evan Bernstein/Hofstra Athletics
