On Monday, Dec. 20, the Hofstra wrestling team headed to Niceville, FL, to compete in consecutive dual meets in the Journeymen Collegiate Classic, falling short to No. 8 Virginia Tech University 35-3 and No. 6 Arizona State University 42-4. The duals took place at Raider Arena, located on the Northwest Florida State College campus.
At 149 pounds, sophomore Michael Leandrou secured Hofstra (2-5) its first victory of the day over the eighth-ranked Hokies. Entering the third period trailing 1-0 to freshman Kylan Montgomery, Leandrou escaped from the bottom position to equalize the score before bringing Montgomery down with a single-leg takedown. With 21 seconds remaining, Leandrou fought through Montgomery’s defense and scored the two points. Leandrou won his first dual bout of the season by a 3-1 decision.
Before Leandrou put Hofstra on the board with three team points at 149 pounds, Virginia Tech (4-2) went out to a 15-0 lead with a major decision victory at 125 pounds, a tech fall win at 133 pounds and a decision win at 141 pounds. The Hokies won the subsequent matches, giving them their fourth team victory of the season.
The Sun Devils had won their first seven matches before No. 25 Charles Small’s win at 184 pounds. Small defeated freshman Jacob Ortiz by a 10-1 major decision. He achieved takedowns against Ortiz in each period and gave his opponent an escape point in the third period to earn his eighth win of the season. To close out the dual, the Sun Devils went on to win matches at 197 and 285 pounds.
Hofstra is currently 1-3 all-time facing Virginia Tech and 0-1 all-time against Arizona State in dual matches and the Pride has wrestled four nationally ranked opponents this season. Despite suffering a 20-15 loss over Brown University on Dec. 9, the Pride is currently 2-5 overall.
On Tuesday, Dec. 21, the Pride will return to the mat for the second day of the Journeymen Collegiate Wrestling Duals. Depending upon how the teams in the Blue Pool fare, Hofstra will take on one No. 2 Penn State, No. 11 Cornell or No. 22 Northern Iowa. Fans can view live results on Rokfin and TournaFlex via GoHofstra.com.
Following the Journeymen Collegiate Classic, the Pride’s next match-up will take place on Saturday, Jan. 8, at the David S. Mack Sports and Exhibition Complex, set for 3:30 p.m. They will take on Bucknell University in Eastern Intercollegiate Wrestling Association (EIWA) competition.
Photo courtesy of Sam Janicki/ Hofstra Athletics
