The Hofstra University wrestling team headed across the country to Las Vegas, Nevada, for the Cliff Keen Invitational on Friday, Dec. 1, and Saturday, Dec. 2. While none of the members of the Pride made it to the second day, 149-pounder Noah Tapia upset No. 14 Jordan Williams of Oklahoma State University in the highlight of the tournament for the Pride.

Tapia, a freshman from Moline, Illinois, had his first match of the day against No. 1 Ridge Lovett of Nebraska University. Lovett used a cradle to pin Tapia 1:35 into the match to send him into the consolation bracket. There, Tapia faced Jeff Boyd of The Citadel, the Military College of South Carolina. With the help of a takedown and near-fall points he earned in the second period, Tapia beat Boyd 7-5.

In the second round, Tapia took on Williams, who came into the tournament ranked No. 14 and as the 11th seed. Williams got a takedown early in the first period, with Tapia escaping before Williams earned another takedown, to which Tapia responded with an escape to end the first period down 2-6. In the second, Williams chose bottom, and when he got to his feet, Tapia threw him with a body lock to his back to earn four near-fall points and tie the score 6-6. In the third period, Tapia got a quick escape off the bottom, with Williams earning a takedown with about a minute left. Tapia escaped and Williams tried to use a duck under to score, but he was countered by Tapia, who scored a takedown to make the score 11-9. Shortly after, Williams managed to get a reversal in the last few seconds to make the score 11-11, with Tapia winning after receiving a point for riding time which made the score 12-11.

Tapia’s day came to an end after a 7-0 loss to South Dakota State University’s Alek Martin.

At 125 pounds, Dylan Ryder earned a win for the Pride over Sacred Heart University’s Jake Ice. Ryder caught Ice on his back to earn a win by fall at 1:07. Ryder’s day came to an end after a close match with No. 25 Diego Sotelo of Harvard University. The score was tied 1-1 until the last minute of the third period when Sotelo earned a takedown to win 5-2.

At 174 pounds, Ross McFarland also won a match, beating Noah Blake of the United States Air Force Academy by a major decision 11-1. In his first match of the day, McFarland had a close contest against No. 23 Alex Faison of North Carolina State University. McFarland lost 4-3 with Faison earning his only takedown late in the third period.

The starting lineup continues to shift for the Pride, with Dylan Acevedo moving up a weight class to 133 pounds to represent the Pride at the tournament and Adrian Sans representing the team at 285 pounds. As for the rest of the team, Alex Turley competed at 141 pounds, Joe McGinty at 165 pounds, Will Conlon at 184 pounds and Nikolas Miller at 197 pounds.

The Pride returns to dual meet action on Sunday, Dec. 10, against No. 1 Pennsylvania State University away at University Park, Pennsylvania, at 1 p.m.

Photo courtesy of Hofstra Athletics/Lee S. Weissman