Junior Jon Masa (pictured) recorded a pin and senior Paul Siemon and sophomore John Manarte posted tech falls to lead the ninth-ranked Pride of Hofstra to a 23-18 victory over the 22nd-ranked Mountaineers of West Virginia Saturday afternoon at the West Virginia Coliseum. The Pride improve to 8-3 on the season while West Virginia falls to 2-5.
Starting the match at 125, Hofstra jumped out to a commanding 14-3 lead by the start of the middle weights. After WVU freshman Shawn Cordell defeated Pride freshman Dave Tomasette (12-8) 4-3 to open the match, Hofstra captured the next three matches to build the lead. First, freshman Charles Griffin improved to 18-3 on the year with a 9-2 decision over junior Seth Lisa (12-5) to tie the match at 3-3. Hofstra sophomore John Manarte, filling in for the injured Ricky LaForge at 141 pounds, improved to 8-6 on the year with a 17-2 tech fall win over Mountaineer freshman Vince Gioiella (9-5). Hofstra's ninth-ranked junior Jon Masa, ended a three-match losing skid, with a convincing pin of #18 Mike Torriero (6-3) at the 4:44 mark of the match. Masa improved to 12-7 with his sixth pin of the year and gave the Pride a 14-3 advantage.
But the Mountaineers came back, winning the next two matches to close the gap to 14-9. At 157 pounds, ninth-ranked Matt Lebe improved to 24-6 on the season by edging Pride sophomore James Strouse (14-8) 3-2. At 165, sophomore Zack Fryling (14-5) snuck by sophomore Chris Vondruska (7-7), who filled in for the injured Mike Patrovich, 5-4.
But Hofstra senior Paul Siemon ended West Virginia's modest two-match winning streak with a tech fall victory over Eric Mullen (12-9) at 6:12 of the 174-pound match to give the Pride a 19-9 lead. Siemon improved to 17-5 with his fourth tech fall of the season. At 184 pounds, Hofstra freshman Joe Rovelli (14-6) battled top-ranked Greg Jones (12-0) before dropping a 13-7 decision. The Pride's third-ranked senior Chris Skretkowicz closed the door on the Mountaineers with his 20th victory of the season in 21 outings in a 10-0 major victory over Jared Villers (4-8) at 197 pounds. The victory is Skretkowicz's 15th straight win. Hofstra forfeited the heavyweight match to WVU sophomore Matt Holsopple to close out the scoring at 23-18.
The Pride head to Norfolk, Virginia tonight to face the Monarchs of Old Dominion in a CAA match-up Sunday afternoon at 1 p.m. Hofstra is riding a 37-match conference undefeated streak (36-0-1).
#9 Hofstra 23 #22 West Virginia 18
(NWCA/Intermat rankings)
125: Shawn Cordell (WVU) DEC Dave Tomasette (HOF), 4-3
133: Charles Griffin (HOF) DEC Seth Lisa (WVU), 9-2
141: John Manarte (HOF) TECH Vince Gioiella (WVU), 17-2 7:00
149: #9 Jon Masa (HOF) FALL #18 Mike Torriero (WVU), 4:44
157: #9 Matt Lebe (WVU) DEC James Strouse (HOF), 3-2
165: Zac Fryling (WVU) DEC Chris Vondruska (HOF), 5-4
174: #13 Paul Siemon (HOF) TECH Eric Mullen (WVU), 6:12
184: #1 Greg Jones (WVU) DEC Joe Rovelli (HOF), 13-7
197: #3 Chris Skretkowicz (HOF) MAJOR Jared Villers (WVU), 10-0
285: Matt Holsopple (WVU) FORFEIT
