Hempstead, NY –The Hofstra Wrestling team returns to action this Thursday, December 29 when the Pride travel to Pennsylvania for the Lock Haven Classic at Thomas Fieldhouse. The 15-team tournament begins at 9:30 a.m.

Live results and brackets will be available on FloWrestling. There will be no live video.

In addition to Hofstra and the host Bald Eagles of Lock Haven, Army, Binghamton, Bucknell, Buffalo, Franklin and Marshall, George Mason, Kent State, Messiah, 23rd-ranked Pittsburgh, Old Dominion, Rider, 11th-ranked Rutgers, and VMI will also compete in the tournament. Each team will be allowed to enter up to 20 wrestlers with a maximum of three at any one weight. If a team has multiple entries at a weight, the highest scoring wrestler will be counted for that team's score.

Hofstra, 0-2 in the EIWA and 1-2 on the season, has been idle since a 21-11 loss to EIWA opponent Binghamton on Friday, December 9. Freshman Vinny Vespa recorded his first collegiate tech fall and red-shirt freshman Connor Burkert and red-shirt sophomore Nezar Haddad posted wins by decision to lead the Pride. The Bearcats, however, tallied seven wins by decision to notch the victory.

Hofstra Head Wrestling Coach Dennis Papadatos will be bringing 16 Pride wrestlers to the Lock Haven Classic this week as junior Kyle Krasavage and freshman Garrett Lambert are out with injuries and senior Michael Hughes is heading for the Southern Scuffle in Chattanooga, Tennessee on New Year's Day.

Hofstra is led by 174-pound freshman Sage Heller, who has a 13-7 record this season. Freshman Ricky Stamm is 9-2 at 157 pounds in open tournament action this year while classmate Vinny Vespa is 6-6 at 133 pounds. Red-shirt sophomore Nezar Haddad is 5-5 at 197 pounds while red-shirt freshman Jake Kaminsky is 7-8 at 157.

Last year at the Lock Haven Classic, Hofstra finished in sixth place and four Pride grapplers placed in the top four in their respective weight classes Michael Hughes led the Pride with a second-place finish at 285 pounds. Three Hofstra wrestlers, sophomores Bryan Damon at 125 and Kyle Krasavage at 149 and Frank Affronti at 174, placed fourth in the tournament.

Hofstra placed sixth in the nine-team, 2015 Lock Haven Classic team standings with 43.5 points. Pittsburgh won the team title with 94.5 points. Indiana was second with 88 points and was followed by Lock Haven (78.5), Bucknell (58) and Kent State (54.5).