Hempstead, NY – The Hofstra Wrestling team returns home to the David S. Mack Physical Education Center this Friday, February 10 when the Pride host longtime rival, the Rider University Broncs in a non-conference match at 4 p.m. The match was rescheduled from its original Thursday, February 9 date due to snowstorm Nico hitting the metropolitan area.
Pride Productions will stream Friday's match live and can be accessed on through the
Stretch Internet portal on GoHofstra.com. Hofstra will also provide live stats of the contest through TrackWrestling. Links for the Pride Productions video stream and the live stats can be found on this page as well as on GoHofstra.com.
Hofstra is now 6-8 overall and 2-5 in the Eastern Intercollegiate Wrestling Association (EIWA) following their split of two conference matches in Pennsylvania last Saturday. The Pride recorded a 22-21, come-from-behind victory over Franklin and Marshall in Lancaster before dropping a 36-2 decision at Drexel in Philadelphia Saturday night.
In last Saturday's first match against the Diplomats of F&M, the Pride found themselves down, 18-6 after six weight classes. But Hofstra freshman
Sage Heller closed the gap to 18-10 with a major decision victory over James Stillerman at 174. F&M's Anthony Mancini topped
Michael Oxley at 184 to give the Diplomats a 21-10 advantage. Due to injuries, Franklin and Marshall had to forfeit 197 pounds to
Nezar Haddad and 285 pounds to
Omar Haddad to give the Pride 12 points and the 22-21 victory.
In Saturday's nightcap at Drexel, Hofstra was only able to muster a win by
Nezar Haddad at 197 and, even then, one team point of that was taken away by an unsportsmanlike penalty on both teams as the Dragons rolled to the 36-2 victory.
The Pride has wins over George Mason (18-13), Bloomsburg (30-9), East Stroudsburg (34-15), Sacred Heart (38-3), West Liberty (42-0) and Franklin and Marshall (22-21) and losses to Cornell (39-0), Binghamton (21-11), Duke (31-10), Clarion (28-5), Army West Point (34-3), Columbia (24-12), Buffalo (32-3) and Drexel (36-2) this year.
Hofstra continues to be led by freshman
Sage Heller, who was 23-12 at 174 pounds. Sophomore
Ryan Burkert is now 17-11 at 149 while red-shirt sophomore
Nezar Haddad is 13-10 at 197 pounds. Freshman
Vinny Vespa is 12-14 at 133 and red-shirt freshman
Jake Kaminsky is 14-17 at 157.
The Broncs of Rider University have been rivals of Hofstra for more than 45 years. The Broncs are 9-1 this season. The Broncs enter the Hofstra match with a 9-1 overall record in 2016-17. Rider has wins over Lock Haven (20-14), Pennsylvania (32-10), Clarion (25-11), Columbia (39-4), West Virginia (28-6), Brown (32-9), Cleveland State (43-12), Bloomsburg (32-6) and George Mason (24-18). Their only loss came against Edinboro (22-10) on January 20.
Rider is led by red-shirt junior Chad Walsh with a 23-2 record at 165 pounds. Classmate B.J. Clagon is 16-5 at 157 pounds while sophomore Anthony Cefolo is 15-8 at 133 pounds. Freshman Evan Fidelibus is 19-10 at 141 pounds.
Following the Rider match, the Pride will host the Crimson of Harvard at the Mack Physical Education Center in an EIWA match on Friday, February 17 at 7 p.m.
