Ithaca, NY - Zachary Knighton-Ward and Charles Small both advanced to the semifinals of their respective weight classes as Hofstra competed in the first day of the 2022 EIWA Championships, hosted by Cornell University at Newman Arena.

A redshirt senior from Uniondale, New York, Knighton-Ward scored his first win of the day with a pin 44 seconds into his Round of 16 match against Brown's #14 Lear Quinton. He took down the Brown heavyweight wrestler and immediately had him on his back with a powerful lift and throw, and the official slapped the mat almost instantly. Knighton-Ward moved on to the quarterfinals to face #11 Isaac Righter of American, and he never trailed his opponent en route to a commanding 12-4 major decision win. His win places him in Sunday's semifinals, where he will face two-seed Louis Fernandes of Cornell with the opportunity to automatically qualify for the 2022 NCAA Championships.

In the 184 bracket, three-seed Small won his opening match with a controlling 7-3 decision win over Harvard's Leo Tarantino. The Bradenton, Florida native used a five-point second period to jump ahead of Tarantino with a pair of takedowns and an escape, and he clinched the win with a takedown in the third period. He advanced to the quarterfinals against six-seed Brad Laughlin of Army West Point, where he would need a second tiebreaker period to win, 2-1. Small held off a takedown attempt with second remaining in the sudden-victory overtime period, and he scored a key escape with 10 seconds left in the first tiebreaker. In the second, Small returned Laughlin to the mat several times and prevented him from getting to his feet to secure the win. Small advances to the 184-pound semifinal, where he faces Princeton's Travis Stefanik, the two-seed in the bracket, and a top-three finish would see him qualify for his second-consecutive NCAA Championship.

Justin Hoyle's time in Ithaca will continue to Sunday after advancing to the consolation quarterfinals of the 141-pound bracket. The 14-seed, Hoyle began his day with a 13-2 major decision loss to two-seed Ryan Anderson of Binghamton, sending him to the consolation bracket. Hoyle bounced back with a 6-2 decision win over LIU's Devin Matthews, and he knocked out Navy's Tyler Hunt with a 3-2 win thanks to over one minute of riding-time accrued. Hoyle will take on five-seed Connor McGonagle of Lehigh on Sunday. A finish in the top four would send Hoyle to Detroit, Michigan for the NCAA Championships.

In other Hofstra wrestling action at the EIWA Championships, Trey Rogers opened his time in Ithaca as the six-seed in the 197-pound bracket with a 19-6 major decision of Brown's Cade Wilson before running into three-seed Luke Stout of Princeton. Stout won by 10-4 decision over Rogers, sending Rogers into the Round of 16 consolation bracket to face nine-seed JT Davis of Lehigh. Against Davis, Rogers fought back against a two-point deficit in the third period and scored a takedown with nine seconds left as the match went into overtime thanks to Davis holding a riding time advantage. The match continued into the tiebreaker rounds, where Davis would advance with a six-second riding time advantage.

Ricky Stamm, the 11-seed at 165 pounds, suffered a tough 9-3 decision loss to six-seed Lucas Revano of Penn, but he would rebound with a 6-4 decision win over LIU's Blake Banha in his first consolation match. His day would come to an end with a 4-3 nail-biter defeat to eight-seed Brevin Cassella of Binghamton in the next consolation round. Jacob Moon, the 15-seed at 125, earned a 13-4 major decision win over Nick Curley, the 16-seed from Binghamton, and #17 Matthew Templeton scored an upset of nine-seed Anthony Sobotker of Binghamton by way of 6-2 decision.

#11 Joe McGinty (157), #15 Michael Leandrou (149) and #15 Ross McFarland (174) also wrestled for the Pride from inside Newman Arena today. Hofstra sits ninth in the team standings with 32.5 total points. The Pride is 5.5 points off eighth-place Army West Point and holds a two-point lead over Drexel and Harvard in 10th.

The 2022 EIWA Championships resumes Sunday morning at 10 a.m. with the semifinals and quarterfinal consolation rounds. The semifinal consolation matches will take place at approximately 12 p.m., while the podium matches will begin at approximately 3 p.m.

NOTES:
-Small's victory was his second over Tarantino in three weeks, with the first win coming by injury default on February 12.
-Knighton-Ward's winning-streak has been to nine with his two wins today.

 
#16 Jacob Moon – 125
Round of 16: L by 19-1 tech fall (6:00) vs. #2 Vitali Arujau (Cornell)
Consolation Wrestle-Back: W by 13-4 maj. dec. vs. #16 Nick Curley (Binghamton)
Consolation Round of Eight #1: L by fall (0:42) vs. #7 Maximilian Leete (American)
 
Matthew Templeton – 133
Round of 16: L by 19-4 tech fall (5:19) vs. #1 Josh Koderhandt (Navy)
Consolation Round of Eight #1: W by 6-2 dec. vs. #9 Anthony Sobotker (Binghamton)
Consolation Round of Eight #2: L by fall (1:30) vs. #14 Nicky Cabanillas (Brown)
 
#14 Justin Hoyle – 141
Round of 16: L by 13-2 maj. dec. vs. #3 Ryan Anderson (Binghamton)
Consolation Round of Eight #1: W by 6-2 dec. vs. #11 Dylan Matthews (LIU)
Consolation Round of Eight #2: W by 3-2 dec. vs. #9 Tyler Hunt (Navy)
 
#15 Michael Leandrou – 149
Round of 16: L by fall (0:39) vs. #2 Anthony Artalona (Penn)
Consolation Round of 16: W by medical forfeit vs. Rafael Lievano (Sacred Heart)
Consolation Round of Eight #1: L by 4-2 dec. vs. #10 Patrick Ryan (American)
 
#11 Joe McGinty – 157
Round of 16: L by 9-1 maj. dec. vs. #6 Hunter Richard (Cornell)
Consolation Round of Eight #1: L by 10-0 maj. dec. vs. Chase McCollum (Franklin & Marshall)
 
#11 Ricky Stamm – 165
Round of 16: L by 9-3 dec. vs. #6 Lucas Revano (Penn)
Consolation Round of Eight #1: W by 6-4 dec vs. Blake Bahna (LIU)
Consolation Round of Eight #2: L by 4-3 dec. vs. Brevin Cassella (Binghamton)
 
#15 Ross McFarland – 174
Round of 16: L by 14-4 maj. dec. vs. #2 Chris Foca (Cornell)
Consolation Round of 16: L by fall (6:58) vs. #16 Anthony Marciniak (Sacred Heart)
 
#3 Charles Small – 184
Round of 16: W by 7-3 dec. vs. #14 Leo Tarantino (Harvard)
Quarterfinals: W by 2-1 dec. (TB2) vs. #6 Brad Laughlin (Army West Point)
 
#6 Trey Rogers – 197
Round of 16: W by 19-6 maj. dec. vs. #11 Cade Wilson (Brown)
Quarterfinals: L by 10-4 dec. vs. #3 Luke Stout (Princeton)
Consolation Round of Eight #2: L by 5-5 dec (riding time tiebreaker) vs. #9 JT Davis (Lehigh)
 
#3 Zachary Knighton-Ward – 285
Round of 16: W by fall (0:44) vs. #14 Lear Quinton (Brown)
Quarterfinals: W by 12-4 maj. dec. vs. #11 Isaac Righter (American)