By Dave Gibb, Staff Writer
The final week of the Hofstra wrestling team's regular season was a busy one, as they matched up against three tough opponents in three different states over a six-day period.
The stretch began on Valentine's Day in College Park, MD against the University of Maryland, the ninth ranked program in the country. The Terrapins are the sixth top-25 program the Pride faced during the season. So far against ranked schools, the Pride had been outscored 31-160.
Valentine's Day in Maryland was filled with anything but love for the Pride, as Hofstra's grapplers claimed only two victories and suffered three losses by fall. Senior Jonny Bonilla-Bowman claimed one of the victories for the Pride at the 157 lb. weight class, 15-11. The other victory of the day for Hofstra was Ben Clymer, who claimed a narrow decision, defeating Corey Peltier in the 184-pound weight class.
The premier matchup of the day came when Hofstra's 17th ranked P.J. Gillespie took on 15th ranked Josh Asper at 165 pounds. The slightly higher ranked Asper earned the win for Maryland, defeating Gillespie with a 6-1 decision. When all was said and done at the meet, the Terrapins claimed a decisive 34-6 victory.
Three days later and 170 miles to the Northeast, the Pride hit the mat again, this time against the Rider Broncs in Lawrenceville, NJ. The Pride claimed five match victories on the day. Bonilla-Bowman continued his dominant season, this time earning a 24-11 major decision over Rider's Zac Cibula. Jamie Franco and Luke Vaith each claimed victories also, at 125 and 133. After his loss a few days earlier, Gillespie was able to rebound with a 6-5 decision over Rob Morrison of the Broncs.
On the other hand, there were bad moments against Rider, as the Pride suffered two technical falls and were forced to give up the 197-pound match following an injury to senior Anthony Tortora. Hofstra was still unable to claim victory in the meet, falling by a 21-16 score.
After a two-day layoff, the team returned home to take on CAA rival Drexel in their final head-to-head meet of the season before the CAA Championships. The Pride rallied to protect the home mat, defeating Drexel 21-17 to end the regular season with a win.
At 141 pounds, Tyler Banks won a 13-0 major decision over Josh Yurasits. Gillespie also claimed a major decision victory, outscoring Drexel's Alex Rinaldi 14-6. The biggest scorer on the day for the Pride was Bonilla-Bowman, who tallied an impressive 21 points to claim another major decision.
Ben Clymer won by the narrowest of margins at 184, defeating Justin Weiller 1-0. The Pride also received a forfeit win at 285 to pad its winning score. The victory over Drexel snapped a seven meet losing streak.
Freshman Luke Vaith lost to Steve Mytych of Drexel on Saturday afternoon. (Josh Zager/ The Chronicle)