Wrestling faces Rutgers and Wisconsin in Garden State Grapple event

On Saturday, Nov. 27, the Hofstra wrestling team traveled to Newark, N.J., to participate in the inaugural “Garden State Grapple” wrestling event at the Prudential Center, along with No. 14 University of North Carolina, No. 15 Rutgers University and No. 19 University of Wisconsin. Each team participated in two matches on side-by-side mats. Hofstra took on Rutgers in their first match and Wisconsin in their second. Despite being defeated in both matches against far superior competition, the Pride did manage to find some positives against very strong opponents.

Hofstra’s first match of the evening matched them up with the Scarlet Knights of Rutgers University. Fueling off the energy of a sizable crowd advantage, Rutgers came out of the gates flying, defeating Hofstra in the first five matches of the night. Hofstra finally got themselves on the board in the sixth bout of the night when Redshirt senior and Long Island native Ricky Stamm was able to defeat Rutgers’ Ricky Small in a narrow 4-3 points victory.

The Pride suffered three consecutive defeats following Stamm’s victory, including a loss in the 184-weight division when number five ranked freshman John Poznanzki of Rutgers defeated No. 30 ranked Charles Small on points 8-2.

Hofstra was able to log one more win in the final match of the contest in the 285-weight division when senior and No. 20 ranked heavyweight Zachary Knighton-Ward put on a clinic in his victory over sophomore and No. 23 ranked heavyweight Boone McDermott of Rutgers 6-1 on points. Despite Hofstra’s win in their final match of the contest, Hofstra was no match for Rutgers, being defeated by a total score of 35-6.

The Pride hoped to bounce back in their next match against the Badgers of Wisconsin. However, Hofstra suffered much of the same fate. They were defeated in dominating fashion by the Badgers.

Like the first match, Hofstra struggled to get anything going early, losing their first four matches consecutively, two of which were pins, which put Hofstra behind 21-0 early in the match. Hofstra then recorded their only pin victory of the night when freshman Joe McGinty locked Wisconsin Redshirt senior Garrett Model in a near-side cradle.

The Pride recorded two other wins against Wisconsin. Senior and 184-pounder Charles Small defeated Wisconsin senior Chris Weiler 3-2 on points. And in the 197-pound matchup, junior Trey Rogers defeated No. 16 ranked Braxton Amos 6-4 in sudden death overtime. However, despite the solid victories by the Pride, Hofstra was still defeated 38-12.

Hofstra is now 0-2 on the season and will travel to Washington, D.C. on Sunday, Dec. 5, to take on both Duke University and American University.

Photo courtesy of Hofstra Athletics