Category: Wrestling

By Andrew Arnao

Staff Writer

The wrestling team managed a 28-13 victory at Lock Haven last Friday before falling to Penn 23-13 at home on Sunday, concluding the regular season with a 4-16 record.

The match against Lock Haven started well for the Bison with a 6-4 overtime decision by Austin Miller ’15, who leads the Bison in total wins for the year. After losing their next bout, the Orange and Blue rattled off five straight victories, including pins by Alex Pellicciotti ’14 and Stephen McPeek ’14.

“We all had good matches on Friday against the Lock Haven squad,” Miller said. “Alex Pellicciotti in particular had a great match where he pinned a very tough opponent after going up by a considerable margin.”

Miller recorded a major decision in the opening bout against Penn, giving the Bison another early lead. Penn tied the score 4-4 and went ahead 7-4, only for the score to be evened at 7-7 with a decision by Pellicciotti. John Regan ’12 and McPeek each gave the Bison leads with exciting last-second decisions, but Penn tied the score each time. Tied at 13 apiece with two bouts remaining, the Bison suffered a major decision at the hands of No. 10 Micah Burak, and a forfeit in the heavyweight category to end the match.

“This past Sunday we had mixed results,” Corey Lear ’13 said. “[Against Penn,] there were two great wins in the last seconds of the matches at 157 and 174. Wrestling without a heavyweight does not help with the outcome, [and the] effort was put forth to overcome that deficit but we fell short.”

Regan, the team’s only senior, was honored before the match against Penn. Regan ends his tenure as a Bison with a 53-33 record, including a 17-10 record this year.

“We now have a two-and-a-half-week idle period to train hard for the EIWA Championships,” Regan said. “We are sticking to our coaches motto to not work for a final result, rather work to prepare for the next match. Rather than working to win the EIWA, most of us have set our goals to win each match, one match at a time.”

The EIWA Championships will take place March 3-4 at Princeton University.

“We must have a strong showing there and finish the season on a good note,” Miller said. “We have to go in believing we will win … as individuals and as a team.”

Scott Padula & Alex Wagner
Writer & Assistant Sports Editor

The Bison wrestling team faced difficult tasks on Sunday and Tuesday as it came away with a tough 23-13 home loss to No. 11 American and a 27-12 loss at Army. Alex Pellicciotti ’14, John Regan ’12, Corey Lear ’13 and Stephen McPeek ’14 posted wins against American, while Lear, McPeek, Austin Miller ’15 and Derrik Russell ’13 won against Army.

The Orange and Blue got off to a rough start on Sunday, trailing 17-0 after a forfeit in the heavyweight class and losses in three other bouts. In the next four matches, the Orange and Blue mounted a comeback to trail 17-13 with two bouts left and an opportunity to win. The Bison were unable to complete the upset, though, as they fell in their final two matches.

“This weekend’s match was a great experience for our team. American is the type of team we need to wrestle not only to see where we are, but wrestling better teams will only make us better at the end of the season. Our team still has work to do in order to get where we want to by the time nationals comes around,” Lear said.

The most impressive win of the day occurred in the 165 lb. weight class where Lear defeated Ganbayar Sanjaa, the third-ranked wrestler in the nation in the 157 lb. weight class. Lear overcame a 4-3 deficit with 30 seconds left in the third period to capture an 8-5 decision.

Beforehand, Regan easily took the 157 lb. weight class for his seventh win in eight matches. Pellicciotti started the comeback with a 6-5 win over Kevin Tao in the 149 lb. weight class, while McPeek captured the final Bison win in the 174 lb. weight class with a 13-9 victory.

“I know wins like that show the team that anything can happen on any given day. We train just as hard as every other Division I program in the country, if not harder. This is the time of the year to take advantage of other teams getting worn out from the long season and to step up. It was a shame we didn’t upset them as a team but it was a good performance and we look to get some team wins this week,” Regan said.

The short turnaround before Tuesday’s matchup proved to be too much for the Bison. Although they won four of the nine bouts, they fell short to Army after a forfeit at the heavyweight spot and two pins against them.

Miller continued to be a consistent wrestler for the Orange and Blue by earning the team a 3-0 lead after winning the opening bout 13-7. Shawn Armato ’15, however, was pinned in his 133 lb. bout, giving Army a 6-3 advantage.

A 4-1 victory by Russell evened everything up, but a pin in the 149 lb. bout and a Bison loss in the 157 lb. bout put the Black Knights ahead once again 15-6. Lear and McPeek, continuing their great form, won back-to-back bouts to bring the Bison back within three points, but Army answered with two wins of their own.  A forfeit at the heavyweight ended things for good.

The Orange and Blue will head to Lock Haven on Friday before they wrap up their regular season with a home match on Sunday against the University of Pennsylvania.

By Chris McCree

Sports Editor

 

Profile:

Corey Lear

Junior

Hometown: Orangeville, Pa.

Weight class: 165 lbs.

Major: Computer Science

 

2011-12 Statistics:

Overall: 12-6

Dual: 9-4

EIWA: 5-0

vs. ranked opp: 1-3

Fall: 4-1  

Despite the team’s disappointing 23-13 home loss to rival American on Sunday, Corey Lear ’13 pulled off the upset of the year for the wrestling team, defeating Ganbayar Sanjaa in an 8-5 decision. Sanjaa is ranked No. 3 in the nation in the 157 lb. weight class, although he was wrestling up a class against the Bison. In the hotly contested bout, Lear trailed 4-3 late in the third period, but rallied behind a tie-breaking takedown and subsequent two-point near fall to pull off an impressive comeback in the match’s final seconds.

After watching his Bison teammates drop their first four matches to American opponents, Lear recorded his decision amidst an Orange and Blue comeback attempt. The team reeled off four consecutive victories in the 149, 157, 165 and 174 lb. weight classes, but failed to capitalize on this momentum during the match’s last two bouts.

Since joining the Orange and Blue in 2009, Lear has played a valuable role in the team’s success, recording 56 total wins over his three years. Much improved from his rookie season, Lear participated in all 37 of the team’s matches as a sophomore and finished the year second among his teammates with 24 wins. At the EIWA Championships, Lear claimed seventh place in the 165-lb. weight class.

After doubling his career win total over ranked opponents this past Sunday, Lear looks to build some late-season momentum as the EIWA Championships loom less than a month away.

By Andrew Arnao

Writer

The wrestling team opened last weekend with a 27-9 win over George Mason but faltered in its matches against nationally-ranked Oklahoma State and Binghamton by scores of 35-6 and 36-6, respectively. The Orange and Blue are now 3-13 on the year.

The Bison were slow out of the gate against George Mason, starting the meet behind by six after dropping their first two bouts to the Patriots. Derrik Russell ’13 gave the Bison their first points of the meet with a 3-1 overtime decision, and Alex Pellicciotti ’14 followed the win with a technical fall to give the Orange and the Blue an 8-6 lead.

From there, the Bison went on to win five of their next six decisions, including a decisive 16-2 decision by Stephen McPeek ’14 and a pin by Tyler Lyster ’15 in 3:22.

After snapping its six-match losing streak at George Mason, the Bison traveled to Stillwater, Okla. to face a pair of ranked opponents in No. 2 Oklahoma State and No. 22 Binghamton. Against the Cowboys, John Regan ’12 scored the only points for the Bison with a pin against Alex Munoz.

The Orange and Blue fared no better against Binghamton with Austin Miller ’15 and Corey Lear ’13 recording victories. Miller’s 5-4 decision marked his fifth win in seven bouts and gave the Bison a short-lived lead.

The Bison will return home on Sunday for the first time since December and host American at noon in Davis Gym.