Penn State had to overcome considerable odds to get a 19-19 tie with host University of Pittsburgh Saturday night... but Nittany Lions' head coach Cael Sanderson was not looking at the outcome in a positive way.
"A tie is a loss," said Sanderson, who never tied -- or lost -- a match in his varsity wrestling career at Iowa State.
Before Saturday's dual at No. 24-ranked Pitt even began, No. 14 Penn State had to overcome two significant losses:
- A forfeit at 197 pounds because Clay Steadman had been suspended for the weekend’s dual meets for breaking team rules.
- During pre-match warmups, starting heavyweight Cameron Wade severely sprained his ankle and couldn’t go, forcing backup Brendan Herlihy, a fifth-year senior who has been a career backup, into action.
Despite getting nearly three times as many takedowns as the Pitt Panthers (29-10), Penn State managed to win only half the individual bouts.
As coach Cael told Andy Elder of the Centre Daily Times (the community paper for the area where Penn State is located), “We had a lot of opportunities to win that match. Every one of those guys had the chance to win that dual meet for us.”
125: Anthony Zanetta PT dec. #7 Brad Pataky PSU, 15-9, 0-3
133: Jimmy Conroy PT dec. Bryan Pearsall PSU, 7-3, 0-6
141: #13 Tyler Nuaman PIT dec. Colby Pisani PSU, 5-2, 0-9
149: #6 Frank Molinaro PSU maj. dec. Eric Albright PT, 13-4, 4-9
157: #3 Cyler Sanderson PSU tech. fall (4-pt) Ryan Goodman PT, 26-11 (6:49), 8-9
165: #9 Dan Vallimont PSU maj. dec. Karl DeCiantis PT, 16-5, 12-9
174: Justin Ortega PSU dec. David Sullivan PT, 4-2, 15-9
184: #14 David Erwin PSU maj. dec. Zac Thomusseit PT, 13-4, 19-9
197: #18 Matt Wilps PT win by forfeit, 19-15
HWT: #12 Ryan Tomei PT maj. dec. Brendan Herlihy PSU, 10-1, 19-19
Resources
Centre Daily Times' article: Cael sour in tie with Pitt
Penn State wrestling website: Detailed match-by-match account of Pitt dual meet
TheMat.com college wrestling scores for the week of December 7-13
College Wrestling 101: Links to articles answering basic questions about wrestling, including rules, scoring, uniforms, more
Follow College Wrestling Examiner Mark Palmer on Twitter
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