With Army trailing 19-14 going into the final bout, Simpson came out strong in the 149-pound skirmish. The Nashville, Tenn., native tried furiously to pin Michael Martini, but the Hofstra freshman would not submit and Simpson came away with a technical fall in 6 minutes, 52 seconds.
"I approached the match just like any other match," remarked Simpson. "I just wanted to go out there and score points. I was hoping I'd catch him on his back and stick him. In the third period I knew I had to rack up points to secure the technical fall, but during the last 30 seconds I really wanted the pin."
Junior 133-pounder Frank Baughan made Simpson's match relevant when he pinned Robbie Deibert in just 44 seconds. Baughan's win by fall, which trimmed Hofstra's lead to two points (16-14) put Army in position to steal the match, despite the fact Hofstra's John Manarte defeated Tony Severo, 8-3, at 141 pounds.
Army head coach Chuck Barbee was pleased with the way his team wrestled throughout the evening.
"It was a good effort to tie a good team like Hofstra," commented Barbee. "As a coach, you're never completely satisfied with a tie, though, because the victory was right there."
Hofstra (0-0-1) grabbed a 3-0 lead after the first bout as James Strouse picked up a 4-1 decision against Army sophomore Brandon Benson at 157 pounds. Strouse scored a takedown early in the first period and he made it stand up.
In the next bout, Black Knight senior Jon Anderson put Army on top, 4-3, with a 19-7 major decision against the Pride's Chris Vondruska in the 165-pound match. Anderson garnered his first of six takedowns late in the first period to seize a 3-2 lead that he never relinquished.
The seesaw contest began to tilt in favor of the visitors as Hofstra wrestlers took the next three bouts as the Pride grabbed a 13-4 lead after five bouts.
Mike Patrovich, who is ranked sixth in the nation at 174 pounds, began Hofstra's run when he scored a 10-1 major decision versus Army's Scott Ferguson. In a matchup of nationally-ranked grapplers, No. 14 Joe Rovelli kept the Pride's momentum going with a hard-fought 6-1 decision over No. 15 Luke Calvert at 184 pounds.
Hofstra's Chris Weidman continued the run as he used an 8-3 decision to defeat Connor Sanders at 197 pounds. The match was tied, 2-2, entering the third and final period, but Weidman earned the winning point on an escape to open the final stanza and added a pair of takedowns to close the scoring.
Army freshman Michael Sprigg halted Hofstra's run and put the Black Knights squarely back into contention with a rousing 11-1 decision over Jon Andriac in the heavyweight contest. The match, which featured four takedowns for Sprigg, had the Army partisans whipped up into a frenzy.
Any momentum that Army might have generated from Sprigg's triumph was stolen right back by Hofstra's Dave Tomasette as the 17th-ranked lightweight in the nation captured a 10-7 decision versus Black Knight freshman William Simpson in a heated match at 125 pounds. The Hofstra victory gave the Pride a 16-8 advantage with only three bouts remaining and set the stage for Patrick Simpson's dramatics.
The tie, which was Army's first since a 16-16 stalemate versus Navy on Feb. 19, 2000, snaps a five-match winless streak versus Hofstra. The Pride now lead the all-time series 8-5-1.
"I was encouraged by the way we wrestled," added Barbee. "We continue to get better every week. Patrick Simpson put us in position to tie the match versus a good team, and hopefully the next time out we'll be in a position to win.
"This is a great starting point for us. The guys have been training hard during the preseason. We have a ton of tough matches coming up this season so there isn't any time to sit around and rest on a good match. I'm pleased with tonight and I'm looking forward to the rest of the season."
The Black Knights will look to build on tonight's performance when they return to the tournament circuit this Saturday (Nov. 19) at the Body Bar Systems Invitational in Ithaca, N.Y.
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