Number one seeds senior Lou Ruggirello at 133, junior Vince Varela at 141 and sophomore Paul Snyder at 285 pounds along with second seeds sophomore Steve Bonanno at 125, junior P.J. Gillespie at 165, senior Ryan Patrovich at 174 and junior Ben Clymer at 184 all advanced with semifinal victories Friday night. In addition, second seed sophomore Tyler Banks at 157, red-shirt freshman Zach Clemente at 149 and fifth-seed freshman Matt Loew at 197 will wrestle in the consolation second round Saturday morning.
The Pride are in first place after the first day with 70.5 points. The defending champion Binghamton Bearcats are second with 66 followed by Boston U (30.5), Rider (28), Old Dominion (26), Drexel (11.5), and George Mason (3.5).
In the quarterfinals Friday afternoon, the Pride posted a 5-1 record with Bonanno, Ruggirello, Gillespie and Patrovich getting byes to the semifinals. In the quarterfinals that were wrestled, junior Vince Varela (19-12), the number one seed at 141 pounds, shook off an early takedown to cruise to a 16-4 major decision over Boston University sophomore Jordan Frease at 141 pounds. At 149, unseeded red-shirt freshman Zach Clemente (14-13) dropped an 18-6 major decision to Binghamton’s top seed Donnie Vinson, 18-6.
Sophomore Tyler Banks (19-15), seeded second at 157, gave the Pride their second major decision with an 8-0 win over Drexel sophomore Charles Aungst. At 184, junior Ben Clymer (19-8), seeded second at 184 pounds, defeated Rider red-shirt freshman James Brundage, 6-1, for his fifth consecutive win. Freshman Matt Loew (14-21), seeded fifth at 197 pounds, won his sixth straight match with a 4-3 decision over Old Dominion’s fourth-seed freshman Jacob Henderson, 4-3. Sophomore Paul Snyder (23-14), the top seed at 285 pounds, tallied his fourth consecutive victory with a 6-0 win over George Mason sophomore Hunter Manspile.
In the first round of the consolations Friday evening, Clemente (15-13) bounced back with a strong 10-3 victory over Drexel’s fourth-seed freshman Austin Sommer to advance to Saturday’s second round of consolations.
In the semifinals Friday night, Bonanno opened up the action with a thrilling 6-5 victory over Binghamton’s sixth-seed Derek Steeley. Bonanno posted a takedown with 45 seconds remaining in the third period and held on to Steeley’s escape attempt in the waning seconds. It was the sophomore from Wantagh, New York’s sixth straight win. Bonanno (23-10), the second seed, will face the top seed James Nicholson from Old Dominion in Saturday’s championship match.
Senior Lou Ruggirello, the top seed at 133, will be going after his fourth CAA title after pinning Drexel’s Frank Cimato, the fifth seed, in 1:47. Ruggirello (27-3), who won his 13th straight match, will face second-seed Kyle Hutter from Old Dominion in the championship match. Junior Vince Varela, the top seed at 141, advanced to the championship match with a 5-3 victory over fourth-seed Brennan Brumley from Old Dominion. Varela (20-12) will face second-seed Anwar Goeres from Binghamton in Saturday’s final.
Junior P.J. Gillespie (25-6) advanced to the 165-pound final with a 9-1 major decision over third-seed Jim Resnick from Rider. Gillespie, who won his sixth straight, will square off against the fourth-seed Justin Lister, who won the 157-pound title last year, in Saturday’s final. Senior Ryan Patrovich (14-5) defeated Binghamton’s third-seed Ryan McGarrity, 4-1 in the 174-pound semifinal. Patrovich will face Boston University’s fourth-seed Hunter Meys in the final Saturday.
Junior Ben Clymer (20-8) advanced to the 184-pound final with a 5-2 victory over third-seed Joe Budi from Old Dominion. Clymer will face Binghamton’s top-seed Nate Schiedel in the final on Saturday. Sophomore Paul Snyder (24-14) had the toughest time to the finals at 285 pounds with a 4-3 double-overtime win over Old Dominion’s fourth-seed Grant Chapman, winning on 35 seconds of riding time. Snyder will face Drexel’s second-seed Jack Callender in Saturday’s final.
Slipping to the consolation bracket along with Clemente was Tyler Banks (19-16), the second seed at 157, who dropped a 7-4 decision on a big third period by Rider’s third-seed Ramon Santiago. Freshman Matt Loew (14-22), the fifth-seed at 197, was sent to the consolation bracket after being pinned in 6:10 of the 197-pound semifinal match with top-seed John Hall from Boston University.
The second round of the consolations begin at 10 a.m. Saturday morning with finals scheduled for 1 p.m.
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