Freshman Antonio Giorgio earned a victory via technical fall wrestling at 197 pounds for the first time in his career for the Tar Heels. Corey Mock, Thomas Scotton, Zac Bennett and Danny Lopes grabbed decisions for Carolina.
The match kicked off at 157 pounds, where the freshman Mock defeated Tyler Banks 8-2 as UNC struck first to take a 3-0 lead. The Tar Heels added to their lead as Scotton improved to 6-1 in dual action with a 10-4 victory as Carolina led 6-0.
Hofstra responded with consecutive tight decisions to knot the score at six. The Pride's P.J. Gillespie, ranked 12th at 165 pounds but wrestling at 174, used a third-period takedown to squeak by freshman Andre Petroski 4-3. At 184, Ben Clymer narrowly defeated UNC's Nick Tenpenny 4-2.
Carolina then recaptured the lead with Giorgio's convincing win over Matt Loew. The freshman jumped out to a 10-1 lead after the first period and completed the technical fall victory in just 3:46 by a final of 16-1. Bennett, the Tar Heels' regular 197-pounder wrestling at heavyweight, followed that up with a 9-6 victory over Paul Snyder to give Carolina a 14-6 lead.Two consecutive convincing victories gave Hofstra its first lead of the match. At 125 pounds, Steve Bonanno defeated Nick Shields, who was wrestling in his first dual bout in nearly two years, 16-3. Fifth-ranked 133-pounder Lou Ruggirello pinned UNC freshman Pat Owens in 1:43 to give the Pride a 16-14 lead.
Lopes put Carolina back ahead with a 9-3 decision at 141 pounds. A flurry near the end of the second period that included a takedown and a three-point near fall proved to be the difference for the Carolina junior. The contest came down to the 149-pound bout between Hofstra's Matt Spataro and Carolina's Daniel Helena. No takedowns were recorded, but a second-period escape gave Spataro the individual victory and Hofstra a 19-17 win.
Carolina is back in action Sunday at 1 p.m. at Rutgers.
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