Pittsburgh 41 Cleveland State 3

 

Pitt Wrestling Moves to 5-0 in the EWL, Throttles Cleveland State, 41-3

The Panthers notched their 11th consecutive EWL victory with the win.

 

PITTSBURGH– Pitt wrestling moved one step closer to earning back-to-back EWL dual titles, Friday night, as the Panthers defeated Cleveland State 41-3 at the Fitzgerald Field House.

 

The win moves the Panthers to 12-6 overall and 5-0 in the EWL. The victory marks the second straight season in which the Panthers did not drop a conference match at home while extending their EWL win streak to 11 matches.

 

The Panthers claimed nine of the 10 matches, adding bonus points in eight bouts.
 

Prior to the match, five members of the Pitt wrestling team were honored on senior night, including student manager Liz Rice, and wrestlers Christian Fagan (149), Kyle Patton (149), Adam Counterman (174) and Ryan Tomei (285).

 

Sophomore Anthony Zanetta (125) set the pace for the Panthers with an 11-1 major decision. Freshman Shelton Mack (133) followed with a major decision of his own, defeating Nick Flannery of Cleveland State, 14-5.

 

Redshirt junior Tyler Nauman (141) extended the Panthers lead to 14 points with his third straight and 34th career pin. With the fall, Nauman moved into sole possession of fourth place on the Pitt all-time pins list.

 

At 149, redshirt freshman Dane Johnson won his 16th match of the season with an 8-2 decision.

 

With the Panthers already leading 17-0, redshirt sophomore Donnie Tasser (157) earned seven back points while adding two reversals, a takedown and nearly four minutes of riding time for the 14-3 major decision.

 

 The Vikings picked up their lone win of the match at 165 with a tightly contested 4-3 decision.

 

In his final match at Fitzgerald Field House, Counterman quickly jumped to an early lead at 174 and rolled to a 15-4 major decision. In the bout, the senior from Nazareth, Pa. added five takedowns while only allowing points on escapes to clinch the match for the Panthers.

 

Freshman Max Thomusseit (184) used seven takedowns to claim a 16-6 major decision.

 

Senior Phil Sorrentino (197) nabbed his first career pin to improve the lead to 35-3. Sorrentino was able to turn his opponent over early in the third period to end the match. Although a senior, Sorrentino does have a year of athletic eligibility left and will return for the Panthers next season.

 

In the final match of the day, Tomei finished his career at the Fitzgerald Field House just as he ended most of his matches – with a pin. The redshirt senior from Irwin, Pa. improved to 104-32 all-time with his 38th career fall. Tomei now stands just five pins short of Pan Santoro’s all time Pitt lead in the category with 43.

 

Pitt can clinch the EWL dual title with a win in its final match of the season on Saturday, Feb. 19, at Edinboro, or with a win by West Virginia over the Fighting Scots on Friday, Feb. 18.

 

Pitt 41, Cleveland State 3

125: Anthony Zanetta (Pitt) maj. dec. Ben Willeford (CSU), 11-1                        4-0 Pitt

133: Shelton Mack (Pitt) maj. dec. Nick Flannery (CSU), 14-5                            8-0 Pitt

141: No. 8 Tyler Nauman (Pitt) WBF (4:52) Josh Palivoda (CSU)                        14-0 Pitt

149: Dane Johnson (Pitt) dec. Lawrence Covello (CSU), 8-2                              17-0 Pitt

157: Donnie Tasser (Pitt) maj. dec. Matt Donohoe (CSU), 14-3                           21-0 Pitt

165: Robbie Michaels (CSU) dec. Ethan Headlee (Pitt) 4-3                                 21-3 Pitt

174: Adam Counterman (Pitt) maj. dec. Aric Thurn (CSU), 15-4                          25-3 Pitt

184: No. 19 Max Thomusseit (Pitt) maj. dec. Corbin Boone (CSU), 16-6            29-3 Pitt

197: Phil Sorrentino (Pitt) WBF (4:39) Nick Anthony (CSU)                                35-3 Pitt

285: No. 7 Ryan Tomei (Pitt) WBF (6:39) Chris Weber (CSU)                              41-3 Pitt