Wrestling: Panthers prep for No. 22 Hofstra

The Pitt Panthers will take a break from their 17 consecutive Eastern Wrestling League victories… The Pitt Panthers will take a break from their 17 consecutive Eastern Wrestling League victories for a late-season out-of-conference matchup with No. 22 Hofstra on Friday.

The Hofstra Pride lost its first dual of the season to undefeated No. 3 Cornell 22-12 last Saturday on the road. The defeat dropped the team to 10-1 in dual meets for the season.

The No. 9 Panthers, on the other hand, picked up a dominating victory over rival West Virginia in Morgantown to improve their record to 12-1 in dual meets.

Friday’s matchup between the two top-25 programs will be the fourth such meeting on the season for Pitt. The Blue and Gold’s final two meets are against Edinboro and Penn State, both of which currently sit in the rankings as well.

Pitt doesn’t plan to approach this match any differently than it does its EWL matches, despite how late in the season it will take place.

“I feel we prepare, and should prepare, the same way each match,” senior Tyler Nauman said. “It is a big match just like a conference match, and we want to win.”

Fellow senior Ethan Headlee even feels that the timing of the match gives the Panthers a break because the season has prepared them physically and mentally for the run leading up to the postseason.

“Preparing for the match is about the same as most other matches,” Headlee said. “Being later in the season, we don’t have to push quite as hard, because we are all in great shape and ready to wrestle.”

The match’s most intriguing matchup will likely come at 125 pounds, where Pitt’s No. 15 junior Anthony Zanetta will square off with Hofstra’s No. 14 Steve Bonanno.

Bonanno lost a close match with Cornell’s top-5 ranked wrestler in his team’s last matchup, and he will be looking to bounce back strong in another difficult match with the Panthers’ Zanetta. The Pitt junior looks at the match as a chance to better himself as a wrestler.

“I think wrestling an opponent who is higher ranked than me is a great opportunity for me to go out there and give it everything I got with no regrets,” Zanetta said.

Pitt’s No. 12 Nauman is preparing himself for Hofstra’s unranked Justin Accordino. Despite not being ranked, Accordino is a formidable opponent for Nauman. Hofstra’s 149-pound wrestler is fresh off defeating Cornell’s No. 20 wrestler in last week’s dual. Nauman and Accordino have a history dating back to their high school days.

“This will be the fifth time Accordino and I have wrestled in college,” Nauman said. “We were good friends in high school, and it is always exciting to wrestle with him.”

The wrestling squad has loaded up on tough opponents this season, and with three ranked matches remaining, the team becomes more prepared for the postseason with every day and every match.

“The strong schedule keeps our team on its toes,” Nauman said. “We’re always ready to go. I feel it will help us come EWLs and NCAAs. We’ll be ready for those good opponents because we’ve been wrestling them all year.”

Pitt’s match with the ranked Pride will begin at 7:00 p.m. Friday at Fitzgerald Field House.