Pitt wrestling losses to Arizona State following injury forfeit

After a week off from action, Pitt wrestling suffered a stinging 21-20 criteria loss to No. 24 Arizona State Sunday evening. The Panthers were leading 20-14 until an injury to heavyweight Dayton Pitzer forced him to forfeit his match.

Both teams were looking for much-needed wins. Coming into this match, No. 24 Arizona State had a 2-4 record. The Panthers started off the season strong but lost some momentum, losing three of their last four dual meets. 

The Sun Devils were able to pick up the first victory of the match at 125 pounds, as redshirt junior No. 18 Richard Figueroa was able to secure a late takedown in the third period against redshirt senior No. 31 Colton Camacho. 

The Panthers managed to answer back following the opening loss, as redshirt first-year No. 20 Vinnie Santaniello was able to defeat the Sun Devils’ redshirt junior Tristan Mascarenas 5-0, tying the match at 3-3. Redshirt senior No. 27 Cole Matthews of Pitt was also able to handle Cody Foote, securing a 10-2 major decision giving the Panthers a 7-3 lead.

After a quick Panthers lead, the Sun Devils caught fire and began to go on a run. At 149 pounds, redshirt first-year No. 29 Finn Solomon went up against All-American and two-time Pac-12 champion redshirt junior No. 3 Kyle Parco of Arizona State. Parco was able to convincingly defeat Solomon 9-2, cutting the Panthers’ total lead to 7-6. Sun Devils’ redshirt senior No. 10 Jacori Teemer was then able to tech fault the Panthers’ redshirt first-year Jared Keslar 21-6, giving the Sun Devils an 11-7 lead in total points.

In the next match, at 165 pounds, the Panthers looked to get back some points. But No. 11 redshirt senior Holden Heller just wasn’t able to convert on any shots and ended up suffering a bad loss to Sun Devils redshirt senior Chance McLane, who came into the match with a 4-6 record. 

With a 14-7 Sun Devils lead, the Panthers needed the rest of their lineup to put up some big wins. No 15. Pitt redshirt sophomore Luca Augustine defeated redshirt sophomore Cael Valencia 14-2, giving the Panthers another major decision.

At 184 pounds, No. 12 redshirt senior Reece Heller of Pitt tech faulted the Sun Devils sophomore Shay Addison 21-5, giving the Panthers a 16-14 lead. 

No 13. redshirt first-year Mac Stout kept the winning going for Pitt with his 11-2 major decision victory over sophomore Jacob Meissner, giving the Panthers a 20-14 lead heading into the much-anticipated heavyweight matchup.

In a top-20 matchup, the Panthers redshirt first-year No. 12 Dayton Pitzer had a tough challenge facing the NCAA finalist No. 5 redshirt junior Cohlton Schultz of Arizona State. Pitzer only needed to avoid a fall or an injury default to secure the dual for the Panthers. 

The first period started off slow, with both wrestlers looking for shots while not trying to leave themselves open to getting taken down either. After a stall warning and a little extra pushing outside the circle, the first period ended 0-0. 

Schultz started out on the bottom in the second period and was able to get to his feet, securing the escape and giving him a 1-0 lead. Schultz was then able to get a takedown on Pitzer and ended up cutting him loose at the end of the second period with a 4-1 lead.

Pitzer started on the bottom in the third period and was able to get the escape point, cutting the lead to 4-2. With both wrestlers on their feet, Pitzer managed to grab Schultz’s ankle, and both wrestlers went to the ground scrambling. Suddenly in the middle of this action, Pitzer reached for his shoulder, and Schultz was able to get on top and secure a takedown, giving him a 7-2 lead. 

Pitt’s training staff came out to look at Pitzer’s shoulder but determined that he was still able to wrestle. After about 10 seconds of wrestling, Pitzer went down again, grabbing his shoulder. With the injury time winding down, the training staff and Pitzer decided to forfeit to Schultz, giving Arizona State six points and sending the dual into criteria decision. 

Arizona State ultimately won based on criteria, taking home the 21-20 victory.

“That was about the worst outcome possible when guys get hurt like that,” Pitt head coach Keith Gavin said about Pitzer’s injury. “Obviously, that’s at the forefront of my mind, but some guys performed well and scored a lot of points and didn’t get much from others.”

The severity of the injury is unknown, but losing Pitzer is a major blow for the Panthers, with the ACC season beginning later this week. The Panthers’ next match is back at the Fitzgerald Field House on Friday against NC State.