Wrestling drops two matches to Lehigh and PSU

Pitt’s wrestling team resumed its dual meet schedule over the weekend against two of the top… Pitt’s wrestling team resumed its dual meet schedule over the weekend against two of the top teams in the nation, the No. 6-ranked Lehigh Mountain Hawks and No. 16-ranked Penn State Nittany Lions.

The outcomes, however, didn’t favor the Panthers as they suffered losses of 34-12 to Lehigh and 26-19 to Penn State.

Lehigh 34, Pitt 12

Pitt welcomed the Mountain Hawks to Fitzgerald Field House on Saturday, but only notched two wins in the match with one coming by forfeit.

Freshman heavyweight Zach Sheaffer recorded the only head-to-head victory when he pinned Lehigh’s Paul Weibel in the final match for Pitt’s 12th team point.

“We watched the match between Weibel and Penn State’s heavyweight on television, and Zach noticed the same type of move he used before and caught him with it for a pin. It was a great job on Sheaffer’s part,” head coach Rande Stottlemyer said.

Matt Kocher registered a forfeit victory at 149 pounds when Lehigh’s wrestler failed to make weight. The win gave Kocher his 19th on the season and provided Pitt its first points in the match before Sheaffer’s late pin.

The more anticipated matches of the day failed to meet expectations for the Panthers at the 133- and 141-pound weight classes.

No. 5-ranked Ron Tarquinio matched up with No. 3 Cory Cooperman of Lehigh, but walked away on the short end of a 7-3 loss. Tarquinio was aggressive early with a first period takedown, but allowed two escape points to Cooperman to tie the score at two.

Cooperman later scored two more takedowns and a riding point as time expired in the third period to stay undefeated at 9-0.

“I really thought Ron would come out on top in that match, but I take nothing away from Cooperman,” Stottlemyer said.

Drew Headlee entered his showdown with 10th-ranked Matt Ciasulli with a 13-5 record and No. 9 ranking of his own, but failed to score a point before falling 10-0 to Ciasulli.

“We hadn’t wrestled in 30 days, so that could have something to do with the effort,” Stottlemyer said. “We need to get back to the way we were wrestling earlier in the season.”

Penn State 26, Pitt 19

Tarquinio redeemed himself Sunday against the Nittany Lions with a 4-3 decision over No. 18 ranked DeWitt Driscoll, but it was not enough for Pitt to overcome two forfeits and an early 12-point deficit.

After Headlee forfeited because of an injury, Tarquinio and Kocher recorded consecutive victories to narrow the lead.

For Kocher, the victory upped his team-leading win total to 20, and provided him a solid effort while returning to his hometown of State College for the first time.

“It was a great win for Kocher, but I’m sure he would have loved a team win even more so he could have bragging rights in the summer,” Stottlemyer said.

Pitt put together a comeback after Justin Nestor and Zach Doll recorded back-to-back wins to narrow the Penn State advantage to two, but both Pitt’s Eric Cassidy and Lou Thomas lost by major decision for an eight-point swing towards the Nittany Lions.

Sheaffer, however, finished the match with his second win in as many days when he took down Josh Walker with six seconds left in the final period for the thrilling victory.

Pitt will resume action Friday when it hosts the Ohio State Buckeyes at the Petersen Events Center at 7:30 p.m.

“We got some matches under our belt and we put in a strong performance, winning five-of-eight bouts wrestled against Penn State,” Stottlemyer said. “Now, though, we need to stay healthy, get out best lineup out there and take care of business.”